The Power Of Education

Namaste (Hello in Nepali),

Since I last wrote, one topic has predominantly been on my mind: how to implement education in authentic ways and how education is deeply intertwined with the progress of our species. Poverty, in general, is associated with insufficient outcomes related to health, nutrition, weak social relations, insecurity, low self-esteem and powerlessness and in my opinion, and most importantly, lack of education.

Literacy is something I have taken for granted my entire life. Growing up in an affluent community, with parents who hold advanced degrees, I was surrounded with people who could read and write. The ability to read was never something I questioned until now, where I am interacting and working with people who are illiterate everyday.

Even now, as I type and watch my fingers fly across the keyboard, transcribing my thoughts and perspectives to communicate my experience to others, I realize what a blessing it is to be educated.

The power to read and write gives you an exponential ability to grow, find depth and meaning in life through communication, knowledge and understanding and ultimately can empower a person to make educated decisions for themselves.

Our Foundation’s social enterprise branch, Karnali Ratna, employs women from precarious backgrounds. One woman in particular, Purna (who deserves an entire blog post of her own), is one of the kindest energies I have ever encountered. She has so much love to wrap you in after a long day of cutting grass, tending to our animals and caring for our vegetables. Purna’s background classifies her as a part of a concept called “triple deprivation” + another layer, bringing her to quadruple deprivation. The first layer - geographical isolation, which this entire region is within, the second layer - from a Dhalit background, the untouchable caste, the third layer - a woman, the fourth layer - widowed. She has two extraordinary young daughters, one of which I will get to shortly.

Purna also happens to be illiterate. Recently, we sent her to permaculture training to learn about holistic and sustainable approaches to agriculture. Permaculture is the growth of agricultural ecosystems in a self-sufficient and sustainable way. This form of agriculture draws inspiration from nature to develop synergetic farming systems based on crop diversity, resilience, natural productivity, and sustainability.

Upon her return from the course, Purna came to meetings with a voice we had never heard before; confidence and knowledge radiated from her being. Because she was not able to take notes, she instead took videos of all her on the ground training. She goes back through her videos and photos to remember what she was taught and listen to what the instructor was explaining.

Overcoming the barrier of illiteracy through technology, resulting in empowerment, was profound for me to witness.

The long term goal and a part of my work with the foundation is to upgrade the standards of the local government school. We want kids to be able to get quality education here, not have to leave the community or region to find adequate resources and basic education.

Pulling children out of villages and putting them in schools in the cities can decimate a village’s economy and future potential, the term is often called brain drain. It also disrupts families and takes responsibility off of the government to provide quality education to its citizens.

That said, the system needs fundamental overhaul and corruption detoxification for the educational resources and opportunity to see equitable enhancements. This will take years… and in the meantime, the politicians and global economy continue to disproportionately take advantage of the ones who are not educated to make informed decisions that change those same systems.

Now onto Jamuna, Purna’s 14 year old daughter. Jamuna has youthful curiosity, maturity from her unfortunate past and a hunger to learn. Each day when she returned home from school, we danced in the community center with the windows closed. It often brought me to tears watching a young woman be so playful with her movement and body in a private space, something that is taboo here (think cartwheels, handstands and hair whipping). She begged to continue studying English after dinner around the campfire and always was the first to raise her hand in class.

All this said, we found Jamuna an opportunity at a boarding school in Kathmandu that is focused on children from disadvantaged backgrounds and gives them the support to thrive. Long term, the hope is that we do not send kids off to Kathmandu, and rather create a positive space here, but this was a time that I was excited to see a child leave for opportunity.

I returned to Kathmandu, received Jamuna and Purna from their first airplane ride and supported their journey to Jamuna’s new home.

I kept looking at Jamuna and realizing that her entire life was about to change. Her curiosity, exploration and imagination were going to have incredible room to play, grow and thrive. Having access to a music room, a dance room, a nurturing school environment with teachers who care has me hopeful of Jamuna’s future and even more so that she will return to Oda to work and drive her community forward.

Until next time,

Emily, Fellow 2021-2022