Leave a Comment

Anil - "I think employing dedicated volunteers in these challenging areas will help educate children and parents about the importance in staying in school and motivate children to work towards a formal education. "

NCEF’s mission to make a lasting difference in the lives of underprivileged Nepali children through education would be impossible without the dedicated volunteers. In this issue, we do a spotlight on Anil Pachhai, one of the most enthusiastic volunteers of NCEF.  Anil has been involved with NCEF since 2005 in various roles. Most notably, he leaded the selection committee in 2007-2008 and represented NCEF in the Youth Forum organized by Association for Nepalis in Americas (ANA).

Anil is originally from Nepal, and has received his Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science and Finance from Saint Cloud State University in Minnesota.  He further pursued his academic career and received a Master of Science with a concentration in Computer Science from University of Minnesota in Twin Cities.  Anil then moved to San Francisco and has since been working towards his M. B. A. from Golden Gate University, while working for Oracle Corporation as a product manager.  Anil has been involved with NCEF for the past five years.  Besides volunteering for NCEF, he enjoys running, working out, and playing soccer and basketball. 

We provide a few of Anil’s insights here.

1. What motivated you to volunteer with NCEF?
 I came to learn about NCEF from Uttam Sharma.  Uttam and I were attending graduate school at University of Minnesota in Twin Cities back in 2004-2005 when he gave me a brief overview about NCEF.  I was fascinated by the remarkable job NCEF was doing to help educate Nepali kids.  Albeit living far away from home, I think NCEF has been a great way to reach out to the disadvantaged and underprivileged kids in Nepal.

2. How has the experience working with NCEF been?
I have been associated with NCEF for the last five years and I can attest with pride that it has been a great experience.  NCEF has clear goals and runs very efficiently with detailed operational roles defined at the organizational level. NCEF has a great team of executive members that contribute equally to all decision-making processes of the organization.   

3. What difficulties do you commonly face when communicating with NCEF volunteers in the U.S.?

4. What difficulties do you commonly face  when interacting with NCEF students and their guardians in your region?
As I was not directly involved as a field area coordinator, I am unable to comment on the difficulties that come with direct work with students and guardians.  However, there are certain difficulties related to reviewing scholarship applications, which I am fluent in. The parents of some of the children are under the misconception that once a child receives a scholarship for a year, their funding will be renewed every year independent of their child’s academic performance.  It is very important to make sure NCEF clarifies the criteria for renewal prior to offering any financial support.   
 
5. Please describe a memorable moment with children or volunteering.
There have been many memorable experiences, but I would like to share one of the most remarkable ones. We received an application for renewal of the scholarship of a student who failed her exam.  After obtaining thorough information, we came to know she had some problems in her family and she had to financially support her family, which ultimately took a toll on her studies. After finding out this information, the application was reviewed and an exception was made to our policy to accommodate her needs, which led to an extension of her scholarship for the next year. It is absolutely critical that the organization get to know the children well so that they are sufficiently supported to succeed.

6. What improvements do you think will be beneficial for children?
There are many rural areas in Nepal, where the idea of formal education is tough to sell. For example, many kids from rural Palpa drop out of school and end up going to India for work. I think employing dedicated volunteers in these challenging areas will help educate children and parents about the importance of staying in school and motivate children to work towards a formal education.   

General comments: (experiences/ improvements/ what you enjoy the most/ ideas… anything).