Chandra Man Chepang was born in this village, in Raksirang Village Development Committee (VDC), and has known no other home in his lifetime. He considers himself a relatively lucky man.
“I’ve worked quite hard, but I’ve also been very lucky,” he says with a wide grin on his face.
He is now known throughout his village for being the man who introduced sanitation, water usage, social education, and even the magic of electric light to this little village.[break]
Chandra Man is the only man in Thade Churi to have completed a Bachelor’s degree. He was awarded scholarships to fund his education through the Praja Development Program, which, during his course of study, gave him a stipend of Rs. 14,000 to live and study at the Hetauda School of Management. He received his I. Ed this way.
“I used to take flour from home and make gundruk and dhindo so I could make ends meet with the scholarship I was given. Obviously, I was lucky to have gotten it, but at the end of the day, it wasn’t really enough to live on and study.”
After receiving his I. Ed, Chandra Man went in search of more funding to feed his appetite for education. He found it, and a job at an NGO based in Narayanghat.
Forward, the NGO for which he worked for sometime, not only agreed to fund his B. Ed., but also gave him the opportunity to gain some hands-on experience in rural development and basic implementation ideas.
With a graduate’s degree in hand, and a good grounding of rural development knowledge, Chandra Man did an unordinary thing. He left his job and decided to head home. He knew he could be of far more use there than at any NGO or office the world over.
“In my head, I already had all these visions for my ideal village. And while they may not still have made them on paper, I knew I’d be able to better implement my ideas back at home, where I belong.”
And yes, while Chandra Man Chepang’s “model” village, as many of the international community have begun referring to it as, has no real blueprint or master plan. It has been coming along, created in the imagination and creativity of Chandra Man’s head.
“It started with just the basics,” he says. “Things like cleanliness and personal hygiene, and letting the villagers know how keeping the area outside of your home clean can be beneficial to the whole community, stops harmful diseases from spreading, and generally creates a more livable environment,” he adds.
This is precisely what one sees in Thade Churi. All the landings in front of the small mud homes are swept clean. Inside, things seem to be in order, and there isn’t any solid or liquid waste lying around anywhere near the premises of these homes.
“We are in the process of making one toilet per household, and that will really be something. Many of the residents here hadn’t even seen a toilet before, nor did they know one was necessary to avoid disease and bad health,” Chandra Man explains, enthusiastically.
In the pipeline, almost literally, is an 1800 meter-long pipeline which is due to bring more water into the village.
“Water shortage is a huge problem here, but this line which I’ve been planning should really address this issue,” says Chandra Man’s seventy-something-year-old father.
Looking at the village now, it somewhat resembles an eco resort. There are solar-powered light bulbs in the homes, biogas facilities are in the making for each house.
The roads, though not paved, make way to almost every quarter, and there is a general sense of well-planned rural eco-development that lingers on the tops of these hills. It is a satisfying feeling seeing all this, even for the outsiders who often visit the village.
A Child Development Centre has also recently been opened in the village by Chandra Man.
“The idea of this is for three- to five-year-old children to come along everyday, to get a head start on education, social and moral values, and just to encourage general school attendance in the future,” he explains with utter delight. “It’s just 10 Rupees a month, but the children learn invaluable lessons and even get one meal a day here,” he adds.
In an effort to teach personal hygiene, inside the centre, along one wall, is a row of personal belongings of the children. Each child is designated a toothbrush, comb, and a handkerchief with his name on it, to emphasize the importance of personal belongings and the risks associated with sharing such items with others.
There is much that has already been done in this little Chepang village, most literally in the middle of nowhere, almost all thanks to the initiatives of Chandra Man. All his efforts have, however, been made possible by various donor agencies. This said, it is easy to see that with a vision and drive, nothing is impossible.
This is just the beginning for Thade Churi’s future, and with the inspiration of Chandra Man, many other locals have begun to see the possibilities that lay ahead for them.
For him, Chandra Man says, “It’s really all in a day’s work. There’s really nothing else I would rather be doing than seeing my vision turn into reality.” But it’s easy to see that this Chepang/Praja’s vision and its reality are replicable all over Nepal.
Related story
Two companies granted permission to issue ordinary shares
