- Abhushan Gautam

It was a Saturday morning. The sun was glorious and the Kathmandu valley was blanketed with a clear blue sky. I was in my best mood. Indeed, it was a special day.  NCEF and the CE were jointly organizing an annual training event for the area coordinators of nine different regions from all over Nepal. As a volunteer and newsletter contributor for the event, I was very anxious to meet all the attendees of the event. I paved my way through the streets of Kumaripati that smelled of morning incense sticks, searching for the venue of the event. The training event was to take place in the conference room of the Centre for Rural Technology. Relying on the directions from the shopkeepers of that area, I eventually secured my way into the venue by 8:30 am.

I was greeted by Mr. Bidur Dhungana (the secretary of CE) upon my arrival. It was exciting to meet him for the first time. He briefly introduced me to some people who had arrived by then.  Mr. Hari Tripathi (the program director of CE and the organizer of the event) showed me the way into the conference room. The room was dark and I could see only some faint flashlights of UPS batteries being charged. That did not surprise me: we were reeling under 12 hours of load shedding in Kathmandu back then. I was told that the meeting would start after a quick morning breakfast and that power would resume when we returned.

Indeed, the power came back at 9 am, and with it came smiles on the faces of people who were seated before me.  By then, all participants of the event had materialized. The event kicked off with a welcome speech from Mr. Tripathi. It was followed by a self-introduction of all the participants. The guest speaker for the training event was Ms. Cecilia Mo (one of NCEF Directors). She explained that she had arrived in Nepal in lieu of her research at Stanford University and that the event proved to be a golden opportunity for her to meet all the volunteers and area coordinators in person for the first time.

The program started with the distribution of leaflets and materials regarding the event timeline and the issues to be discussed. Ms. Mo began with an overview of NCEF and the CE. Touching on various aspects, from the selection process of NCEF’s funded students to the allocation of funds; she described the functioning of the organization. She elaborated on various roles and duties of the area coordinators such as: the presentation of the financial reports and student reports to the board committee, compilation and delivery of student applications, student visits etc, also making clear the correct way and systems in place to do so. It was particularly stressed that timely completion and presentation of the financial reports were crucial to the functioning of the organization since every dollar spent by the organization comes under the scrutiny of both the Nepali and the US government. During this entire period, Mr. Tripathi translated her speech into Nepali for participants of the training. In the mean time, I was also busy taking photographs covering the event.

By noon, time was called for a lunch break. The lunch break was refreshing, so were some informal discussions that followed between the participants. We got to know each other more personally and had a merry time being together. Eventually, the second phase of the training event started with a group discussion with the area coordinators. This was a particularly important and interesting part of the event. Various issues and problems being faced by the area coordinators were discussed and proposals were raised to help mitigate some of those difficulties. For instance, the area coordinators expressed their problems regarding communication due to load shedding schedules and telephone network errors.

Student absenteeism was another example.  Some voiced that absenteeism and poor conditions within the families of the funded students were correlated. Some students were in dire need of extra classes either because their parents with no formal education could not help them with homework. It was also stressed that NCEF should make selections on the basis of learning capability of a student, so that the organization can produce more quality student products and fewer dropouts. On the brighter side, the area coordinators of Sunsari and Lamatar applauded the selection process of the selection committee as they found the results of the process to be unbiased and precise when it came to the financial situation of the families in those regions.

The area coordinators also presented updates of the students in their area and put forward some suggestions before the panel. Some coordinators suggested the reports to be sent on a quarterly basis to ease the volume of their task due to electricity problems. It was also suggested that an annual visit to each of the funded regions by someone from the board be formally instituted to ensure proper utilization of funds. It was emphasized that the volunteers and the area coordinators need to organize frequent meetings with the parents of the funded students to eliminate the possibilities of problems arising within the family and its effects on the student’s education.

After these passionate discussions with the participations, a tea break was called. The area coordinators were asked to fill out some survey and recommendation forms.  Ms. Mo officially distributed all the certificates to the area coordinators and volunteers. She also distributed some fancy pens and materials to the coordinators which she had collected from various events back in the US and asked them to be forwarded to the funded students. Mr. Tripathi reimbursed the area coordinators to cover their transportation costs and also issued them volunteer identity cards. Finally, Mr. Tripathi and Ms. Mo gave their closing remarks for the training event and with that ended our training session.

We gathered outside the venue for a final get together and a group photo session. Everyone was exhausted from a very long day. However, the photo session revived the smiles into the faces of all attendees of the event. I was reluctant to leave so soon since it was a wonderful experience being there with so many volunteers. We all thanked each other for our presence and made commitments to meet again in future. I retraced my way back home through the same streets of Kumaripati, with a tinge of that afternoon tea lingering in my mouth and the jolly smiles of area coordinators in my mind.