Every December I struggle with the same challenge -- to know how much is too much when it comes to seeking your partnership for the people of Nepal.

I don’t know that answer, but I do know that we can’t expect folks to help if we don’t at least ask.

I know that some of you open every message we send (boy, do we love you guys!) And a number of you have already given (we really love all of you).

But for all of you who have read and then given there are others who might still be considering their choices. So please, bear with us during December as we accelerate our outreach to try and ensure that we can continue our engagement with the people of Nepal in 2022.

We know, that the challenges will be considerable. Just today, I heard that the omicron variant is now in Nepal. That’s not a surprise given what is happening in the world but, in a nation that has only 30% of the population fully vaccinated, that’s particularly disconcerting.

We’ll do all we can to support communities in crisis. We did it in 2021 when people were at risk and we'll do it again. But, while we have to remain conscious of the pandemic, we can’t forget that one of its greatest costs is to dreams and hopes of the youngest kids, the nation’s future. And central to achieving their dream is education.

Make no mistake, education is transformational. That is something we sometimes forget in America. We take it for granted, but the gift of education — of learning — will change a child’s life forever, just as it changed all of ours. Dignity is learning. That goes without saying.

We know that we can’t help every child left behind in this pandemic, but we’ve done all we can. We have supported Access to Education with the Nepal Youth Foundation. We’ve helped create Community Learning Centers in Shankharapur municipality. We partnered with a community in Gorkha to fund a school computer lab.

And when a struggling school in the terai desperately needed a teacher we helped make it possible. Here is the message we got back from them:

“Without your help, we could not enlighten our highly poor and marginalized students with the knowledge of education. Not only our school but also the whole society is grateful to you for your help, and hope you could continue such a kind help to uplift the quality of education in our school. thanking you!

-- The Matri Sahayog Basic School”

Our colleagues at the Matri Sahavog Basic School are spot on. “Without your help” nothing happens. With your help, the world changes.

With your help in 2022, we’ll expand our partnership in support of the kids of Shankharapur.

We’ll intensify efforts to keep kids in school.

We’ll help a community in Solukhumbu restore a school that was devastated in 2015.

We will work with a range of partners in Nepal supporting the reconstruction of the Ananda Kuti school in the shadow of the UNESCO world heritage site Swayambhunath Stupa.

One of the pillars on which we build our engagement with Nepal is the “Dignity of Learning.” So yes, If you have not yet made a tax-deductible year-end donation, there’s no better time than now.

Give the gift of a future of hope.

Give the gift of the Dignity of Learning.

Thanks, as always, for caring,

Scott

Scott DeLisi

US Ambassador (ret)

Executive Director

Engage Nepal Engage Nepal