2020 Reflections from Tope
Friday, December 25, 2020
PERSISTENCE
Before this, I had never seen our boys cry. They didn’t care that at least a hundred people were watching them. They just broke down in the middle of a football ground, crying openly. But I understood their despair. After three semi-finals defeat in a row, we had at last reached a final in a tournament — only to face yet another heartbreaking loss. They must have felt that winning is impossible. But the very next day, they were back on their feet— training hard with our football coach, Gopi. That made me realize how persistent our kids were. They knew that failure was a struggle but it is not the end. I walked away as a proud man after seeing their determined faces. I believed that they’d get somewhere. And they sure did! The boys won their first trophy four years ago. Since then, we have already won five different football tournaments. Also, Kopila Valley Girls Football Team is the best in our community and the whole western region of Nepal. Two of the girls are national players — the best in the country. All because they carried on despite failures. Their persistence inspires me every day.
COMPASSION
From founders, janitors to beneficiaries — everyone here at Kopila Valley shares stories of humble beginnings. Tales of struggles and perseverance unite us and bind us as one big family. What we are doing now is turning this family into a large, compassionate community. I believe we are getting there! How so, you may ask. One big reason is that I have seen acts of compassion in everyone, even in small children. Four years ago, a 10-year-old girl from our Children’s Home approached me. She had learned that her best friend, who also studies at the Kopila Valley School, suffered a death in her family. ‘Tope uncle, my friend lost her mom. Now they have no one to look after them. Can we please invite her and her two sisters to stay with us at the Children’s Home? If we do not have enough, I can share my clothes and food with them’. Those were the exact words from a 10-year-old that day. We helped the family. We would have taken care of those kids even without that request. But seeing this level of empathy and concern in that child from such an early age was just so moving. This one example shows we have inspired compassion in our children from a young age. These Kopila buds will go on to kindle compassion in the hearts of families, communities, and nations. The root of kindness and compassion will one day take over the entire world. With kids like these and people worldwide supporting projects like ours, I believe that the world we envisioned isn’t far away. The future seems full of hopes.
RESILIENCE
Situations change, often unexpectedly. It’s not in our hands. One day you’re living a comfortable life. The next day, life throws you off balance. That’s how the COVID-19 experience was for Kopila Valley. But how do we handle such a situation, knowing our actions impact what our children learn from us? That was the biggest question that Maggie and I pondered over during the crisis. Deep inside, we were both panicking. We are only humans, after all. But we gathered our courage, put up a brave face, and continued fighting for the betterment of our 400+ children and their families. When thousands of returning migrants got stranded on the road during the pandemic, we extended our support to them too. And in no time, the kids modeled after our deeds. The Children’s Home kids showed increasingly empathetic behaviors. They understood the seriousness of the situation despite being so young. When we sent kitchen aunties to self-isolate, the bigger kids stepped up to help in the kitchen. They also supported their younger siblings and cared for them. Despite being locked inside the Children’s Home premise for half a year, they didn’t insist on being let out. Instead, they busied themselves in arts, cooking, drawing, studying, and other activities. They adapted in positive ways when faced with a tough situation. They showed resilience—the very quality that Maggie and I wanted them to develop. Seeing that, we couldn’t help being proud.
RESOURCEFULNESS
Imagine being a teacher. And your job is to teach vulnerable students of low-income families. When you meet the expectations of your role under normal circumstances, you’re doing your job well. But the COVID-19 period isn’t a normal situation. With schools closed, how do you ensure that your students continue their education—that too when most of your students lack smart technology and internet access? Our teachers at Kopila Valley School found a way. Since the initial days of the lockdown, they have been preparing well-thought Distance Learning materials, containing daily assignments and activities for the kids based on elaborate lesson plans. We distribute those handouts to our students every two weeks. Our teachers also keep in touch with the students and their families every week through phone calls to ensure they are learning. Revising old lessons, teaching new ones, and testing their knowledge during the pandemic is no simple task. It requires a great deal of practical thinking and resourcefulness. When I talk with our staff, they try to play down their roles, saying they’re just doing their part. That’s too humble. ‘You are wrong,’ I tell them. You’re also healing the world, and that’s remarkable.
DETERMINATION
It was a small start. All we wanted to do was make one little difference in a community. We started by helping one child get an education. Then we helped another one, one more, and so on. By the time we founded Kopila Valley Children’s Home in 2008, we were already helping 25 children get an education. Their wellbeing also improved. The children no longer had to worry about working on farms, hotels, or riverbanks to earn food and a living. Everything was smooth until Maggie realized that our children regularly received corporal punishment at school. Such punishment often caused bruises on their hands and other body parts. Our complaints at the school didn’t bring any change. Then Maggie came up with a crazy idea. ‘Let’s start a school, our very own, where our children can feel safe,’ she told me. We had little resources, but we both knew that there doesn’t need to be massive buildings. As long as there are teachers, and students learning from them, it’d still be a school. With lots of help from friends, families, and well-wishers, we constructed a bamboo school a decade ago. It was a dream come true, but some people mocked us: ‘This looks like a shady pub. Hey, are you planning to sell illegal booze? Haha!’ To their credit, our bamboo school structure did resemble a pub that serves hard liquor. But such mockeries didn’t deter us. We weren’t selling booze; we were only providing hope for the future by educating the young generation - free of cost. People worldwide supported our works - people like you - who are reading this. Yes, you enabled our work and helped us through lots of hard times. You made it possible for us to move to a green campus, which provides lots more opportunities for over 400 children, their families, and hundreds of community members. Your determined efforts have transformed hundreds of lives. That makes you the actual heroes behind our story. Thank you.