Thanks to your support and contributions, the thanka painting school in the Kabre District of Nepal has finally been reopened as of the last week of December, 2000. Here are some of the pictures taken by the members of the Lotus Energy solar panel/lighting system installation team of the opening ceremony and classroom activities.

New Improvements

In the process of reopening the school, the Lotus Energy and the Himalaya Light Foundation have worked together to make all the necessary preparations. Here are two pictures of the field work, the first one that of the solar panel installation and the second one the wiring work inside the school building, which is shown above as part of the head of this page.
As a result of the insallation of the pollution-free solar lighting system, it became possible for the school to offer an evening class, which has always been wanted by some of the young people who worked during the day, or had to help their parents by taking care of the household chores.

Evening Class Added for Students

Mr. Yadav R Gurung who is in charge of this project at the Himalaya Light Foundation reports in his recent e-mail correspondence that "currently there are altogether 35 students who are regularly in the class." Of the original 48 applicants, 13 have found it difficult to remain in school due to a variety of reasons including "personal and home problems." As a result, he says there are 25 boys and 10 girls left regularly attending the classes. He says the instructor, Mr. Gyurme Norbu, is doing fine. According to him about 75% of the students are doing well. Among them 3 are the best. This is according to his evaluation. The class is running in 3 shifts. The first shifts starts at 7:00 in the morning till 10:00 with 17 students. The second shift starts from 10:00 ends at 12:00 noon with 7 students and the last shifts from 6:00 to 9:00 in the evening with 11 students.
The next three pictures are those of the opening ceremony. The first shows the chief instructor at left being officially greeted at the opening ceremony. He is said to have been carefully selected as a highly qualified thanka painting instructor having in possession the necessary knowledge about Tibetan Buddhism. According to the instructor, there already are a few students whose artistic skills are excellent, and therefore, it seems likely that by the time the late summer season arrives in this highland valley, there are likely to be more than a few finished paintings of marketable quality.
We must remember that one of the principal causes for the failure of the school to keep its doors open last year was its inability to market the finished products at fair market prices. The Japanese donors have discussed this problem since last fall and are seriously considering the merit, with the Virtual Foundation Japan's assistance, of assisting the school set up a direct marketing system which will enable the students and/or their school representative to come in direct contact with the perspective buyers in Japan and elsewhere on the internet to negotiate fair direct purchase prices even before the completion of the art work.

Advanced Digital Communication Technology

In order to make this happen, considerable research has been undertaken by the Virtual Foundation Japan, and as a result, it has been identified that there are a set of technologies which, when combined, promise to make it possible to build a digital bazaar on the internet where such direct encounter and dialogue between sellers and buyers will really become possible.

Step One
First, we begin with the establishment of an internet bazaar accessible by PCs in Kathmandu as well as the rest of the world, while the thanka painting school will still have to remain at this stage in isolation from the internet world. The school can bring the pictures of the paintings taken with a digital camera to Kathmandu to be displayed in the digital bazaar, but between the school and Kathmandu, we must depend on "trekking" delivery man from the school, making it impossible for the school to "negotiate" business with the perspective buyers in foreign countries.
This step, however, is a necessary precondition for the second step, and, thanks to the donations by Ms. Michiko Kuge of Kuge Embroidery and the Soroptimist International of Musashsino, both of Tokyo, Japan, the "pump-priming" fund is already in place for this two-step project which is destined to become an important undertaking of the Virtual Foundation Japan in Nepal this year .

Step Two
The second stage involves the deployment of a cutting-edge technology in satellite communication. We will explore the possibility of installing a ground station terminal at the thanka painting school, which will enable the instructor and students to send and receive e-mail every day and seven days a week just like they are using PCs in Kathmandu. At this stage, they can go back and forth with the perspective buyers in foreign countries just as if they are in a big city. With this setup, therefore, the school can expand and get more student enrollment so that they will produce enough marketable thanka paintings to more than pay for the expenses of the school operation, and the multi-village project will finally take off the ground to become a self-sustaining local enterprise.

What's Our Basic Strategy?
Well. At this stage of the game, the Virtual Foundation Japan and its supporters/donors will have finished the project, won't they? They will then move on to something else inventing some new local business working with the thanka painting school and its board as partners, perhaps. Or, they may move onto somewhere else in Nepal Himalaya to get into something entirely new for other communities.