When I was five, I visited my uncle's place in remote Nepal, far away from my birth town. The place was scenic but was very hot and humid. There was a little pond by his house where kids used to cool off,  by swimming along with buffaloes. Some swam naked, while others dived in their school uniform. After a week long stay, it was time to say goodbye. However, by that time, I was so fond of the place that I didn't want to leave. I felt like staying back and swim like the kids, riding buffaloes and run around free. When it was finally time to leave the house, I cried and cried until my uncle's heart melted, and he finally let me stay with his family.  

After few days, I was admitted to a near by primary school. I was taken to the principal's office which was built with thick mud walls and straw roof. After meeting him, he took me to my classroom, which, along with all the others, was in the open air. About seventy kids were put together in five different bunches, each cluster representing a different class, from I to V. One teacher taught us all, as the other teacher was off sick. He spent most of his time chewing paan and spitting on the floor, itching his back with big stick, and talking with the local passer-by.  Sometimes, he would come and see if we had turned over to a new chapter or if we were still on the same page, and our lessons were often disrupted by rain, wind, stray cows and occasionally, by snakes.

I don't know how much I learned at school during those days, but I made many friends, watched birds flying high and watched airplanes flying higher still, until they vanished in the far horizon. Sometime the heat was so strong that I saw blue, orange and purple patched in the sky. Sometimes the hunger was so excruciating that I would puke, and I would secretly cover the sick with mud and then watch the flies hovering around it. 

Not everyone makes a 'life' out of that deprivation and remoteness, but I was lucky. I feel so grateful that the circumstances took a turn for the better, and my life was soon filled with opportunities that made me the person I am today. All my working life I have been a teacher, may it be at school level or at the university level, and I strongly believe that education is vital in life, just like food, water and love. Only education can eradicate the poverty and ignorance.

After coming to the UK, I started running and have been running for few years now. I have done couple of half-marathons, one marathon and have raised substantial fund for Help Nepal Network. This time, I am running the London Marathon on the 24th of April 2016 in support of a charity called 'A school for Malagiri' (http://blogs.brighton.ac.uk/malagiri/). The charity was set up by the University of Brighton’s School of Education in 2007 to raise funds to build a school for children aged three-to-eight in a remote area of Gulmi, Nepal. The school now educates around 60 children. However, the only source of money to keep the school running is the Malgiri charity. The charity supports the school with fundraising initiatives to maintain the school and cover all costs. Without the school, many children would have left the village and ended up on the streets of Kathmandu.

If you are reading this Just Giving page in your computer or mobile, then you're privileged enough to have a good education. But there are thousands of children who want to be like you, but have no access to schooling. If you have ever felt like helping, but you doubt that one person can make a difference, then this is the time to change that ambiguity into confidence. Yes, you can transform the lives of these children! Yes, the money you donate can buy food, school uniform, and stationary! Yes, one day they can be like you!

Thanks for your amazing support, and please open your hearts to make the lives of these children better.

(Photo Source: University of Brighton)