CCF Partner, Pradeep Karki
By Cameron Conner
– CCF Board Co-Vice Chair
Hello to everyone and I hope you’re all staying healthy out there!
As the day-to-day has come to take a larger amount of attention and concentration I, for one, have found it helpful to be reminded of what lies beyond the confines of my home or the pavement around my block. But those reminders can be hard to come by when we are all forced to shelter in place for weeks on end. So with this month’s blog post, we at CCF wanted to help bring the outside world to you! And what better way to do that than to introduce some of our incredible partners from halfway around the world in Nepal.
Last week, I asked a dear friend of mine, long time volunteer and project manager, Pradeep Karki, if he would be interested in sitting down for a virtual chat to reflect on his experience working with CCF, and perhaps share some of the stories that he has picked up along the way. He quickly agreed and—separated by thousands of miles—we spent a happy hour swapping memories and comparing quarantine routines, he in his family living room in Kathmandu, I in the basement of my Walla Walla, WA home. Our small conversation between two friends a world away brought some breadth to my horizons and helped expand my awareness beyond typical worries, I hope it can lend you a breath of fresh air as well.
Lifelong friends, Pradeep Karki and Cameron Connor
To give a little background: Pradeep is just about six weeks older than myself, though we were born far apart (Kathmandu and Spokane,WA respectively). He was six months old to my five at our first meeting in the Fall of 1997, and we have grown up supporting one another both in person and from afar since then. A star student in school, Pradeep has gone on to follow in his father’s footsteps and become a trekking guide. But in taking the job, he knew he wanted to do things a little differently. Pradeep’s trekking company, Connections Nepal, is one of the first of its kind, working to integrate socially progressive ideas into an age-old business. Connections Nepal is focused on breaking down Nepal’s strict gender hierarchy by hiring female guides, making trekking a more accessible activity for those with both physical and mental disabilities, and rather than purchasing bulk food from international chain stores, Pradeep’s treks focus on supporting local merchants where possible. Interviewing Pradeep was a wonderful opportunity for me to reconnect with someone I consider to be as close as a brother, and to reflect on the incredible things young people around the world are bringing into existence. If you are in need of some inspiration and wholehearted enthusiasm today, his story is the perfect place to seek it.
Pradeep and Cameron as kids with Cameron’s mother, Denise Attwood, and Pradeep’s father, Ram.
Though Pradeep has been involved with CCF since its inception in 2014, he considers his work to have really begun in the aftermath of Nepal’s 7.8 magnitude earthquake that struck five years ago, in April of 2015. Together with his father, Ram Karki, Pradeep was instrumental during this time in helping CCF deliver thousands of dollars in emergency relief supplies including food, solar lights, and temporary shelter. When I asked him why he decided to begin working with us during these crucial months, the answer he gave perfectly encapsulated the spirit of this great guy: “All of my life I received incredible help from others. In particular, I received financial support so that I could go to school. I grew up with many thanks for this generosity, and so when I was young this helped me want to help others in return.” While still in school he shared that “I always helped my dad write emails for his business and wanted to work for my country. I saw CCF doing great work out in the remote rural areas, opening the Baseri Clinic, helping with girls’ education, and I knew that this was a place I could make a difference.” After the earthquake struck in 2015, he said, “we received so many emails from friends of CCF and I realized this is the time to help people. So I started working with CCF doing earthquake relief, bringing food and supplies to different villages. I knew I had to keep going.”
In the months following April 2015, Nepal was rocked by multiple 7.0 aftershocks which, on their own, would have constituted a national emergency. During all of these, Pradeep led trips back and forth to the villages CCF partnered with, delivering supplies and collecting information on what was needed. Though already an experienced trekking guide, Pradeep was only 18 at the time. In hindsight he reflected that, “When I was helping with the earthquake, my father always worried about me going on my own,” but after the first trip “I suddenly realized that I could do it, that I wanted to learn. When I took the things up I realized how hard it was for people, their houses were destroyed. When I distributed the things, people were so happy, they could make temporary homes with the tarps, they could eat, they could survive. Eating and shelter was very important. And it was important for me to be there.” For all of us at CCF, we knew this was the work that needed to be done, and it was because of partnerships with people like Pradeep that we were able to do it.
Pradeep visits a village to bring much needed supplies after the earthquake.
I asked him about some of his favorite memories working with CCF and he returned to another memory from 2015: a survey trek conducted to evaluate needs in the aftermath of the earthquake. “Traveling from Thugman to Sertung, to Baseri, Kattike, and Ghatbesi we built really important relationships that we have been able to maintain. This was a key time, right before monsoons and people needed these supplies.” Though CCF initially got involved in some of these villages with earthquake relief, we still work in these areas today and maintain close relationships there.
Asked why he continues to do this kind of work even after the effects of the earthquakes have subsided, he responded by simply stating: “I started working with you after the earthquake because it was always my dream to help my people. We want to give an instrument to them so that they can stay in Nepal and be successful.I always like to help, it is inspiring. From my heart I like to work for the people of my country. This is why we created our own trekking company. To change the world by working together, united, that is important.”
To conclude our interview, I asked if there was any single message Pradeep would like to convey to CCF volunteers, donors, and supporters around the world. He said that above all he would ask for us all to be united. “Let’s be united” he says “so that we can do something new in Nepal, so we can set an example for what is possible.” Pradeep has already set an example for so many young Nepalis in Kathmandu. Not only has he accomplished a great deal himself, but every step of the way he has reached behind to help others follow.
Though we may be scattered across the world or isolated at home, now more than ever we must be united, we need to redefine what it means to truly “be there” for each other, what it means to support one another and, ultimately, what it means to come together as a community.
Thanks to Pradeep for this much needed advice, may we all be able to follow it.
With love and gratitude,
Cameron and the CCF team