Hello All,
Here’s another recent update on my time in Nepal. Thank you for your support in standing with these communities in need. Your prayers and generosity continue to make a great difference — if you’d like to contribute to these projects, there’s still time to give.
— Niles Sharif, President
🌟 Bringing Hope to Incherang
On March 10, Pastor Raju and I visited a second Chepang village in Nepal, one that he has been working in for many years, but I had not visited. The name of the village is Incherang. It is much smaller than Kaule. Like Kaule, it is largely Christian thanks to the efforts of Raju and his family who have been sharing the Gospel with the villagers for many years and have raised up a pastor and lay leaders to support a church. In fact, the Pastor, a community leader named Bishek, attended Pastor Raju’s pastoral leadership institute and is a proud graduate.
Before I tell you exactly what we were doing in Incherang, let me set the stage a bit. The Chepang are one of hundreds of indigenous people groups that inhabit the “hills” and high mountains of Nepal. You have surely heard of the Sherpas? I used to think that was a job description for some mountain dwelling Nepalis, that any strong Nepali could become a Sherpa. Nope. Sherpas are an indigenous people group like the Chepang. However, because they live at extreme elevation, their physical condition makes them prime candidates to help with the grueling climbs up Everest.
While Sherpas have ascended to Nepal’s high income brackets, this is not the case with the Chepang. They are unskilled. Few if any have transportation to take them to and from a job, for example, in the nearest city, a 45 minute tuktuk ride from Incherang. Plus, during monsoon season there is literally no ingress or egress from the mountain for 4 to 6 months. I asked what they do in the event of a life-threatening emergency and they looked at me and just shrugged their shoulders.
The people are poor. I learned yesterday that a government teacher makes $1,800 PER YEAR. That is considered a very good professional salary. Raju is trying to get more info on income demographics in Incherang, but I believe we’re going to find that the typical family makes no more than $900 per year, or half what a teacher makes. I seriously doubt it will be higher, but it could certainly be lower.
We went to Incherang for two reasons. First, we were there to check out the village’s small school to assess the students’ needs, and start evaluating whether GCA is the right organization to meet all or some of these. So far, I know there is a need for school uniforms, backpacks and supplies, a pre-K teacher, and a stand-alone classroom for the 5th graders, who currently share a cramped classroom with the 4th graders.
After our visit at the school in Incherang and our meal with the headmaster of beaten rice and buff (water buffalo), we visited the actual village. I am pleased to tell you that we are starting a goat project in Incherang and Pastor Bishek, Pastor Raju, and I cleared the five women who are to receive goats. Obviously, this is a much smaller project than the Kaule Goat Project where we started with 50 recipients. In Incherang, each of the women will be receiving two female goats and Pastor Bishek and his wife, Sarita, will have two males to loan the women for breeding the females. We spent a couple of hours with the ladies going over the rules of the project and conditions for membership. They seemed committed and ready to go. Unfortunately, the goats will not be delivered while I’m here, but Pastor Raju will send me photos and videos.
Four of the five women chosen to receive goats are widows. The fifth is married, but she and her husband have a number of children and need a way for one of them to make an income without having to be away from home working in the fields or forests or quarries. They all have powerful incentives to be successful in their goat farming business.
One final word before I close. When you get into the rural parts of Nepal, you cannot help but notice a paucity of men. It’s not like there aren’t any men around, but there is definitely a noticeable absence of men, especially in the 25 to 45 age range. I have asked Nepalis about this and have been told that tens of thousands of Nepali men, especially ones from rural areas obtain exit permits to go work in Saudi Arabia and the UAE. These men will typically remit their earnings to their families and come home for a month-long visit every three years.
There’s something else going on. I have been told and have read that many Nepali men, upon arriving in Saudi Arabia, immediately get recruited to fight for one side or the other in the Ukraine war. This happens because both Russia and Ukraine are having trouble (to put it charitably) convincing their own citizens to volunteer to fight for their respective causes. The Nepalis accept the risk of fighting because the pay is 10 times more than working construction in Saudi and there is more vacation.
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