Dhading

We made it to Dhading. Our day started at 6 am with loading a truck filled with school supplies at the office. Once the precariously packed vehicle was brimming we piled into cars and set off.

While we drove, Amit explained that immediately before the earthquake in 2015 Nepal had finalized their constitution. In it, Nepal voted to be a secular nation. India didn’t take kindly to this vote as they’d hoped Nepal would remain the “last Hindu kingdom.” Then the earthquake hit. Immediately after the quake, India imposed an embargo on Nepal. Prices skyrocket as the country is trying to recover. The embargo continues for three months before India finally caves. Amit credited this embargo with kickstarting the hitchhiking culture in Nepal.

Around another winding mountain turn Amit told us about the “white sister”, a spirit famous among Nepali truck drivers for causing car accidents on the steep roads. A woman in all white (white sari, white skin) appears on the side of the road, distracting the driver and causing him to veer off the road. The only way to identify the spirit is her legs… they are turned backward at the knee.

We ate a tasty Nepali Thali for lunch and spent an hour sipping cold coke at Ojash’s aunts house in Dhading proper before starting the hour trek to the village.

I was caught off guard by the facilities already in place at the school. A beautiful turquoise building stood as a gutted soon-to-be school house. On a hill nearby, a volunteer guesthouse overlooked the misty valleys nearby. Although our concrete contribution to the project may be minimal thus far, seeing the environment in person really clarified our discussions regarding the tourism packages we could offer. The fact that simplicity is key seems very clear… the view & the potential interactions with the kids provide more than enough value (and real experience) for a great tour package to generate ongoing funding for the school.

We rolled out a couple carpets for a promo video being filmed before retreating to the top of the hill. Although it kills me to cater to the marketing machine its a necessary evil for promoting the project and getting the word out. While we mingled Salijha and Amit ventured into the surrounding villages to conduct demographic surveys.

I had a great conversation with Mike about marketing and Freducation. He had great ideas about market segmentation (targeting investment clubs, ranking schools by average student debt) and for prepping a site for data collection before driving traffic (google analytics, facebook Pixels, creating mirror audiences once you’ve boiled down your target market).

Behind the guest house a massive thick bodied yellow and black spider is perched staring into the back window.