Dhan Bahadur Lama,
DB Lama was born in a middle
class shepherd family in a small village
of Humla. He was a kind
of child who liked to play with clay and makes dolls and cars with it. His
elders used to say “This boy doesn’t play with things like his friends do,
balls made out of clothes, stones, kappaddi etc. This boy shows some creative
behaviour.”
In his childhood there was a
school about an hours walk above his village. He remembers only a few of his
elders going to that School. He was born in a polyandry community where all the
family members are engaged in different kinds of professions like, farming,
rearing yaks, cows, horses and sheep. Most of the families gave preference to going
after the sheep, and yaks. That is why most of his elders do not go to school.
People at that time used to think
if he has the greatest number of animals he is rich and would get social
respect too. People did not have a positive opinion about education; instead
they used to say “Who will give job to my son if I let him go to school? If he
goes after the sheep we do not have to employ another person.”
Even if one got permission to go
to school, he could not continue it due to family pressure either to follow the
family profession or to get married. Once he married, he is bound to fulfill
family needs so he would drop out from school.
DB’s grandfather used to be
illiterate but he was chosen as the “Mukhiya” (village head) of his village.
Later he was chosen as “Upapradhan Panch” (Vice Chairman) of Humla. At his
times there were no government offices in Humla. One had to go to Jumla to
deposit government tax. During his tenure of pradhanpanch he faced a lot of
problem due to being an illiterate person. He needed a person to read out his letters.
So he decided to educate his sons and grandsons.
One day, DB was brought to the
newly opened school in his village by his grandfather. He also brought a
bottle-guard full of Chhyang (barley brew) with butter on the head of the
bottle-guard. Later DB realized that it was the celebration of his first day to
school. He started with Ka Kha…..- the Nepalese alphabet. When he started to
read words and make sentences then there was a problem. There were no books
available and DB has to depend on his teacher for the day’s lesson. One day DB
got a book that he bought for 5 kilos of wheat. He told his mother and
grandmother that he needed 5 kilos of wheat to buy that book. This was the
second book that he bought.
DB slowly moved forward with
amazing results. At that time the schools used to practice a rote system of
learning. He was very bright and used to be the first child to give the test
everyday. His teacher was happy with his attitude, and quest for learning. His
memory power was amazing.
But one day he had a very
harassing experience when his actual teacher went to the district headquarters.
On that day the teacher appointed the eldest student for his replacement to run
the school in his absence.
As usual DB was almost ready for
his test. He had to recite the lesson by heart. But another boy stood before
him to give his test. DB was surprised to see his friend who had never been
before him. DB watched it thinking that he would not be successful but to DB’s
surprise he passed the test. Soon DB realized the substitute teacher showing
the book almost open to the boy. DB did not say anything and he prepared for
his test. DB did good and passed 75% of his lesson but he got stuck at the end.
He couldn’t pass the test but he was confident to pass the second time. Yes, he
did very well that time but he was very badly hurt by the act of the substitute
teacher. The teacher was not honest in his responsibility. That was the worst
day in his school life so he still remembers the day. DB couldn’t resist this
and he told this to his younger grandfather when he came home.
His grandfather used to be a very
angry person who could not bear such biased actions. In his life he had
dangerous fights with the people of Achham and Kalikot district when he was there
herding his sheep.
The next morning he was ready to
join DB to school. He saw the boy and asked DB if that was the yesterday’s
substitute teacher. As soon as he noticed a nod from DB he grabbed the boy by
his arm and threw him downhill towards his home. At this moment DB felt guilty
for telling the story to his grandfather.
The teacher inquired about the incident;
DB told the truth. The teacher asked both DB and the other boy to take their
test again. DB passed but the other boy couldn’t pass so he had to repeat the
lesson again.
From another point of view, DB
was encouraged to keep working hard. His teacher also punished the substitute
teacher. DB passed each and every test in first place. He used to know the
names of the 75districts in 14 zones of Nepal by heart.
Later his school moved to Thehe.
It used to take half an hour downhill to go to his school for DB. At that time
there were 5 other older kids going to school also but they used to sneak out
and pass time by gambling. They slowly started threatening DB for going to
school. Later DB was relieved when a village teacher was transferred to that
school. He started going with that teacher daily. Because of no water facility
DEO Humla decided to move the school to another location.
Later, it moved to the present Raling High
School location. It was much easier for DB to go
to School. At this time he had more friends from the neighboring villages. He
had 7 friends in his class. He was doing quite well in his class. This was a
major turn in DB’s life.
One day the headmaster informed
DB to go to the district headquarters to sit for a scholarship exam to go to
study in Kathmandu. His family used to rear
some cows and his next door boy used to go after the cows. But on this very day
his family had to send him to plough the field and asked DB’s family to take
turn and go after the cattle. This situation created a huge turmoil in DB’s
mind and DB was forced to cope with the situation and find a way out to go to
district headquarters to appear in the exams. Since childhood DB never liked
going after the cattle. The other thing was that DB’s father, uncles and
grandfathers were not at home. His mom and grand mother suggested him to go
after the cattle. DB thought that it is definite that his mother and
grandmother would send him after the cows rather than let him go to appear for the
exams. So now he decided to run away from home: as soon as he had eaten in the
morning, he escaped to join his teacher and his friends on their way to the
exam. Finally he took all the challenges and risks in search of better
education and opportunity to go to Kathmandu, the capital of Nepal and to choose
for education rather then for cattle herding.
After 3 months there was an
unclear news “Limi teacher Dhan Bahadur or son of a Limi teacher Dhan Bahadur
Lama is selected to go to Kathmandu to study”
and DB's father went to Simikot to confirm the news and he came with the good
news that DB was selected. When he got the letter saying that it is time to
bring DB to Budhanilkantha School (the best school) of Nepal then it took a few days to prepare for the
journey to Kathmandu. The date was fixed for
just after the Chaitalo festival in Thehe village on 12th of Fagun,
2034 BS (23rd of February, 1978). DB also enjoyed his last night
with his friends singing “Dueda” after returning from Chaitalo.
At that time the airstrip in
Simikot was under construction. The UNDP plane used to drop rice from the sky
without landing and make two rounds to drop all the sacks of rice that it
carried. It was not possible to fly from Humla to Nepalgunj. So we decided to
walk up to Jumla and fly from there. It took us 7 days to reach Jumla crossing
snowcapped high passes of Changkheli, Ghuchchi and Danphe Lek. My friend,
Jagat, who was also selected for the same opportunity accompanied with us.
When we reached Jumla, it was the
King Birendra’s visit to Jumla. It was like a big festival which we enjoyed and
saw a helicopter first time in our life.
The next day we flew to Kathmandu via Nepalgunj. On the way to Nepalgunj, DB saw people
cycling, driving jeeps and horse cart. It was a very interesting moment for DB.
He saw different kinds of means of transportation common in Nepal. He also
experienced the heat of the lowlands (Terai) in Nepalgunj.
After refueling, the plane left for
Kathmandu. Once in Kathmandu DB’s father was
sick due to the long journey by air. DB carried the bag that his father carried
for the last 10 days and they moved to Boudha where there a guy from Limi owned
a house and whom DB’s father used to know when he was a teacher in Limi. All
three DB, Jagat and DB’s father stayed in that house. Next morning, all of the
three decided to go to school
When DB and Jagat arrived in the Budhanilkantha School, they met with their friends and
went to the store to get clothes and toiletries. Their friends taught them each
and every rule and regulation including table habits. They started their lessons
from that day.
DB’s father told DB that he would
come back again. Each day DB waited at the school gate for his father. He kept
doing so for a week as if his father would come to meet him. This shows that
for a child his parents are very important. After one week DB told himself that
his father had gone home. He spent the rest of the time as usual according to
the school schedule.
DB spent seven years in this
school and enjoyed all the facility that he got there. He was an average
student in the school. He also received the first prize on poetry recitation
competition when he was in class 4. During first monsoon month, it was raining
heavily and DB was in the classroom. He dreamt of his father and friend who
were after the sheep. “I am in the
classroom and dry but my friends and my father should be out in the middle of
the jungle grazing sheep and goats. It would be a good moment if my friends
also got this opportunity as me. We could play together, eat together and have
fun together. But……it was not possible because they are illiterate and that’s
why they chose to go after the sheep and goats. Even if I could not do anything
for my friends now, I will do something for the future generation of Humla. It
was DB’s strong determination since childhood to do something for their
community and the people. The only thing one can do to make a difference in lives
of others is helping someone to acquire education”.
He completed his SLC from there
and worked in different NGOs and INGOs. He worked as a principal in a boarding
School in Surkhet for 4 years. After that he worked as a Nepali language
teacher for expatriates at International Nepal Fellowship. After that he
thought that he should go back to his community and work for the people of his
birth place. Then he joined with Nepal Trust and work there for 5 years as
project Coordinator. During this period, he worked as a Team Leader for trekkers
who came to help build health posts, micro-hydro project and renovate
monasteries. He also visited different parts of the Mid-western region of Nepal while
walking with the trekkers from Jumla to Humla. He learnt a lot and had close
understanding of the people of this region. He promised to work in this
organization for at least 10 years. But it did not happen. The boss did not
like his views of the lower level staff and their benefits.
Later he and his colleague Babita
Lama decided to resign from the post and initiated their own organization, The
Himalayan Innovative Society (THIS).
He had to start from the scratch. He started the work with a computer that he
bought for his elder son on his birthday. He put all his energy and strength on
this, worked day and night. On the 10th of January 2003, he was
successful to get THIS registered at
the CDO Kathmandu. He contacted his friends whom he trekked with and worked. He
was successful to at least start with 2 small projects. First one was Free SLC
tuition class and scholarships to girls and Dalit students. Both the projects did
not have any salary or office expenses. Luckily, by the end of August he was
successful to tap a project on Community Learning Centers fromUNESCO Kathmandu. In this project, there was the salary for one
staff only. He decided to take this as an opportunity and divide the salary
with his colleague Babita Lama. They successfully completed the project with a
great result.
At this time, Nepal was
suffering severely under the Maoist insurgency and it was very difficult for
small NGOs like THIS to survive. The
project phased out at the end of 2005.
Again the bad days started and
for 10 months there was no sign of another project. He kept contacting with
different people and organizations for different kinds of opportunities. He
received an e-mail from a friend about a conference on women’s right in Sandiego, USA.
He decided to send his colleague Babita. She was successful to receive a visa
for the conference. DB thought that it would be good to meet with different
friends and networks in the US
with Babita and she will have more exposure. He wrote to his friends and
requested them to provide room to stay during her visit. She was seen off with
great love and care. As the US Embassy provided her a 5 year multi-entry visa,
she decided to stay there for longer time and sent just a 2 sentenced e-mail
saying that she would like to stay for some more time. She continued staying in
the US and the next year she
also applied for her husband also and both of them are in the US till date.
In November, 2006, there was huge
news of child trafficking from the districts of Mid-western region of Nepal.
UNICEF also mentioned in its report that about 500 children from different
districts of mid-western region have been trafficked. Different I/NGOs decided
to work in this field and Central Child Welfare Board, District Child Welfare Board
and Nepal Police rescued several children from an illegal children’s home. ISIS decided to help these children and provide care and
education to them.
During this time, DB was looking
for new projects and was applying wherever there was an opportunity. Once again
one day; DB received an e-mail from a friend of him offering a new project on
child-related activities. He accepted it and applied for the project on the
basis of two staff Babita and himself. He got a sort of green light from the ISIS
Foundation. At the same time he got e-mail from his friend Babita saying that
she would not come to Nepal
for 5 more months. It made DB very sad and DB did not know what to do. He
thought that the opportunity be lost. He immediately decided to inform ISIS foundation and change the project staff due to
Babita’s absence. ISIS also considered on his
request to change the staff structure and asked DB to give his alternative
staff structure. The project was confirmed and THIS
decided to hire two new staff and run the ISIS Family Repatriation Project. By
the end of November 2006, THIS had
its first visit to 19 VDCs of Humla to find the family of the kids rescued from
Matatirtha and Thankot’s child trafficking during August, 2006. DB led the team
and visited 19 VDCs of Humla and found all the family members except of 3
orphans. In his field report he mentioned the need of better educational facility
in districts like Humla. He concluded his report with the suggestion to try to
improve the educational infrastructure and develop teaching and learning
environment and improved educational services, etc.
Right now, with support from Next
Generation Nepal THIS is trying to
work in Bal Mandir, the second largest high school in Humla’s district
headquarters with 530 children and where most of the poorest children go to
receive their formal education.
THIS
is hoping to improve the infrastructure, the teacher's attitude towards the
students and self motivation towards their job. THIS
is also seeking how we can practice good discipline and respect within the
teachers and the students and how we can create a child friendly teaching and
learning environment in this school.
In order to create a less
expensive educational institution, THIS
wishes to manage a school without ties, freedom of uniform but cleanliness and
tidiness is highly encouraged. This criterion is very suitable for the people
of Humla who have very limited sources of income and have been pressed by
poverty, disease and illiteracy.
