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Nepal Journey Disability Library
Background
Nepal Journey began when the heart of a humanitarian was awakened within Mausami Shrestha, a native of Nepal and surgical assistant residing in the Dallas, Texas area. Mausami was visiting her family when the Himalayan nation faced one of the worst natural calamities in its history as the Gorkha Earthquake struck on April 25, 2015. Seeing the detrimental impact of the earthquakes' aftermath and the need to support revitalization efforts of Nepal with sustainable programs for education, she began raising funds and assisting various organizations. While working on these projects, she realized that she could better support by focusing solely on child welfare centered programs. Nepal Journey is now a US registered non-profit with a mission to establish libraries to improve education and access to resources for children, as well as development of employable skills for adults.
Community Need and Solutions
Nepal is one of the world's poorest countries and relies significantly on tourism and aid. According to a 2011 census report on Nepal, two percent (1.94%; 513, 321) of the total population reported having "some kind of disability", and of that 2%, 36% reported a physical disability and 18.5% reported blindness/low vision. There are organizations providing community based educational services but there is not much focus on the disabled, who are in need of education, career development and life improvement opportunities. There are a substantial undocumented number of persons who use disability centers but choose not to disclose their identity for fear of discrimination. The ability to manage economic disparities declines greatly when also dealing with disabilities. These unfortunate situations motivated Nepal Journey to add a specific focus in their revitalization efforts by establishing a library for the disabled in the community.
Since 2015, the organization has already built four libraries and established a scholarship program. The first library built was for a local high school that serves 1200 students, was donated to the school and is currently being operated by their staff. The second and fourth schools were built in the capital and donated to the government for public use, serving 30,000 and 50,000 visitors, respectively. The third library was built and donated to an elementary school to serve its 106 children. During Nepal Journey's current implementation phase for library development, our focus is to build and operate a library made to directly support those with disabilities-the visually impaired, the hearing impaired and physically disabled. We will also continue providing scholarships for children covering the cost of course materials, supplies and more.
Goals, Outcomes and Timeline
Through the Nepal Journey Disability Library, our goal is to improve the quality of life of children and adults in Nepal through the enhancement of reading levels, comprehension and the access to educational materials for the disabled. The objective is to improve opportunities for residents with disabilities to advance them through the educational system and acquire jobs that previously could not be accessed
In addition, in order to provide equal access to those who are hearing impaired, the library will provide closed-caption critical titles for video collection and computer software, as well as appropriate technology for playing back captions. The library will also offer equal access to those who are visually impaired and unable to read print-based material, by providing a full Braille system that assist with equipment, audio software, talking book players, restrooms, training programs and more. Computer keyboards will also have Braille/large print key caps. The library will include a Braille usage training program to assist those who are visually impaired but not yet able to use Braille.
Construction of the Nepal Journey Disability Library is planned to begin earlier 2018 and can be completed and operating fully within a few months. Having the knowledge and experience gained from establishing the first four libraries gives us an advantage with locating local resources and personnel to meet every need of development and sustainability once funding is made available for the first year of the project.
Funding Requested and Rotary Club Involvement
The Nepal Journey has been able to demonstrate its strong commitment to serving the children, adults and families of Nepal, and those with disabilities. The library and community needs assessments conducted for this program revealed gaps in outreach, training, resources and technologies. We are requesting financial support to cover the cost or greatly impact funding of the next phase of Nepal Journey's program for children and families through the establishment of a disability library, in the amount of $211,900. The funds will be used for construction of the library to include a full Braille system (hardware, software and furniture), a section for the hearing impaired and a section for those with and without physical disabilities. The building will include handicap accessible bathrooms and service counters. Funds will also be used for educational programs and training for children and their families. The project includes personnel cost for operations management including a director, library manager, grants manager (who will manage grant and search for ongoing sustainable project resources), librarians and instructors, and Information Technology staff for oversite of staff, materials, facility maintenance and more.
During Nepal Journeys recent fundraising gala on September 23, 2017, the organization raised $27,000 and has a total of $35,000 for potential matching funds programs with sponsoring organizations. Annually the organization holds fundraising events where they have raised up to $50,000, and in turn used the funds to directly build the libraries.
Rotary Club members can be involved financially as well as in construction, interior design, program development and more to successfully establish the disability library.
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