That was my very first trip overseas when I visited Nepal. Since then, I was strongly attracted to Nepal. The nation has rich beautiful nature and historical heritages, and people are so welcoming and caring, which I like about Nepal. On the other hand, however, I remember how shocking it was to see people throwing garbage on the street and into the river. It was too ordinary to encounter such scenes. So the contrast between the beauty and a large amount of waste made me even more sad. At that time, I was one of the members of a study trip from my home university in Japan, and Devendra was our host father. We were impressed how dedicated he is to making a clean environment. During the stay, I decided to work with his team SAMDAN and I was back in Nepal again after half a year. Each staff played an important role in educating children and teachers, collecting and separating garbage from schools, and making the garbage reborn as beautiful handicrafts. It is not easy to change people’s habit of throwing garbage because of several factors such as lack of trash bins in public places, religious beliefs and more. I consider SAMDAN’s strategy to educate the younger generation and get them involved in changing the environment is a good idea in the context of Nepal. I believe their work will bring a change to the society.
It is an honor for me to be able to cooperate with SAMDAN through sending Japanese university students annually since 2016. SAMDAN to me, is a perfect destination to explore and exercise deeper field work of Kathmandu, Nepal and a best gateway to experience intercultural activities with people in Nepal from young to old.
CESP has worked and lived together with the people in poverty. I am confident that this work is meaningful investment for the future of Nepal. Simultaneously, the activity given by Children-BEEP is also an important project for the future environment of Kathmandu. The project will also nuture life-learning contents for students to make their life fruitful. Both CESP and Children-BEEP will work for the future of Nepal, and we hope our Japanese team will benefit the students’ learning. SAMDAN has facilitated many tours from overseas and hence, have a great knowledge of how to accept foreign guests which, I think, is one of the most essential credibility to many foreign travelers who seek to take action in voluntary work in Nepal. Since 2016, our Japanese team have sent 26 students for 2~3 weeks program and 2 internship students in the past years. Our team are hoping that the collaboration will continue for long and that the program with SAMDAN will benefit both countries in many way
We now have a tremendous task ahead of us to combat with ever increasing amount of waste. This requires logical and meticulous planning from grassroot level. Incorporating waste management in schools is crucial to combat this issue in the long run. While we are very grateful to SAMDAN Children for undertaking such a responsibility, it is not possible with the effort of one organization alone to bring about change in the whole nation. It can be extended to a nationwide movement by incorporating waste management in school curriculum as practical part of subjects such as EPH (Environment Population and Heath). In addition, Gardening and Composting can be additional subjects in schools so as to create a sustainable future for our children. A well-informed child grows up to be a responsible citizen. In my opinion, schools are the best places to start working for a sustainable future..
We are very grateful to SAMDAN Children for such a far-sighted project running in multiple schools with big potential of a clean nation provided they have adequate support from government/authorities.
I asked Devandra to visit his organization, and after a few hours, I got his positive answer. He would let me and my friend live and eat in his house and to see the whole project. Before we arrived, he gave us all necessary information so that we could get to the right place where he picked us up. He had prepared a program for the whole stay, which we fulfilled..
We got an amazing tour around the facility where the production, collection and preparation happens. We joined one of the employees on a trip to collect garbage from the nearby schools and we helped and participated actively in the collection process. He showed us afterwards how they are recycling the paper and took us through the whole recycling process. After this, we got to recycle the paper our self. They were having a campaign the day after in a school nearby, and we were invited to join. Here we interacted with the students and helped the crew to set up the stand for SAMDAN. The last day we were told to prepare a presentation about waste management in our own country. We did so and presented it for three classes were SAMDAN is regularly having education about the global and local waste problems.
Through the three days we volunteered at SAMDAN, we had the opportunity to actively participate in the recycling process, the collection process of waste and the education of youth. I was surprised about how much the people appreciated the work SAMDAN is doing for the community. In addition, I am proud of having seen the start of a revolution of environmental awareness in the city of Kathmandu.
I went to Nepal in 2011, to visit my brother who was there for half a year. I was struck with the great need many children have in the country. Many families do not have the funds to send their children to school, and to give them a proper education, and a hope for a better future. I discussed this with Devendra, which was a good friend of my brother. Together we discussed how we could make a difference in Nepal. We agreed that, even though it might cost a bit in a short term perspective, education is the best tool in order to lift people out of poverty in a long term specter.
We agreed that I would try to get some funds from Norway, and Devendra would set up an organization that could help children of great need, to get an education and a hope for a better future.
It has truly been inspirational, and at times heartbreaking, to read some of the stories of the children that CESP has supported. CESP does a tremendous job in not only giving children an education, but also in creating hope for the future. The changes the organization makes in individual children, is a change that will benefit their entire communities. In this way, CESP does not only build better lives, but it creates hope for a better future for whole societies. It’s a part of building a better Nepal and a better world.
Visiting Nepal 5 years ago was a life-changing opportunity for me to realize the importance of environmental problems and the possibilities of education to tackle them. After joining a study tour 5 years ago, I realized we, as Japanese, also have so many possibilities to change our country. Hence I started to work as an environmental activist in Japan, to change Japanese society using grassroots activities.
For this time, I decided to come and join SAMDAN work for 2 months, to see the current situation of Nepal and rethink the role/hope of environmental education in not only Japan but in other countries.
Working in schools was not an easy job, but I got full inspiration from students and other SAMDAN members. Even though we still have systematic difficulties in Nepali society, I could see that small changes have already started in many places. Students are filled with pride for their country, Nepal, and they have a strong passion to change their country. Approximately 60 environmental classes with them re-changed me and gave me great motivation to work on environmental issues and change my country, Japan.
