Started by Gagan Nepali in 2010, the objective of the page is to make Dharan residents who are abroad feel close to their town. With Nepali in Dubai, it is Kwan Chhang, 28, who is the man behind the page now. [break]
The administrator takes his job seriously. “We Dharane belongs to every Dharane and is for everyone in Dharan,” he says.
Saturday is the busiest day of the week for Kwan Chhang as he leaves home at 6 in the morning to attend Dharan Run. Then his day is spent attending one event after another where he talks to people, takes notes and photographs.
During the rushes of the day, he often has to forgo his lunch and dinner. When he finally returns home late at night, he sits down to edit his pictures and compiles the reports of the events. Sometimes, its 4 am when he manages to get time to eat his meal.
Updates from We Dharane are how many people keep in touch with their town. There are photographs of Free Health Camp, children in Saraswati Baal Ashram getting ready for a meal, cyclists on World Environment Day, football and cricket matches, Miss Purwanchal contest and Sakela Naach that takes place every year.
There are more than 300 albums covering the various activities and aspects that make Dharan and which keep Dharanes all over the world nostalgic.
Kwan Chhang did a four-year stint in Afghanistan as a chef before heading back home. He remembers, “I started by ‘liking’ the page. I remember there was around 1,800 likes then. I thought it was a nice way of knowing what’s happening in Dharan while I was stationed in Afghanistan.”
Photography had always interested him, and after his return home he started taking pictures of events on his mobile phone and writing about them and tagging We Dharane. This was his initiation to the role of admin which Gagan Nepali offered him after seeing his active participation.
Of his two years of experience, he shares, “When we were in school we would be taken to rallies and meetings for things related entirely to politics. There were no social activities that we could participate in and learn from. But today, the youth in Dharan take part in cycling, B-Boying competitions, running to maintain a healthy lifestyle, fundraising and spreading awareness regarding health and environment. A majority of youth volunteered in the Buda Subba Temple Cleaning program. They learn about cleaning and waste management. There have been instances where many of them donated blood in times of need.”
Kwan Chhang
Popular as the We Dharane admin, he says, “Earlier, I would buy tickets to attend the events but now I get calls to cover them.”
While he doesn’t get paid monetarily for his efforts, the goodwill he receives is boundless. When his DSLR camera needed new lens, people collected money, and donations poured in from Hong Kong, too.
People are also busy ordering We Dharane key rings that sell for Rs 50 each. The money raised will go to pay his Internet bills and the rest will be donated.
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