Asterix in Nepal

We are pretty sure that most of you know the following scene from “Asterix conquered Rome“: Asterix and Obelix have the task to get passport A38 from an office. It sounds easy, but turns out to be very difficult. They are constantly sent from one person to another person, from one room to another room, from one floor to another floor! We feel exactly the same at the Department of Education (DoE) in Nepal.

You might wonder why…

October 2015:
We are making the first attempts to submit all the forms at the DoE and to prepare the building contract – the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU). The first difficulty is to find competent persons with helpful information. There are two experts, but both of them are already on vacation.
After two weeks of holiday rest the next step. Applications are submitted, the raw forms of the MoU are filled in and completed, and a list of missing documents is drawn up.
The only problem is the waiting for state-designed, earthquake-proof blueprints that have not yet been completed six months after the earthquake.

November / December 2015                                                                                                           Our friends from the youth social work in Nordhausen visit Karmidanda. Taking advantage of this opportunity, they are looking for the DoE to pick up the blueprints we asked for. Unfortunately without success. Suddenly, according to the DoE, we need further legitimations and additional written agreements. At this point we are a bit confused.

January – March 2016
Our Nepalese colleagues are making several attempts to get the MoU approved. Each time without success due to allegedly incorrect formulations or absence of competent employees at the Office.

February 2016
More and more documents are required.

March 2016
Nicole goes to Nepal. The DoE has again come up with something new: a Nepalese organization must now be added to the administration of the building funds.
But finally positive news: our documents were accepted. Now the approval of the Ministry of Education is needed.

April 2016
We are still waiting for the approval of the Ministry of Education.From our point of view, it is completely incomprehensible that a development project will put so many stones in the way. The Nepalese population is still waiting for the reconstruction and the progress of promised projects. Therefore, we will continue to work with full pressure on our vision and hope to reach the breakthrough as soon as possible!