Having a tea get-together at our house on this beautiful Saturday morning seemed the perfect way to get together with our friends in the Nepali community here in Hawaii to discuss the work that FVIN starting to do Nepal.
16 people came, which is a great turnout! We filled the table with Chai (North Indian style), coffee, and yummy pastries, and we all stood around and chatted for awhile before getting the meeting started. My only concern was: Where were the Nepalese women at? While we had a good mix of young and old, Nepali and American, no women from the Nepalese community came, except for 2 year-old Manasi, who came with her Father.
We went around and introduced ourselves. There were engineers, government workers, bio-technicians, IT professionals, students, professors, musicians, and others present. Wow! What a wealth of experience and expertise!
I am so thankful to everyone who came, because I really gained a lot from listening to other people's ideas, concerns, and visions for Nepal, especially those related to FVIN's mission to empower marginalized communities, especially women and children, through educational and community projects.
Here were some of my most prominent take-away points:Point #1) Volunteer Tourism in Nepal.
Volunteer tourism in Nepal now represents big business. It also represents opportunities for raising funds for projects such as VIN's, and creates cross cultural experiences. It also has some negative connotations, however, and seems to perpetuate a top-down paradigm of Nepalese being dependent on outside charity/expertise.
What I heard from the people at the meeting, was that within this realm, they see a need for volunteers that 1) stay for a longer time and are more dedicated and involved longterm 2) are more professional and have greater expertise in their respective fields.
Makes sense.
Point #2) Networking Nepalese Communities in the USA to benefit Nepal.
Firstly, the incredible amount of energy and passion within the Nepali community here in Hawaii is clearly evident. The community here is tight-knit, they take care of one another, and they work together to:
1) Promote Nepalese language education in Hawaii
2) Assist to improve children's education in Nepal,
3) Assist to enhance women's empowerment in Nepal,
4) Support an underprivileged community in Hawaii and
5) Implement specific donor driven projects in line with SNEHA's Objectives
They may be pursuing higher educations or better work opportunities in different countries, but for most Nepalese living abroad, even if they make the US (for example) their permanent home, Nepal remains in their hearts and souls forever.
Memories of village life, of collecting firewood in the jungle, of load shedding, of attending school outside under a tree, these things remain as reminders, and their love for Nepal as the motivator, to do things that will make their homeland a better place for generations to come.
But people have busy lives, and its hard to coordinate big campaigns. The SNEHA community has been doing some organizing already, but seem to want to do more. People expressed their desire to do more as a community to benefit their home country.
...
So how can FVIN help?
Maybe, we can do even more than helping get American volunteers to VIN. Maybe, as allies to the Nepalese people, we can support the efforts of the Nepalese communities here in the USA as they work to do good for their country. They certainly have the expertise. They certainly have an unparalleled understanding of their own languages, cultures, and community's needs. They also are more likely to be dedicated longterm, as they and their families have more of a stake in the outcome and welfare of their home country. In many cases, they also have more resources now than many of their Nepalese counterparts still living in Nepal.The big take away point in my mind, is this:
It would be great if FVIN could help network with Nepalese communities around the county, and help create more opportunities for Nepalese people living in the US to become the leaders and experts that Nepal needs. If we could promote Nepalese volunteerism in Nepal, as well as international volunteerism, that would be awesome, and would bring us closer to our shared goals of social and environmental justice and welfare in Nepal.
-Sadie
