For my 60th birthday, I'm raising money for my dear friend Krishna's project to build a community center and provide education and necessities in his tiny home town high in the Nepali mountains.  Since meeting Krishna in 2017, I consider him like a son and have visited with him many times in Nepal.  Krishna is generous, honest, ethical and caring--he gives so much to others--I want to help him do that.  It would mean so much to me if you would help, too.

Lokhim is a village of 5,700 people.  Most adults in Lokhim are illiterate.  While there is a school in the village, many of these rural children are unable to attend, as their families require their labor to carry out subsistence agriculture.  In 2015, Lokhim was badly harmed during Nepal’s infamous Gorkha earthquake, with most of the houses in the village damaged or demolished.  The town is still recovering from this disaster.

Krishna has already helped the townspeople of Lokhim to replace the old roof on the school building, as well as buying and delivering school materials such as books, writing materials, desks, benches, a white board, a laptop for use in the school office, and sports equipment.  He has also helped the town to build a community center.  In good times, the center is used for public ceremonies and meetings.  For bad times and future disasters, it was conceived as a resource, a place homeless or hurt villagers could come for help. 

Going forward, Krishna seeks to provide more resources for the school, including hiring teachers who can provide a better quality of education for the children and offering lunch and snacks to the children so that they don’t feel hungry and can concentrate on their school work.  He also plans to construct toilets, offer basic medical resources, and provide food and clothing for impoverished elders.  Any gift you give will go toward these projects--and please realize how much further a dollar goes in Nepal than in New York!

Krishna Bahadur Rai grew up in Lokhim and now lives and works in Kathmandu.  Orphaned at the age of ten, Rai was unable to go to school himself as a child (he has since completed his education, receiving a college degree at university in Kathmandu as well as a Masters Degree in Sociology).  He performed some of the most difficult forms of child labor and often experienced hunger.  His goal is to give children the opportunities he lacked, and to support those in the village with the hardest lives. 

Thank you so much.  Your generosity means so much to me, to Krishna, and to the children, elders, and people of Lokhim, Nepal.