This month’s newsletter highlights two adventurer’s love for mountains and commitment to providing educational opportunities for disadvantaged children in Nepal. Mr. Brad Parker, a language arts and humanities teacher in the Chicago Public School and an avid mountaineer and Ms. Leia Barrett, an amateur mountain biker are including NCEF in their adventurous endeavors to raise money for children’s education in Nepal. Brad Parker also involved his seventh-grade students in his effort. We thank Mr. Brad Parker, Ms. Leia Barret, seventh-grade students of Locke school and their parents, and well-wishers of both Brad and Leia for theirinvaluable support to NCEF and our children. We encourage our readers to support both Brad and Leia in their endeavors.For more information on how to support and get updates on the campaigns, please visit the following pages:

• Climbing for a Cause
• Mountain-bike race fundraiser

On May 9th 2008, seventh-grade students from Locke school, an inner-city school in Chicago put together a project on Nepal to showcase to the school community on International Day. This final presentation was a culmination of hard work over months since the class found out that they had been assigned to represent Nepal as a part of their International Day project. Instead of just putting together a presentation, the class along with their teacher, Brad Parker decided to pursue a bigger goal. The goal was to put together information on Nepal and Nepali children so that they could raise funds to give educational opportunity to these children in another part of the world. They combined this class project with an individual campaign carried out by their teacher, Brad, who will be climbing Mt. Whitney, a 14,494 feet high mountain in California’s Sierra Nevada range, this July to raise funds for NCEF.  In this article, we present you information on Brad Parker and his students and their motivation behind successfully carrying out these projects in their own words. Till June 14th, they had managed to raise $1268.00 and have received pledges from other well-wishers.

Introducing Mr. Brad Parker and his students:

Mr. Brad Parker is a Language Arts and Humanities teacher in the Chicago Public Schools.   For the past three years he has been teaching seventh grade at Locke School, an inner-city kindergarten through eighth grade public elementary school on the Northwest side of Chicago, Illinois. There are 1,310 students and 60 teachers at the school, with a very diverse student body.  The student population is approximately 77% Hispanic, 17% White, 3% Asian, 3% African-American, and less than 1% Native American.  Roughly 75% of the students are from low-income families, and 25% have limited English proficiency.

We asked Mr. Parker about his motivation behind the initiation of the “Climbing for a Cause” campaign along with the class project. Here is what he had to say:

“During my first year teaching I wanted to make sure students saw that my classroom would be a place of excitement and meaningful learning. I set high expectations for my students and myself, and together we have achieved unbelievable feats.  I strive to show my students that with goals and ambition comes the power to make them realities – but also to understand that nothing great ever comes easily.  My students learn to expect great things of themselves and each day strive reach the top of their own personal mountains of potential.  I am there to help them believe that they can. 

As a part of the Middle Years International Baccalaureate Program (M.Y.P.I.B.), Locke School strives to develop inquiring, knowledgeable, responsible, and caring young people who help to create a better and more peaceful world through intercultural understanding and respect.  One important component of our school’s I.B. Program is the annual International Day celebration.  International Day takes place once a year and challenges each sixth through eighth grade classroom to learn about a new and different culture.  Students prepare presentations, activities, and decorate the room in the traditional style of their assigned country.  During International Day, the kindergarten through fifth grade classrooms travel throughout the building with passports and visit different “countries,” or classrooms, from around the world.   At each classroom, younger students learn about the different cultures through activities and presentations designed by the older students.  International Day is an exciting and important program that usually attracts parents, community members, and even the local media.  This year, my seventh grade classroom was assigned Nepal.

I was thrilled to discover that my seventh grade classroom was going to study Nepal.  As an avid mountain climber and outdoors enthusiast, I knew that Nepal was home to the Himalayas, the most beautiful and rugged of all the world’s mountains, and “the top of the world,” Mount Everest.  However, as we researched more about this land I came to a stark realization: that the Nepalese people lived in a much different world than I had envisioned for the keepers of these beautiful mountains.  Instead, these proud people have found themselves plagued with poverty as one of the poorest and least developed countries in the world.  I reflected on the fact that less than 50% of adults in Nepal are literate, and that only 35% of female children are able to read and write. Despite these statistics, I was encouraged to learn that there has been a promising investment over the past twenty years in Nepalese education.  When I learned about the thousands of people dedicating themselves to education in this incredible land, I was inspired to get involved.  As a teacher in the I.B. Middle Years Program, I incorporate themes of Community and Service into my classroom to show my students that we can and must give back to the community and to the world.  I realized that it was now my turn.  By combining my passion for education and the outdoors with my desire to help others, I knew I could make a real difference.  This is when I began to envision my own “Climb for a Cause,” an effort that would help to brighten the educations of Nepal’s children.  I cannot think of a better way to honor Nepal, the keeper of the most beautiful mountains in the world, than by climbing the highest mountain in the contiguous United States.  Every dollar I raise for my climb I plan on donating to the Nepalese Children’s Education Fund.”

This was Brad’s response on why Brad and his class chose NCEF to be the beneficiary of their campaign:

I spent quite a bit of time searching for the right foundation to donate the proceeds from my climb.  NCEF first impressed me with their mission statement: to develop the potential of disadvantaged Nepalese students through education.  I was also encouraged by the commitment of an organization that has no salaries, compensations, or office expenses.  It was exciting to realize that all the money I raised would go directly to the children of Nepal.  After a quality response from Inku, NCEF’s fundraising officer, I was convinced to help NCEF make its mission statement a reality.  I felt confident that the money my students, fellow teachers and I raised for my climb would make a strong impact through the efforts of NCEF.

After deciding on the beneficiary of the campaign, Brad planned the fundraising campaigns with his students and included his own mountaineering endeavor in the campaign. Finally, Brad concludes:

I saw the excitement in my students’ eyes as I explained how we could help change the life of a student in Nepal with just one hundred dollars, and knew I had to further pursue this project.  The thought of having my students help their peers across the globe receive an education was an amazing concept.  While my students will work hard to collect money for the cause in school, I have committed to challenge myself in this process.  I’m proud to think that while I stand atop Mount Whitney this summer at 14,494 feet high in California’s Sierra Nevada range, I will know that through me, my class helped change the world for students in Nepal. Everyone is excited about this project: my students, my colleagues, my family, and my friends. I’ve already had a few students donate money from their own pockets, sacrificing their video game money and junk food allowances.  That’s a pretty good sign that this project means as much to my students as it does to me.

So on July 15th, 2008 I plan to stand atop Mt. Whitney, the tallest mountain the contiguous United States has to offer. Having completed what will undoubtedly be my most intense climb, I will take pride in myself and my students knowing that through my “Climb for a Cause” we brightened the path of education in the lives of Nepal’s children.

On Saturday, July 5th , Leia Barret of New Mexico will participate for the first time in a 74-mile-long course climbing a total of 14,000 ft, mostly consisting of single track wild back country trails. Leia is including NCEF and a local Santa Fe organization that provides food, shelter, and clothing to the homeless as beneficiaries of pledges received to support her participation in her racing debut. In this article, we present our conversation with Leia on her exciting venture into the world of mountain bike racing and her motivation to translate this adventure into a fundraiser for helping the disadvantaged in Nepal and the US.

Introducing Leia Barnett:Hi, I am Leia Barrett. I am 24 years old and was born and raised in Santa Fe, New Mexico. I moved to Colorado for a few years after high school to compete in freestyle mogul skiing and that was where I really got involved in mountain biking. I moved back to New Mexico about 4 years ago and have been mountain biking around the southern Rockies as much as I can since.

This is how the idea for the race and fundraiser started:

Last year I heard about a marathon mountain bike race that happens here every year as part of the New Mexico Endurance Series. It's titled "The Big Friggin' Loop" or BFL for short. It's a 74 mile long grunt of a course climbing a total of 14,000 ft, mostly
single track, with lots of wild back country trails. I was enticed from the moment I heard about it and decided this would be the year to make my debut. Instead of doing it purely to make myself suffer, I decided to make it an excuse to help others who suffer. People are pledging a dollar amount per 1,000 ft that I climb and I am donating half the money raised to a local organization that provides food, shelter and clothing to homeless people in Santa Fe, and the other half to NCEF.

Why NCEF?

I spent 6 weeks last December and January trekking in the Annapurna region in Nepal and fell in love with the mountains, the country, and the people. When I first came up with the idea of a fundraiser, Nepal immediately came to mind. I strongly believe that one of the best ways to pull a country out of poverty and to create a strong base for the future is to start with the children. Education can make all the difference. So obviously your organization fit in perfectly with those intentions.

Leia’s final message:

The race takes place on Saturday, July 5 at 6:30 am and will most likely last at least 12 hours. I am totally excited, nervous, and sometimes completely dreading it, but it feels really, really good to be doing this for a greater cause. It is really my deep love of Nature and my belief in the healing power of reconnecting ourselves to our ancient Natural Roots that drives me to mountain bike. Those two wheels allow to me explore the farthest reaches of the mountains with relative speed and ease -- not to mention the fact that it's ridiculously fun! Next adventure: perhaps mountain biking through Nepal!

NCEF held its annual board meeting on June 25, 2008 to elect the new board for 2008/2009. Hesky Fisher, Omprakash Gnawali, Olivier Kamanda, Steven Lustig, Amrit Pant, John Perry, Atul Pokharel, Inku Subedi and Kripa Upadhyay were elected to the board with their term expiring June 30, 2009. The new board elected Omprakash Gnawali as its Chairman, Hesky Fisher as its Treasurer and Steven Lustig as its Secretary.

NCEF approved a budget of NRs. 607,500.00 (US$ 8800) for the year 2008/2009, an 18% increase over last year's budget. The funds will be used to support up to 75 students in different parts of Nepal.

We have finished most of the student selection work for the academic year 2008/2009. Application collection and selection took much longer this year than usual. The shift towards using the postal service for application delivery from different parts of Nepal to Kathmandu made the process vulnerable to the all too common glitches in the Nepalese postal service. Some applications were significantly delayed and in one case lost in the mail. Use of the Internet has its share of problems too, due to intermittent Internet connections and power outages in many of the places where we operate. We hope to regroup after the selection and make the application collection process more efficient and reliable for next year.