VIP Treatment

I was back to Jhuwani again for the third time during my two-month visit. This time, I accompanied READ Nepal’s trip to bring a group of VIP guests, including Mr Deependra Bickram Thapa, Secretary of Education Ministry who is equivalent to Assistant Secretary of Education in the US, and Dr Chheweng Namgal Lama, General Secretary of the Social Welfare Council, the top official in the council which is in charge of nonprofits, to visit three libraries supported by READ. The three libraries were selected because they have successful sustainability projects. Besides, these three also received the funding by Norway recently. I was quite familiar with these libraries because I have been involved in the survey of community needs. Therefore, I was happy that the officials at this high level agreed to visit these libraries which are seven-hour drive from Kathmandu.
This is the first time that the top government officials have visited READ libraries. And I was impressed by the officials’ easy-going style. They didn’t mind sitting on the floor of the libraries. The weather that day was very hot and the road was muddy and bumpy. But they didn’t complain and they spent time to look at the libraries and talked to local people about their needs. At the end of the day, they committed to assist READ Nepal by for instance providing small grants and tax measures.
These two pictures were taken during our visit to Harnari Library. You can see the Secretary of Education on the right side of the picture, wearing light blue shirt. On the other picture, if you look carefully enough, you may see me sitting among the crowds.