Monday, September 19, 2011

The Library is Finished!




Yes, it is actually the year 2068 in Nepal. The official calendar of Nepal is the Vikram Samvat. It is 56.7 years ahead of the Gregorian Calendar.

Thank you again for all of your help. This project was made possible by the many donations from family, friends, blog friends and customers. The community is grateful to everyone who made contributions and regrets that the artist could not put all of their names on the sign.

Please also note that Room to Read will be sending a package of as many as 250 books and the Joy Foundation has offered to contribute books through other sources. And, I was able to send an additional $250 for books and science equipment.

The community plans to hire a librarian and after the books have arrived and the librarian is ready they will have an opening ceremony. I really wish I could go, but I don't think there is enough spare cash for that right now.

Thanks again everyone!

The community is actively looking for English speakers that might want to spend time (even a few weeks or months) in the village teaching. If you know of anyone who is interested in this type of adventure, contact me, Jennifer Gerard at awog@erols.com. It is not a paid position.

I just heard that there was an earthquake in northern India that affected Sikkim and Nepal. Nepal is in no way prepared for a serious earthquake. Most of the homes would just rattle apart. So far they have reported 50 dead but there are many remote villages that can not be reached because of landslides. An early estimate is that 100,000 homes have been damaged. These pictures of the library must have been sent to me just hours before the earthquake. I'll let you know if I hear from anyone about the impact on the village where the library is.

10 comments:

  1. Dear Ellen thanks for the enthusiasm, hooray!

    *Ellen made her comment before I added the information about the earthquake.

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  2. I'm so happy to see the finished product of all your hard work. And I'm dismayed and saddened by the earthquake. I've been listening and watching the stories of the disaster all day with you and your friends there on my mind.

    Such good and such tragic news.

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  3. wow, a finished library! How absolutely magical! Do keep us posted on this quake and any way that we can help. D page said her lama was from this area.

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  4. Oh, how beautiful. And how sad. Yes, please, let us know how the village fared.

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  5. butternut - congratulations on the successful beginning of your project. i sincerely hope that the library withstood the earthquake allowing its positive intent to unfold. steven

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  6. yes, many heartfelt congratulations on your accomplishments - what a magnificent project! and many many caring thoughts for all those impacted upon by this earthquake - please do keep us posted - best wishes -

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  7. Good news, JR wrote from the village today. He says that they are all fine up in the village but it is still raining everyday and very slippery.

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  8. That's fantastic. I know so many others are impacted, but I'm glad to hear that their new addition is doing alright.

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  9. Good to hear good news about your friends in the village!

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