Grassroot Movement in Nepal (GMIN)

Source: Samir Rana's Facebook. 

Samir Rana, a PhD candidate at The University of Alabama at Birmingham raised funds on his birthday. He wrote a short piece on why he decided to raise money for GMIN. Read below and tell us what you think. - GMIN Team

*****

Samir Rana UAB, Birmingham, USA

I was raised in a semi-rural part of Dang, Nepal where most of my buddies attended government schools. For them, sitting under the really hot tin roof of their classroom was just another summer day. And rainy day meant no class due to the hole on roof. I know that cracked blackboard, and broken bench was no big deal for my friends who attended government schools.

Lack of basic infrastructure in Nepalese government schools are so common that students don’t even realize it’s a problem. When my friends dropped out of schools, it was hard to understand why they dropped out.

What does GMIN do? 

GMIN is a non-profit organization that supports and initiates projects that focuses on bringing sustainable change in Nepal.  Currently, we are rebuilding schools, providing scholarships, and launching women empowerment programs in remote parts of Nepal. What is a 501(c)3 registered non-profit organization?

 A 501(c)3 is type of incorporation that is used to set up a charitable company. A charitable company is set up with the intention of providing a service to the community, rather than making a profit. Incorporating a company makes it a legal entity, responsible for its actions in the community. 

 Where are the offices of GMIN located?

The main offices for GMIN are located in New York City, USA and Kathmandu, Nepal.  GMIN also has chapters in the United Kingdom, Hong Kong and Finland.  

What are the objectives of GMIN? 

The goal of GMIN is to bring sustainable, social and environmental change in Nepal. We are doing this by primarily focusing on rebuilding schools in every district of Nepal and launching women empowerment programs. Ideally, we want to rebuild schools in every village in Nepal within next 10 years, launch and administer women empowerment programs in various villages.

How do I become a part of GMIN?

Please email your resume/CV, with short introduction and an essay on why you want to be part of GMIN to [email protected] What type of opportunities does GMIN present?

You can serve as a volunteer, intern or an ambassador for GMIN. There are processes involved to be each one of them. More description on the opportunities can be found in the Volunteer Toolkit. How many hours does an intern, volunteer or an ambassador have to work, and what type of work do they do?

Typically, it is 3-4 hours/week.

Do interns/ambassadors get paid by GMIN? No. How long does an internship/ambassadorship last?

3-6 months. How do I donate to GMIN?

There is a link on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/GMIN.Nepal/app_7146470109) and www.gmin.us that will take you specifically to a page where you can donate for GMIN’s cause.

Or you can write a check and mail it to:

GMIN INC 379 Hart Street Brooklyn, NY, 11206 USA.

Can I donate specifically to the causes that I choose?

Yes, donors can donate to sponsor a student, teacher, to renovate school or to buy books. One can also donate to launch women empowerment programs. Is there a limit on the amount of donation that you can make?

 No. We welcome any amount. 

How does GMIN control its funds?

The main office is based in the U.S. All of the funds collected from around the world goes to New York which then is transferred to Kathmandu on a per project basis as the projects are approved by the GMIN Board.  All of the funds raised are allocated to projects.

Where does the money go?

The money goes directly into funding GMIN’s projects. GMIN mostly relies on volunteers. So far GMIN has used less than 5% of total funds on administrative cost.

More questions?

Email to [email protected] for rapid response or ask a question via the comment below. 

By Kushal Joshi, GMIN UK

The dust has barely settled from Bournemouth Festival 2012, a two day basketball, music and dance festival that was held in July, but the event organisers have wasted no time to get started on another project. In a similar vein to last year, the B-Fest crew are following up their festival with a fundraising charity bike ride, this time from London to Paris. The charity organisation that they have chosen to support this year is Grassroot Movement in Nepal (GMIN).

GMIN is a non-profit organisation based in New York that was established with a vision of bringing sustainable social and environmental changes in Nepal. The primary focus for GMIN since its establishment in 2009 has been to develop the education sector in rural parts of the country. In the 4 years since it was founded, GMIN has successfully completed the renovation of 11 schools in rural areas of Dang and Sindupalchowk. Two other schools were built in Taplejung as part of the “Earthquake Relief Project” that GMIN initiated after a 6.9 Richter scale earthquake hit the North-Eastern parts of Nepal in September 2011.

The UK chapter of GMIN was founded in 2011 via an online movement that brought together a group of like-minded youths from various parts of the country. Since their first fundraiser at the annual Gurkha Cup in May 2011, GMINUK have expanded their profile significantly by organising other fundraisers at various Nepalese events like Nepali Mela 2011, UK Nepali Bazar, Best of Both, Gurkha Cup 2012 and so on. Having already found ripples of support from the Nepalese community in Finland and Germany from where GMIN UK has received recent donations, this charity bike tour is set to enhance their international profile further.

B-Fest’s seven day charity tour in support of GMIN kicks off from Big Ben in London on the 11th of September.  Their team of seven riders aim to reach Paris on Day 5 of the tour. The team is aiming to raise £3000 from this event.

The event has been made possible by the generosity of local businesses such as Khukuri Beer UK Ltd (Ealing Broadway) -Gold Sponsor, Nepalese Tandoori Restaurant (Shepherd’s Bush), Old Prince of Wales, Himali Ltd (Ashford), Nirmaya Rodhighar (Aldershot), Deurali Travel (Wembley), Everest Money Transfer and Uniqo Creations who have financially supported the organisers.

If you would like to support the B-Fest crew and help them reach their target, please donate at https://fundrazr.com/campaigns/bKrm6

For more information on GMIN, please visit www.gmin.us

You can follow GMIN UK on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/GMINUK

                                  By Anuja Kc

“Charity begins at home”, a famous quote by Charles Dickens holds true now more than ever for GMIN. The progress reported by GMIN’s members who are accountable to deliver projects in rural Nepal, in the last few years has shown that 100 percent of the funds donated by donors have been used for the projects. Many Nepali expats in the US and UK have proactively taken initiative to raise fund within their own community for GMIN. This post intends to give you some ideas on how you can raise funds for GMIN in a personal capacity. 

                              By Anuja Kc

Back in 2010, when GMIN started its project in Dang, the team members who visited the villages instantly identified the lack of experienced teachers in rural Nepal. Remote villages in Dang like Obang and Buradabar villages did not have qualified teachers at all. Ironically, they reported that it was easier to build a school than find a teacher in the villages. To help eliminate this problem, teacher training workshop was conducted in specific villages to make sure the teachers were sustainable and inspiring to others.

                              Arun, GMIN's friend recently raised $1,400 for Shree Madhyamik Vidhyala of Dang District.  He wrote about his experience below. GMIN is thankful to Arun and his friends at Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories. Read the post and share your comments on how else we can raise more funds to help Nepal. - GMIN Team

                                                    ********

My name is Arun Shrestha, an Electrical Engineer currently working at Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories, Inc. (SEL) (www.selinc.com) in Charlotte, NC. I am also a graduate student, actively pursuing my PhD in Power Engineering at University of North Carolina at Charlotte (www.uncc.edu)

I have been following the GMIN team and their amazing effort to build schools in Nepal for last two years. I admire the courage and effort GMIN has put together to build/renovate multiple schools, in various districts of Nepal. I truly believe that 'Education' is a must for a sustainable development for any community, village and country. One can easily co-relate the direct relationship between development and literacy rate of a country.

Hamro Kadam Workshop

Hamro Kadam program was created with the vision to bridge the gap between the children of Nepali immigrants, born in foreign lands, and help them connect with children in Nepal, the less fortunate ones, who they can help and support by sponsoring them.

Immigration of Nepalese people to foreign land has increased in recent years as more and more Nepalese tend to leave their country looking for opportunities to have better lives. This has led to a large number of Nepalese communities to pop up all over the world. A large number of these communities are now in their 2nd or 3rd generation adding a lot more new faces that have never been to the homeland of their parents or grandparents. This is where Hamro Kadam program comes in. Hamro Kadam program specifically targets these children’s of Nepalese immigrants that have never been to their ancestral land and help them connect with children from there.

Foreign born children of Nepalese parents when they come to visit Nepal do not have the most flattering view of the country. We cannot blame them as Nepal is a 3rd world country that is still in its initial developing phase. According to a recent article, in Kantipur newspaper, 25.16 % of the populations still live below the poverty line. To help remove this negative image GMIN envisioned this program to help foreign born Nepalese children to the idea of supporting and helping their ancestral country while introducing Nepal in a positive light.

GMIN encourages parents or guardians of foreign born Nepalese children to introduce their child to the Hamro Kadam program. Once a parent signs up their child to the program then the child is introduced to a sponsor child in Nepal who they will be supporting and helping till a specific time. This creation of bond between the two children is beneficial to both as they are introduced to the message of love, support, and friendship. This is what GMIN with Hamro Kadam is trying to spread. Through the message of love, support and friendship GMIN wants to introduce these children to Nepal in a positive light so that when the children go to Nepal for their first visit there is a sense of endearment and familiarity. GMIN will also help organize for the children to meet with their sponsor child, with the parents’ permission, to help develop the relationship at a personal level.

GMIN is a non-profit organization based in New York City; the hub of social entrepreneurship. GMIN fosters volunteerism and also encourages Nepalese students living in the US to initiate fundraising efforts in their own capacity.

GMIN fundraising event in Minnesota State University, Mankato organized by Nepalese student community named NestCom is a great example. NestCom organized a “Bake Sale for Education” on campus and helped raised $320 towards GMIN in 2011. All the proceeds were directed for GMIN’s projects in rural Nepal. NestCom helped shed light on the importance of community effort and philanthropic vision.

According to statistics provided by Embassy of United States in 2009, the number of Nepali students enrolled in U.S. institutions of higher education increased from 8,936 to 11,581 in 2008/09 a 29.6% increase over the 2007/08 academic year. The number is rising every year, which opens door for GMIN to support Nepalese students pursuing education here is US, to initiate events that support development in rural Nepal. As the importance of globalization and experiential education is gaining momentum in educational landscape in the US colleges and universities, this will provide a great opportunity for Nepalese students to raise awareness about Nepal and enhance their entrepreneurial spirit. International Office or club is another great resource on campus where students can seek advice on organizing international events. They can also collaborate with International students community in their respective colleges to raise awareness about education in rural Nepal and organize fundraising events. By coupling the desire to contribute to Nepal from abroad and the resources available here in US, Nepalese students can make the best out of GMIN’s effort to help them succeed.

We are so thankful to our friends worldwide who support us to renovate schools in remote parts of Nepal. This map is based on the data we got from our Facebook page. We have highlighted 20 countries where most of our supporters/friends are based. The U.S. and Nepal stands out. These two are the greenest.

You can click on countries to see how many supporters are in each countries.

We hope to connect with more people in other countries. 

        School reconstruction in Taplejung, Nepal after the earthquake

     Since its inception in 2010, Grassroot Movement in Nepal (GMIN) has already built 14 schools so far and it has also been successful to spur sustainable infrastructure development in rural Nepal. Based on the tenants of building sustainable social and environmental change in Nepal, the school building projects have heavily utilized the contribution of local resources and community involvement. When one browses through pictures of the construction projects, it is hard not to notice how efficient and solution oriented the construction projects are. Even though generous GMIN supporters fund the projects, the overriding goal is to implement solutions that can be sustained locally. The school designs are tailored to meet the unique needs of each village. Building schools not only reinforces the importance of education but also provides safe learning environment for children deprived of basic necessities of life. Mainly in rural Nepal, school buildings serve multiple purposes for community events, shelter during natural calamities and so on. So the onus on organization like GMIN is to assure that school buildings are constructed well and maintained by the community.

  Many schools were severely damaged when 6.9 richter scale earthquake hit the north-eastern part of Nepal in September 2011. The schools collapsed in various regions around Nepal due to combination of poor infrastructures and the severity of the earthquake. It was an eye opening experience to make sure that even in rural areas of Nepal, schools had to be built according to the standards of earthquake prone zones. Shortly after the disaster, GMIN team surveyed damaged schools in Taplejung and started reconstruction of schools in Nankholang and Biphudap villages in that region. According to the GMIN members involved in the project, two schools in Taplejung were constructed such that concrete was used all around the building in order to make it resistant to earthquake. Three inches of cement and small stones were layered right after the foundation; especially to make sure windows and doors could withstand natural calamities. Bringing raw materials from other places was a tough call due to transportation problem so natural materials like compressed soil blocks, mountain stones and wooden frames were re-used. There were no favorable spots for reconstruction other than the spots where schools had collapsed due to earthquake. GMIN partnered with local masons and construction workers to implement durable and ecological techniques that the village could afford. Locals also advised GMIN team that dry wood was better than new wood. Hence, it was an ideal opportunity to recycle the leftover raw materials like wooden frames, planks, and stones from the debris. GMIN team also reported that it also significantly saved time and reduced labor cost because heavy stones like did not have to be transported from one location to another.

  While planning the logistics for the construction projects, GMIN members usually collaborate with local community to initiate volunteerism to reduce labor cost. However, in Taplejung, it was found that not many villagers were experienced for the construction so contractors from Dang were hired for this project. Villagers were not resistant to the idea but were very supportive mainly because the contractors were very efficient. Time was of essence, because school had to be resumed and conducting classes in bamboo huts would be a problem during monsoon season. With good planning and relentless support from the villagers, GMIN team certainly proved it right because one of the schools was built within one month while schools that were being constructed by other non-profits in the same vicinity took longer to be completed. This project sets example for other villages to replicate the idea of making earthquake resistant schools and also enables local ownership and accountability to maintain the school’s welfare.

Students at the opening of Shree Baraha Prathamik Vidhyalaya in Khadda, Dang district. 

This project was funded by Classic Diamond Jwelery, the first business sponsor of GMIN's project.

Classes were held in storage room or outside while the construction of school in Dubichour was in progress. Students are still keen on learning and attending classes despite the unfavorable condition of their school.  

Famous nepali singer Raju Lama, actively participated in the renovation of a school in Sunchour, Sindhupalchowk district. He donated to GMIN  through Raju Lama foundation and also actively volunteered for tree plantation and spent some time with the students during his visit to Sindhupalchowk, in 2011. 

This was GMIN's 7th school project. Please click on this link

GMIN rented this house in Obang, Dang district for as little as $3 a month to converted it into a primary school in the village. This is GMIN's sixth school project in Dang.