He had no clue where on earth the country called Nepal was located. He had graduated in African Studies, and had joined American Peace Corps Volunteers with an aspiration to explore Africa. But destiny had something else stored for him. The Peace Corps office in Davos, California, where he was receiving volunteer training, deputed him to Nepal.
Michael Gill worked as a US Peace Corps Volunteer (PCV) in remote villages. However, every time Gill returned to his motherland, he always found an excuse to come back to Nepal.
‘‘Can't bid adieu to Nepal’’ Michael Gill
- He had no clue where on earth the country called Nepal was located. He had graduated in African Studies, and had joined American Peace Corps Volunteers with an aspiration to explore Africa. But destiny had something else stored for him. The Peace Corps office in Davos, California, where he was receiving volunteer training, deputed him to Nepal.
So the young American volunteer arrived for the first time in Kathmandu in 1967. Michael Gill, then a 23-year-old volunteer from Pennsylvania, near Philadelphia, had come with nothing but strong ideals and intense willingness to serve humanity.
He worked as a US Peace Corps Volunteer (PCV) in remote villages in Janakpur and Nuwakot for three years, learnt Maithili and Nepali languages and went back to the USA in 1970, like most PCVs do. However, every time Gill returned to his motherland, he always found an excuse to come back to Nepal.
In 1979, he came back to Nepal as a tourist with some friends.
"I went to Basahiya village in Janakpur where I worked as a JTA (junior technical assistant), and walked back through Sunkoshi, Sindhuli Madhi, Sindhuli Gadhi, Dolalghat and Kathmandu, the trails I took in the late Sixties," he becomes nostalgic.
In 1981, he married Barbara Butterworth, who was also a PCV in Nepal. She too was an avid Nepal lover. She had led an American women's expedition team around the Annapurna Circuit. So it was but natural for the couple to seek an opportunity to come back to this mountainous country. They came to Nepal in 1985, as Barbara had become a consultant with USAID. That was the time Gill networked with intellectuals of the country. He also got associated with New Era.
In 1989, the couple went back. However, he never got disassociated with Nepal as he was head of South Asia Desk for Asia Foundation in California. In the meantime, he also worked as a freelance photographer and a reporter for a New York newspaper.
"Most of the time when I was in California, I practiced law," said Gill, who is also a law graduate.
In July 1998, Barbara got the position of Director of Lincoln School in Kathmandu. So the couple came back to Nepal. The next month, Mike was also hired as the Executive Director of United States Education Foundation (USEF).
However, this Nepal aficionado's heart is broken due to the ongoing internal war. He feels terrible for the people who are suffering in the middle. He thinks every stakeholder in this country should rise above one's own interest. "The far right and the far left and everyone in the middle should come together, forgetting personal interests," he said.
In his experience, Nepal was certainly a peaceful country; but there also existed a great deal of injustice.
"The Maoists have asked many right questions, but they don't have the answers," Gill said.
Now, in 2005, Mike Gill is again leaving Nepal after serving the USEF for over seven years in Kathmandu. It seems the latest job was the most satisfying. "I loved the job at USEF because it provided people to get long-term education and empower themselves to change the future of the country," he told City Post at his residence in Sanepa, amidst goods sprawled allover to be packed up.
However, this avid Nepal lover is not going for good.
"I think I'll come back. I've bought roundtrip tickets," said Gill who finds it quite difficult to bid adieu to Nepal.
