One of my favourite ‘things to do’ while working on Beyond the Smile is to do background research and to gather any information relevant to the village of Lura and its role as launching pad for a new community based global business model.

Education is one of the seven founding stones of the model, with learning rooted in the use of local resources, human and natural. So I was more than intrigued when my friend Clare Gallagher, talented Australian ‎Sound Designer and Engineer now working from Amsterdam, sent me the link to a documentary called ” Schooling the World”.

The amount of revealing information and the implications of using the global schooling system as it is in places like Nepal    ( let alone everywhere else!) had me gasping. What I had instinctively felt, and what my husband Eric has professed for the last twenty years were indeed validated here… Please watch the trailer. Then go to the website and buy a  copy! It has a sliding scale, from $5 to $25.

A new approach to acquiring skills and nurturing existing ones is needed for communities everywhere to thrive. This is arguably the only way forward for this one of many countries on the brink of loosing its living cultures to western consumerism, Nepal.

The girls in 2009. From left to right: Soma, Da Jangbu, Phulmaya and Purni Maya at fourteen.

My niece Purni Maya Tamang is nineteen years old. She lives in Lura, and recently had her end of Year 10 exams. Her results were not sufficient for a pass. Purni does not want to give it another go. Does it mean she is a failure, as 90% of the kids who do not finish school are judged to be by society? Certainly not! Purni is an extraordinary manager, she has been ever since I met her, when as a twelve years old she cooked, looked after her younger siblings, carried on her back the wheat to be ground in town one hour walk away. Amongst other things. She runs the house when her dad is away on treks, earning cash to pay for the expensive private school education available two hours walk away from their home. Purni speaks three languages, Tamang, which is used at home, Nepali and English. 

Family time in Nepal: Brigitte, Soma ( at the back), Da Jangbu, Pemba Buhari. Purni Maya took the photo

So what now? Easy. Now is the time to use our knowledge and skills to build that new community based economy, which at is core has the well being of people and their places. These are not empty words. People are family, the place is home.

Brigitte’s ebook … buy it HERE