On Tuesday, June 3rd at 6:30pm PDT, Nepal Youth Foundation (NYF) celebrated Founder’s Day 2021, a free event on Zoom open to old and new friends alike. For the first time, we also included an online auction.

Thank you to everyone for helping to make the event so successful. To watch the recording and read more about the event, please visit our recap blog post here.

Event Details:

June 3, 2021: 6:30 – 7:30 pm PDT

At this event, we honored Founder Olga Murray’s 96th birthday and President Som Paneru’s 25th year of service and leadership. 

We kicked off the event by discussing recent COVID-19 developments in Nepal and talked about how NYF has responded to, and is continuing to respond to, the ongoing global pandemic.  We celebrated how we created educational opportunities for hundreds of village children whose schooling would have otherwise come to a halt.  We also learned, for the first time, more about NYF’s role combating and protecting young girls from child marriage. 

Since our successful virtual Founder’s Day in 2020, we have learned a thing or two about helping to make online events more enjoyable for more members of our community. For example, we worked with a live captioner during this year’s event!

If you or one of your guests would benefit from an accommodation during any of our virtual events, please let us know by emailing info@nepalyouthfoundation.org or by calling 415-331-8585. We are eager to do what we can to present accessible, joyous events to as many guests as possible!

Guest Speakers

Our guests of honor at Founder’s Day 2021 were NYF scholarship alumni Ajeeta Rana and Dr. Kamal Lamicchane. We are so grateful to have had them with us.

Ajeeta Rana is an NYF Scholarship alumna who received a nursing degree from one of the most renowned universities in Nepal. Since then, she has moved to London and has earned three more degrees (B.Sc in health and social care, M.Sc in healthcare leadership, and an MBA in hospital management). She currently lives in London with her husband as she pursues her fourth degree (MSc in Nursing) while she works as a nurse.

Dr. Kamal Lamichhane is currently an associate professor at Tsukuba University in Japan, and he is a NYF Scholarship alumnus and the first person with a visual impairment from Nepal to receive a doctorate degree. His fields of research include disability studies, economics of education, inclusive education, and education policy.

Hosts

We are so honored to have had Dr. Jagadamba Pandit and Angela Pal as our hosts at this year’s event!

Angela Pal Angela has been in healthcare for over 23 years as a registered nurse and nurse practitioner. She is an assistant professor at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus and director of the Adult Gerontology Acute Care Nurse Practitioner program.

Angela was introduced to Nepal Youth Foundation, Olgapuri and the Nutritional Rehabilitation Hospital on her first trip to Nepal in 2018 for a medical mission. Her immediate thoughts were about how happy the children were, and how it seemed like a large family. She was immediately drawn to the openness and empathy of the Nepali children with each other and visitors. She observed firsthand the impact of the foundation on the children of Nepal, and the power of OlgaDidi’s vision and perseverance.

Dr. Jagadamba Pandit currently works at a community mental health center in the United States. After graduating from medical school in Nepal and finishing her residency in psychiatry at Virginia Commonwealth University, she completed a fellowship in addiction psychiatry. She has spent lots of time raising awareness about mental health issues both in the U.S. and in Nepal through radio programs and videos. She enjoys mentoring medical students and telling stories to children at Olgapuri.

Dr. Pandit came to know of NYF in 2004 through her husband, who was an NYF scholarship recipient in medical school. She then met Olga for the first time on Olga’s 80th birthday, and was extremely impressed with NYF’s mission and work. Since then, Dr. Pandit has been a devoted donor and supporter of NYF!