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Promoting the education, health, culture &
welfare of mountain communities. |
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dZi Newsletter; Volume 5,
Issue 7 - September 14, 2006 |
September Update
Dear Friends of dZi,
We want to welcome Ben Ayers to the dZi Foundation staff. Ben will be working as our Nepal Project Coordinator. His past work in Nepal has been incredibly inspirational and effective. Ben’s letter, below, will give you a window into what he will be focusing on here at dZi; it also clearly shows his deep passion and commitment to the people of Nepal.
In Leh, Ladakh, India, construction of our new building has started and we are pouring concrete columns and floors. This 6000 sq. ft. project is being undertaken in partnership with the Lions Club International of Leh. We have had an amazing relationship with the compassionate Lions Club members. They have graciously hosted six of our dental and vision clinics over the last three years. We will have the second floor as well as access to the lower floor for storage of our dental and vision equipment, and to hold our clinics. Completion of this facility will be in the Spring/Summer of 2007. This building will give us tremendous stability within the community and a base from which to launch our remote clinics. We will keep you posted as the building progresses.
We have just initiated a three-phase project in three remote schools in Sikkim, India. The first phase is piping potable water to the schools from the water mains. Secondly, building ten toilets / septic tanks with hand washing stations. This phase will be completed in a month and a half and will serve 1,250 children in these three schools. Thirdly, during the construction phase, we will start our hygiene education program in each school.
Please be on the lookout for two full-page dZi Foundation ads in Outside Magazine in the October and November issues. These ads are sponsored by Marmot Mountain LTD, our corporate causal partner. Without Marmot’s support, there is no possible way we could ever obtain the exposure that we will receive from these ads in this major publication.
Wish List:
To keep costs down, we spend very little money on office equipment. But our computers are getting quite old and we need a printer that will print on paper that is wider than 8.5 inches.
So, here is our Wish List. Please let us know if you can help out, either by donating equipment, contributing money for equipment, or offering advice on how to get donated or discounted equipment. You can call us at 970-626-9765 or email sandy@dzifoundation.org.
Thank you!
Computers (any of these would be much appreciated):
Apple iMac (new model)
Apple iBook or PowerBook (G4, 1.2 GHz or above)
Apple MacBook (newer model)
Printers (any of these would work well):
HP K850dn
HP 9800d
Epson Stylus 1280
All the best,
Jim Nowak
Executive Director
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Namaste, friends and supporters of dZi!
From Ben Ayers
I am extremely excited to be welcomed as a new member of the dZi Foundation community. My position as Nepal Program Coordinator is the culmination of many years of working alongside – and admiring – dZi programs in Nepal. My experience with the delicate practice of implementing development programs in Nepal goes back nearly a decade. When I first visited the country as a college student, I undertook an independent study researching the plight of commercial and trekking porters in Eastern Nepal. To me, the obvious physical strength of these men and women was impressive, but paled in comparison to their incredible intelligence, determination, and capability as humans living in such difficult conditions. I decided the best means to research their lives was to work as a porter myself, and I have spent the seven years since trying to give something back to the men and women who have taught and inspired me so much.
In 2000, I founded Porters’ Progress Nepal with the aim of creating a cooperative porter-run development organization that would give porters a voice and a means of changing the course of their own lives and industry. Under my guidance, Porters’ Progress Nepal, has grown to be a very highly regarded NGO and can be credited for significant improvements in workplace safety for trekking porters as well as community development projects in some of the poorest and most remote villages in the country. Even though the organization boasted as many as 24 staff members, and completed large projects for UNICEF, the International Labor Organization, and the Canadian International Development Agency, it has always stayed true to the porters that we serve. Currently, all but one of Porters’ Progress Nepal’s staff members are current or former porters, and the entire Board of Directors is comprised of working porters. Just this past year, I officially handed over the reigns of the organization to our Nepali staff and administration, and will continue to support Porters’ Progress as an advisor.
During my residency in Nepal, I frequently met with Jim Nowak and have watched as dZi has flourished over the past years. Jim and I often dreamed of being able to synthesize our work and to utilize our joint expertise to bring essential support to the disenfranchised and poor in Nepal. It seems the stars have aligned for us, and I will begin my tenure with dZi this October when I return to Nepal. My philosophy on development, in brief, is rooted in a strong belief in the capability and wisdom of the people we seek to serve. I rely upon an appreciative framework, where we encourage communities to look at the root cause of success – rather than focus upon the all too obvious challenges. This perspective results in programs with incredibly high levels of local contribution and, in the end, empowers the participants by helping them realize their true potential as individuals.
This fall, I plan to spend a fair amount of time becoming more familiar with the established dZi programs in Nepal, and helping our partners on the ground improve the efficiency and effectiveness of their work. I have also begun the process of establishing an ambitious community development initiative in Eastern Nepal. We are planning to work with community members in Gudel and Waku VDC’s – some of the most remote and poorest areas of Eastern Nepal – to implement a variety of essential infrastructure and educational improvements. The process will begin by establishing a development council comprised of around 30 members in each area, and then we will train these councils on community appraisal, project development, and proposal writing. Come spring, we will review the needs of each community – as established by that community – and issue a series of small grants based upon the proposals received. I anticipate projects that will range from clean drinking water infrastructure to school reconstruction and renovation. We will also work with women in the communities (who will be active participants in the development council as well) to establish micro-savings programs. We anticipate that these programs will be able to reach at least 10,000 people with basic services.
The recent outbreak of peace in Nepal presents us with a phenomenal opportunity to help bring basic educational, health, and social services to some of the most deserving people on earth. I am deeply honored to be a part of all that dZi has accomplished and represents. Please do not hesitate to contact me for any reason, and certainly look me up if you land in Kathmandu!
Peace.
Ben Ayers
Email: ben@dzifoundation.org
For more information on Ben’s work, please see www.portersprogress.org
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A letter from Anne Hughes, a Friendship House sponsor and dental & vision clinic volunteer
Traveling in India and Nepal with Kim and Jim, I never knew exactly what was in store for us each day, but I knew it would be fascinating. They knew so much about each place and knew so many people. In fact, it became a joke that I wouldn’t let Kim and Jim out of my sight, lest I miss one of the spontaneous cultural adventures that seemed to materialize out of thin air. I
suspect they were relieved each night to close their door or zip their tent, shooing me away with assurances that there would be nothing more that day. As wonderful as everything was, I was most touched by the dZi Foundation’s projects: the Nutrition Rehabilitation Home, Friendship House, and the week-long service project we participated in, providing preventative dental and eye care for children of Ladakh, India.Entering the Nutrition Rehabilitation Project, I was struck by the display of before and after pictures. Sorrowful mothers holding their stick-thin children. Each of these sad pictures was paired with another, taken at the end of their stay in the NRH, the now healthy and happy children barely recognizable, so changed were they, and their mothers looking like relief personified. Inside, we met the current patients and the talented, committed staff, who told us the stories of these families, stories that would break your heart a dozen times over. It made me cry to see lives being saved in this way, one by one, children standing before me who might not have been there at all without the NRH.That night, at Friendship House, I was moved to tears again. We met the two girls we sponsor, Neelam and Indu. Our annual contributions provide a home, an education, and health care. Neelam is a twenty-two year old college student. Indu is eleven. Like the twenty or so other girls at FH, Indu and Neelam both came from difficult circumstances. Now, Neelam is finishing college and will soon be an independent, skilled, contributing young woman in her community. Indu is making her way down that path, too. We had gotten to know the girls a bit through letters, but to hug them and look them in the eye and to hear their thoughts in their own voices... well, it is hard to describe how strong the emotions were. I am grateful to dZi for funding this haven for girls, through which I can play a part making two young lives better. Besides two kids of my own back home, I feel like I now have two other kids there in Kathmandu. Neelam said herself how very, very lucky she is to be there. Indu said as much with her smiles, her touch, and her gift to us of her very best sketches, which she tore out of her sketchbook and sent to us after we’d left.
Both those touching visits occurred on our first full day in Asia! A few days later, I was a volunteer with other dZi Foundation travelers at a week long dental and vision clinic for children in Leh, Ladakh, up in northern India. In a matter of hours, I was trained as a dental assistant. For the rest of the week I assisted a volunteer dentist as he examined hundreds of children, many of whom had never even had a toothbrush. We filled their cavities and/or pulled rotten teeth. It was interesting to learn the necessary skills, but the best thing was again how deeply moving this service work was. To help in practical ways is gratifying and sometimes brought me to tears yet again. I only wish we could have done more. Maybe I’ll just have to go back. I know I will want to hug Indu and Neelam again, and if I can help fill a few cavities on my journey, then it will be a perfect trip!
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