Dream the Dream: Explore what we are dreaming...

 Our dream is to improve and enrich the lives of impoverished and discriminated against individuals who live in Tilahi in southeastern Nepal.  We dream of  creating paths out of poverty for members of the Musahar Caste who reside in the area.  We seek to do so by providing assistance to local residents and helping to create a new "village" for local residents that will provide opportunities for raising crops and for working, living and supporting each other in a community setting. This model has been successful in other third world areas and we hope to enact it here.

Our dream begins with Ten Friends continuing to support Tilahi children so that they may attend school,  continuing to provide vocational training for young women, continuing to make improvements in local health care,  and assuring the availability of safe drinking water and improvements to sanitary conditions. 

We also dream of being able to support the education of children who have excelled in school and who have the desire of advancing their education.  We dream of supporting them so that they can attend school in other areas within Nepal -- such as The Himalayan Education Center --another program sponsored by Ten Friends.  The dream extends to  providing scholarships for attending school at the University level.  The hope is that some of the students will return to the village and apply their skills and knowledge in helping others -- some even becoming teachers and being employed in the local school.

We dream of the creation of a new community of local villagers who live in a lifestyle helping each other in raising themselves up from the impoverished conditions they have experienced for three or more generations.  The dream is based on moving individuals from a slavery based existence to one in which they can prosper as members of a self-supporting community.  

The dream is founded on the belief that members of the community will prosper if they can farm on,  live on, and work on land that is owned by a non-profit organization affiliated with Ten Friends.  No longer being squatters on privately owned land, there will be opportunities to break the cycle of poverty that they have endured for generations.

A key part of the dream starts with agriculture. Growing food on land that is community owned will offer new opportunities for success. Using sustainable farming practices and being able to harvest and consume and / or sell food is a key part of the dream.  Local villagers who have for centuries worked the fields will for the first time be in direct control of what they grow, how they farm their crops and what they do with their harvests. Wow, just imagine the possibilities!

The dream also includes having access to ample safe drinking water.  Wells drilled on the property and filtered water brought to the surface through hand pumps will ensure that water is available and is no longer a challenge to obtain.

As part of the dream -- and it's very basic -- there will be sanitary facilities to deal with human waste.  While we take this for granted, this is presently available only on a limited basis.  

The dream in later years involves the construction of housing for community members. Housing will provide the opportunity to not only farm on the land but to live there. 

The anticipated approach is for Ten Friends to pay for the materials needed for the basic homes and for the families to provide the manpower to construct the home  -- following the successful Habitat for Humanity model.

Imagine a new community center that provides a place for work, after school education and vocational training, a safe place for storing and dispensing health care supplies, a place to house a library, an area for conducting health clinics, and a common area for group meals and events.  

And even dream of local villagers lending their hands in building the center.  Ever watch the movie Witness? Picture folks coming together to construct the building following the Amish tradition --  but without Harrison Ford or Kelly McGillis . Perhaps our new stars will be Pema and Nurbu!

Within the Community Center we envision space for a workshop where seamstresses can manufacture products for use by area residents and for sale to others in Nepal and elsewhere. Already we have provided vocational training to young women and they have begun to produce garments and other textile products. 

Children in the region have begun to attend government school. Ten Friends has sponsored over 60 students and for the first time they are attending school. Uniforms, schools fees, school supplies have been provided and this is making a difference in the lives of the children from the region.  But is this enough? The answer is no and we can enhance their education through after school programs that will provide the children with educational tutoring and vocational training to develop marketable skills for future employment. 

Adult vocational training would also be offered in the community center. Training is envisioned for occupations that village members have an interest in pursuing.         

The Tilahi area is notorious for historically having no health care provisions. Ten Friends has made inroads in this area having conducted medical and dental clinics and in providing health care supplies. A tooth brush anyone? Prior to our involvement, a tooth brush was never seen. Now dental supplies are available on a limited basis.  We envision the community center to include space to make health supplies available.  

We also dream of conducting more frequent medical and dental clinics. Previous pop-up clinics -- with medical staff brought in from Kathmandu -- have been successful and we dream of sponsoring them on a regular basis.

Ten Friends has installed lending libraries in more than 35 locations throughout Nepal. Ten Friends provides the books and  the local village provides the space and book cases. We envision the addition of a new library in the Village's Community Center.