Since 1974, Marmot has focused on the great mountain regions of the world: providing financial assistance, clothing and aid to preserve cultural populations and endangered animals in these remote areas. This effort has taken the company from wild river projects in California to a Canadian marmot preserve to establishing enforceable labor standards in contract sewing factories in China. However, no cause has received as much time and effort or is as important to the people of Marmot, as the dZi Foundation. The dZi Foundation, founded nearly 10 years ago, is directly engaged in the promotion of education, health, culture and welfare of indigenous mountain communities of the world. The Foundation focuses primarily on the small Himalayan communities in Nepal, Ladakh and Sikkim: providing safe houses, educational support and rehabilitation for young girls, nutritional rehabilitation homes, medical, dental, sanitation and sponsorship support, and community kitchens, and playgrounds. The Foundation operates the Kathmandu Friendship House for Girls, is a partner with The Himalayan Dental Relief Project in India, and funded the Women�s Alliance of Ladakh, India remodel of a retail store for the sale of natural dye garments from 500 women for 14 remote villages. For every one-dollar donated to the Foundation, 89 cents is invested directly into these projects. The volunteers of the dZi Foundation conduct on-site, hands-on work projects several times a year. Marmot has been a proud sponsor of the dZi Foundation for many years, assisting in dZi projects by providing volunteers, funds, travel and gear to support its extraordinary humanitarian efforts. Contact dZi to learn more about their work, make a contribution, or to volunteer for a project in the Himalayas.
dZi Newsletter: Volume 6, Issue 4 - May 2007
Namaste, Friends and Supporters of dZi,
I have returned to Kathmandu having been on the trail for the last
twelve days, after having trekked into the regions of Khotang and
lower Solu Khumbu. Ben Ayres, our Nepal project coordinator, has been
moving the Appreciative Community Development (ACD) projects rapidly
forward. Ben has worked in Nepal for the last eight years and speaks
fluent Nepali; we are fortunate to have him on the dZi team. With his
help, we are helping thousands in these extremely remote regions of
Nepal.
It is hard to describe how remote and rugged these areas of eastern
Nepal are. To reach our project area from the nearest dirt runway
airport takes four full days walking an average of eight to ten hours
a day. The nearest paved road is a full week’s walk away. The terrain
is so steep that the locals say when walking uphill “if you fall over
the first thing that hits the ground is your nose.” There are no
roads passable by motor vehicles, no health clinics, no hospitals,
and no electricity. The trek was like walking in and out of the Grand
Canyon everyday, and about that hot.
On this trip, we visited seven schools that dZi has funded in the
last seven months through the ACD project. Three have been completed
and four are in full swing. The reception from village to village was
amazing and the immense gratitude from the local people has made this
the most rewarding trip I have ever been on in all my Nepal journeys.
The ACD project has almost limitless potential to serve the people of
these most remote regions of Eastern Nepal, and we intend to act on
that need. (Top photo is of the Narkhel School under construction in
the Khotang District.)
The bottom photo is Ben and I being honored at a school reception in
the village of Sotang. We will be funding a new primary school in
Sotang for 400 children this fall.
We will be expanding upon a model developed and tested in the field
by dZi Nepal Project Coordinator, Ben Ayers. This model uses an
appreciative approach to development – where community members and
dZi facilitators are encouraged to discover the root cause of success
in their villages, and use previous community accomplishments as a
springboard for new ideas and dreams.
Please click on this link to see a comprehensive overview of the
Appreciative Community Development Project.
All the best.
Jim Nowak
Executive Director
Taksindu Social Welfare and Karma Sherpa
In the April newsletter, I told the story of Karma Sherpa who Kim and
I paid for his college education at Kathmandu University. He was the
Sirdar or leader of the above-mentioned trek into eastern Nepal.
Karma is now president of the Taksindu Social Welfare Council (TSW),
and is in charge of building the new primary school in Chhulemu (with
dZi Funding). TSW and the local community have set a shining example
of how we want our schools to be constructed.
The construction foreman began the foundation for the school by
digging the first corner five feet deep – he instructed everyone in
the community that it had to be as deep as he was tall. The
foundation was made up of broken and tightly stacked rocks from the
old school creating a “rubble trench” foundation. There were thirty-
four piels of rock (a piel is the equivalent of a large palate). The
granite cornerstones were hand-chiseled into large, square slates, so
the corners would remain stable for years to come. Some of the slates
were three feet long, two feet wide and six to eight inches thick.
The lumber was donated from the local community forest – hand-milled
in the jungle and carried on someone’s back to the school site. Each
board was then hand-planed flat and square before being used in the
windows, doorframes, or the interior floors. Over-sized windows were
built into the school to provide better light for the children. A
crawl space with airflow was also installed so the wood floors would
not rot out over time, an issue we have seen in the past. The metal
roof was carried in from the closest road in Jiri, a ten-day round trip.
After all was said and done, we ended up with an exceptional school
built by the community rather than a local builder. With the dZi
financial investment of $5,000, Chhulemu now has a primary school
that will last at least 50 years, and which, over the years, will
provide a place in which to educate thousands of Chhulemu children.
We are extremely proud of Karma and what he and his community have
accomplished. A relatively small capital investment will result in
continuing benefits for years to come. It is this type of project
that the dZi foundation will continue to support.
The Second dZi DVD: Coming This Fall
Through the generous underwriting of a longtime dZi donor, we are
fortunate to be able to produce our second DVD. Dave O’Leske and Jeff
Winger from Through a Childs Eyes productions are traveling with me
this spring and capturing the necessary footage. We are focusing on
our amazing staff and a number of our new initiatives for this next
film. We will show our Water and Sanitation projects in Ladakh,
Appreciative Community Development in Nepal and Primary Education
sponsorship in Sikkim. If you missed the first DVD we produced 3
years ago, not to worry. This upcoming DVD will have the first
edition plus additional indexed video clips on current projects not
covered in either edition.
If you have never received a mailing from dZi and want to receive our
new DVD please go to our web- site: www.dzifoundation.org. Please
fill out the REQUEST INFORMATION FORM and we will make sure you
receive our fall mailing, this coming October.
Wish List Items
We're in need of a couple of things in the electronics department.
First off, our trusty old Epson digital projector died recently. Our
tech guy has found a really nice Panasonic PT-LB60U LCD projector
that supports much higher resolutions than the Epson, yet is still
very portable. He's found it refurbished for a little more than
$1000, or new for just under $1400 (it lists for $2000).
Secondly, Assistant Director Garry Schalla’s faithful 12" Mac G4
laptop has developed some issues that might result in it needing to
be replaced. (We’ll know more when it goes into the shop in a week or
two.) Garry bought that machine himself more than three years ago,
and has put literally thousands of miles on it. So, we might just be
looking at getting him a new (or refurbished) Apple MacBook sometime
in the coming months. They run anywhere from $900-$1400, depending on
specs. If you think you might be able to help out with either of
these needs, please let us know. As always, your support is immensely
appreciated!