Surendra Raj Bhattarai hails from Biratnagar, a bustling town in Morang district located in the South Eastern plains of Nepal by the Indian border. For over thirty years, Mr. Bhattarai worked for the Agricultural Development Bank of Nepal. After retiring from his work, Mr. Bhattarai and his son Swadesh Bhattarai founded the Economic and Social Development Center, an organization that offers scholarships to poor students. The father and son currently support five students through their organization.

In addition to his own charity, Mr. Bhattarai volunteers for Ama Nepal and Nepalese Children Education Fund (NCEF), two organizations that seek to empower Nepali children through education. Mr. Bhattarai is the area coordinator of NCEF for Sunsari district. He is responsible for managing the finances and reporting on the performance of the 10 students that NCEF is sponsoring in the district.

Editor in Chief of the NCEF newsletter, Aayush Sakya, caught up with Mr. Bhattarai who was visiting his son in Fremont, California. The following are excerpts of their conversation.

Aayush Sakya: What motivated you to become involved with NCEF?

Surendra Bhattarai: I have always felt that Nepalis who have had better opportunities in life should contribute to the less fortunate members of our society. Unless those who have education and skills take initiative to help others, those in need will be left to the vagaries of the government. I feel that we should sacrifice a small portion of our income to uplift those in need.

I have noticed that there are many communities in my society who have made very little progress despite the many changes that our country has experienced over the last few decades. The poor, lower-caste, and untouchables continue to live their lives in dire poverty and ill-health. I feel that education is the only viable option to uplift them. A good, thorough education is essential for the young generation to overcome the barriers of poverty.

I heard about NCEF through my son Swadesh who was volunteering for the organization. NCEF funds students in many regions in Nepal. I wanted to help NCEF provide opportunities to the children of Sunsari. That is why I decided to work together with the organization.

How has your experience working with NCEF been?
I have worked with many different organizations over the years. I feel that NCEF is a competently run organization that is making meaningful change in the lives of the students that it supports.

What difficulties do you commonly face when communicating with NCEF volunteers in the U.S.?
Since I only deal with the team in Nepal, I have not had any such problems. I work closely with the Nepal coordinator Hari Tripathi. We meet once every few months to review the students’ performance and other details of the organization.

Please describe a memorable moment with children or volunteering.
It has been a goal of mine since I was young to uplift the downtrodden members of my village. Knowing that we have given poor, lower-caste and untouchable members of our society the wonderful opportunity of education makes me very content. I am very satisfied that I have been able to play a role educating the children in my region.

What improvements do you think will be beneficial for children supported by NCEF?
NCEF should consider concentrating its efforts on one or two regions instead of working in many different regions of Nepal. Helping a few children here and there is inefficient. It is difficult to conduct operations in many regions and it is also cumbersome to monitor the use of funds. I think NCEF would be able to provide more opportunities to children by focusing on a few regions instead of many. It would also be easier to see what kind of impact the organization is having in the communities that it is involved in.

Do you have any general comments/suggestions about NCEF?
One of the minor suggestions I have is that NCEF should have area reporting reduced from once every two months to once every three months. Since our students have an exam roughly every three months, we could send both the exam scores and the area report together. Other area coordinators have also told me that doing this would be helpful for them.

I am quite intrigued that NCEF student selection committee has an uncanny ability to pick the students who are indeed most in need of support. I see the applicants and their families with my own eyes, but the selection committee only sees their financial situation on a piece of paper. I would say that we have been picking very good candidates for our scholarships.