SAMJHANA
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| President David (left) with top student Samjhana |
Nothing brings us WELNepalians more pride and happiness than sponsoring young women who wish to continue their post secondary school studies. Many of these incredibly bright women come from families who either can’t afford to send their daughters to school or think education is wasted on girls. Our scholarship students need to be two things — dirt poor and darned smart!
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| Inside the house Samjhana built |
Now, let me introduce you to Samjhana Raut. If we wanted to be campy, we would call her our “Poster Girl." Samjhana comes from a very poor family. Her father is a caretaker at a government school, a job that pays very little. Her mother spends her days washing clothes at one of the local tourist lodges. Samjhana is in charge of the house.
Samjhana’s
many duties include cleaning the house, washing the clothes, cooking and
trekking into the jungle to cut the wood for the fire she needs to make to
prepare the evening meals. She also is in charge of looking after her
older brother and two younger sisters.
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| Samjhana at home |
In spite of
all this, Samjhana is at the top of her class — a spot usually reserved for
students fortunate enough to have attended private secondary schools. She’s
currently earning a bachelor’s degree in business at a local school in Tandi Bazaar, a school she
bikes seven kilometers to every day. She is always asking questions about
everything and strives to understand the world around her. There is nothing
that doesn’t pique her interest.
Samjhana’s
heart is also in the right place. She introduced us to another young
woman who needed financial assistance to continue her schooling, and she’s
always asking WELNepal for projects for other women in her village.
This past
year, Anh (a friend of WELNepal) visited Nepal
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| Samjhana (right) with Anh Luc (left) |
Samjhana has such a
beautiful, sweet and gentle spirit that you cannot help but fall in love with
her personality almost instantly. I
first met Samjhana when David took Barry (another WELNepalian) and me to her
lovely home so Barry could film her plastering her house with mud, buffalo dung and
dried grass. She informed
us on arrival that she had to miss school that day because she wasn’t feeling
well. But instead of
resting, this amazing young lady was up at dawn doing chores.
I saw a strong and
beautiful young lady who carried on her daily chores, despite her illness,
without complaint. When David asked her why she didn’t build her house with
cement, she replied — with a big, radiant and proud smile — “because this is my
house!” I will NEVER forget
that reply.
A very proud reply
that said it didn’t matter if her house was not built with the best or
strongest materials, it was her house
and she built it with her bare hands. What’s not to love about her? After
that first meeting, I wanted to see Samjhana again and made sure that David
brought me back when he visited again. Since
then, we have become the best of friends and the best of sisters.
The country
of Nepal
