Basa Village Hydroelectric & Smokeless Stoves Project
The project goal is to raise $20,000 to purchase and install 2 hydroelectric generators and wiring for electricity for the Basa village area of 75 homes and to purchase 5 computers and internet access for the village school was reached on Oct. 1, 2010. As soon as the electric system is completed it will bring great benefits for the villagers and school children. Currently firewood is the fuel for lighting, heating and cooking. School children have no access to the outside world, as there is no regular mail delivery, phone service, TV or Internet connection in the village. The 5 grades in the Basa school have very limited resources. Unfortunately, most of the school children will be forced to leave Basa as the small family farms cannot support extended families. So, preparation to cope with living and working in an urban area, like Katmandu, is extremely important for the school children. Providing lighting to the village and computers and Internet access for the school will thus not only improve the quality of life in the village, it will greatly benefit village children as they will be computer literate when they move to an urban area.
Our next goal is to raise $5,000 to purchase smokeless stoves for the village. If the project is successful, it will have great health benefits for the villagers. Currently firewood is the primary fuel for lighting, heating and cooking. Villagers inhale carbon smoke every day of their lives. By significantly reducing the reliance on firewood there should be a great reduction in cardio-pulmonary problems and cataracts.
The few villagers who have employment or income other than their subsistence
farms will be required to pay for all or part of their smokeless stoves.
Only villagers who have no means to purchase a stove will receive one without
charge. The hydroelectric system will be installed with the labor of
villagers and will be maintained by a village co-operative. Each of the
projects devised by Niru Rai (my co-director) and me for the improvement of Basa
village requires the villagers to "own" the project. The local people lack
capital, but they have provided the labor for all work projects, even the
teachers at the school, who are village women educated in Katmandu.
In November 2010, Mike Miller, a retired electrical engineer,
and I plan to visit Basa (at our own expense) to review progress of
the electrical work and check on the school computers. Additionally, Niru Rai,
my primary contact with the village will provide progress reports, photos and an
accounting of the funds.
First Friends of Indianapolis Quaker Meeting is the fiscal agent and sponsor of the project, so that donors may claim a tax deduction for contributions to the project. Funds donated should be designated to First Friends Basa Project. The church will transfer funds to a trust account in Everest Bank, the licensed bank in Katmandu for the Basa Village Foundation, a registered Nepalese NGO. The account has 3 signatories on it, Niru, Ganesh & Sanga from Basa village.
If you would like to contribute finanacially,
You may also donate through paypal:
Anyone interested in participating in, or commenting on, the planning of the next project for Basa Village should contact me
at jrasley@juno.com or Niru at niru@wlink.com.np.
Basa School Project (completed):
The Basa School Project was successfully completed as to fund raising in 2008. This project was intended to raise funds for the village school in Basa, Nepal in a remote area of the Solu region. Niru Rai is in charge of the distribution of funds, and he reports that, as of March 2009, the following improvements have been made to the School by use of the funds donated:
- Cracked floors have been patched, window frames have been painted and repaired, and additional benches have been built;
- A playground and safety wall has been constructed;
- A compost toilet has been installed (which will benefit the whole village);
- Teaching materials and workbooks for grades K through 5 were shipped and have been delivered to the school; and
- Sufficient funds were raised (and are being held in the School’s Trust Account) to hire and pay 4th and 5th grade teachers for three years, so the School was able to expand from grades 1 to 3 to 1 through 5.
All of this was accomplished with donations totaling $6,300.00.
La Campagne Ministry, Inc. of Bloomington, IN is the 501(C)(3) charitable organization which sponsored the fund raising campaign and transferred the funds raised to the School’s account, and only charged a 2% administrative fee for its services. Donations ranged in amounts from $50 to $1000 with over 30 donors participating. The study materials were provided at not cost as “discard items” by the Indiana Dept. of Education.
[Rasley delivering a check of the initial funds raised to Niru Rai, supervisor of the Basa School Account, at the Katmandu Guest House.]
Village children often walk many hours on mountain trails to attend school.
Basa kids had to walk two hours to reach the nearest school before the Basa School was built in 2003
by a French-Canadian NGO.
Class rooms in the Basa School.
The School building Sanga Rai, trekking sirdar and husband of
senior teacher at Basa School, reviewing
donated materials with Rasley
A grateful parent after receiving a grant for his child’s educational expenses from the French NGO, Sol Himal
