The “Education is Freedom-Nepal” fundraising campaign ended about four months ago.
I am very very thrilled to report that the process of transferring the funds to us (COMMITTED) has finally begun. The last few months, processing the donations and settling the issues that kept cropping up regularly made it really difficult to have access to the funds. At least a few times, cancellations and/or reversal of the donations caused Sakar’s account to be locked etc. But all that is behind us now.
When all was said and done, we have ended up with US$31,555.88. Some of the funds went to pay fees. Fees levied by Startsomegood.com, WePay, and Paypal amounted to a little over 9% of the take! A little over a dozen pledges were either canceled or reversed, which also accompanied hefty charges!
However, the most important thing is that now COMMITTED can begin the process of transferring the funds from our account in the US to our account in Kathmandu, Nepal. Following that, we’ll begin the process of submitting, to Social Welfare Council (SWC), formal requests for permission to begin implementing the projects. Once we get the “go ahead,” we can formally begin implementing them in earnest. As per government of Nepal policy, all NGO and INGO projects must have SWC’s approval stamp before being implemented. (If you have been following my blogs, however, you already know that we have initiated the fishery.) The approval also comes with a price tag!
There are a number of people who worked with me and helped me immensely to make the campaign the resounding success that it was. I would like to thank them here by recognising their contribution.
First off, there was Sakar, my fellow Australian-bush-hat-loving, crowd sourcing Guru! Without him basically leading me by the hand, I doubt the campaign would have been anywhere near as successful. (I have Subina to thank for introducing me to Sakar.)
Then, there’s Pete, videographer extraordinaire! He not only patiently worked with me and in front of me, next to his camera, to make me look and sound as good as I did on that first video, he also trekked with me all the way to Thankpalkot to capture more footage and produced the second video about the beautiful children of Raithane School and their dreams.
Then there was Ujjwala who helped with the texts of the campaign.
And then, there were the volunteers, who very generously gave of their time to do a lot of the really boring but absolutely essential work. And they were Maya, Sahara, Roneeshma, Surekha, Jeremy and Gwen (who, though on vacation, spent hours slaving away in front of computer screens!).
And then, there were all those who, without my goading or coaxing, publicised the campaign and got others, family and friends, to contribute.
And finally, there were the 250 or so of my friends, friends of friends, students, parents of students etc. who donated and made this fundraising drive a success.
I hope you all realise how much the children and community of Thangpalkot appreciate your kindness and generosity!
