Appeal: help set up a charity for the education of untouchables in Nepal

Dear All

As mentioned before on this blog, I come from one of the poorest and so called untouchable or low caste or Dalit families in rural Nepal. Apparently I am the first Nepalese untouchable to attend Oxford University.

I feel that I am morally obliged to do something for the people who were not as lucky as I was. I aim to help the poor children and young men and women from my community in Nepal with their education. They continue to suffer in various ways, including financial hardships and social ostracisation. Perhaps, many agree that education is a best weapon for fighting social injustice.

My own case shows that support in education can be productive. Although I was born to an illiterate, poor, segregated and peasant family in rural Nepal, I was able to come this far mainly due to the generous financial support I acquired through a Christian organisation called United Mission to Nepal. I am fully funded at Oxford as well.

I intend to open a charity to run a sponsorship programme focussed on poor students or children who have not been to school. Some of them will be the orphans who lost their fathers in the recent Maoist's war. The government figures show some 13,000 people were killed, including many civilians, in the ten-year-long conflict. Although the conflict is now officially over, the families of victims continue to suffer.

As James Gray (Conservative MP) and Dr David Gellner (my faculty advisor at university) are aware, I am very passionate about the situation of Nepalese low caste. I have been writing about their plight in the national newspapers in Nepal. Although I was working for British Embassy Kathmandu, I have done some volunteer work with a few Dalit organisations while in Nepal. I intend to return upon completion of my degree to serve my country and community.

As I am new to Oxford and the UK, I do not have contacts with the relevant people and organisations who might be able to help. I am also trying to find some interested people who might be happy to give some of their time by serving as trustees to the proposed charity. I would be grateful for any other bits of advice and ideas on how to register the charity and how to network with like-minded people and institutions, subsequent fund-raising and so on.

I would be grateful for any basic ideas or advice you could give me at this stage.

Thank you.


mitra.pariyar@st-hughs.ox.ac.uk


Mitra Pariyar
Student, MPhil (Social Anthropology)
St. Hugh's College
OX2 6LE
Oxford, UK