As a Peace Corps volunteer, he used to teach English in grades eight and nine. He did a lot to give us some basic ideas about English language and America. Even after our high school graduation, we had a very good relations. Almost everybody liked David in our village. In other words, David had become a blue-eyed boy for every villager. David returned his country after two years. The moment of separation was so painful. We could not say to him good-bye and David, I still remember, had become emotional and spoke few words in Nepali.
Nepali journalist Raj Kumar K.C. offers his views of America: When I first met David L. Reid, an American Peace Corps volunteer as an English teacher in my high school, I was so happy for having a teacher from America
Nepali journalist offers his views of America
by Raj Kumar K.C. of The Rising Nepal
Caption: Gary Schaller teaches English in a small crowded classroom in Benepat, sixteen miles from Katmandu, Nepal. Photo: Paul Conklin, Peace Corps Photographer
Almost 20 years ago, while I was a high school boy, I used to wonder what the U.S.A. would be like. I had different pictures in my mind. I used to hear that even farmers in the U.S. owned cars and they do everything with machines. They milk cow with machines. Wow! Sometimes, it used to be really hard for me to catch all those pictures. But I always used to have vague mental pictures in my mind.
When I first met David L. Reid, an American Peace Corps volunteer as an English teacher in my high school, I was so happy for having a teacher from America. I, along with other young boys, were so excited about the new "white" teacher. I can still remember that we were so mesmerized with his brown hair and different type of outfits. Moreover, we were so amazed by his pronunciations.
We used to copy his style of speaking, but could not do anything. As a Peace Corps volunteer, he used to teach English in grades eight and nine. He did a lot to give us some basic ideas about English language and America. Even after our high school graduation, we had a very good relations. Almost everybody liked David in our village. In other words, David had become a blue-eyed boy for every villager.
David returned his country after two years. The moment of separation was so painful. We could not say to him good-bye and David, I still remember, had become emotional and spoke few words in Nepali.
After the completion of my high school graduation, I moved to Kathmandu, the capital city to study at the University. In the city, I found people talking more about America, Britain, Australia and Canada. Many of my friends had an opportunity to study in these countries in their early ages. But for a son of a farmer like me, it was/is always impossible to study in those countries on his own. Neither I could tell this of my father nor could I do anything. I knew that the U.S., U.K. or Canada were great places to study and develop career. But I still had a great desire to go abroad and study something.
My days in the colleges were not easy. My ambitions were dying down one after another. My desires of studying in the U.S. had become just a dream.
After the completion of my graduation, I started working as a high school teacher to support my post-graduate study. In the meantime I began my writing for a weekly newspaper in Kathmandu. I worked there for three years. It was almost voluntary, because the publisher was not in a position to pay.
I did my MBA from Tribhuwan University in Kathmandu in 1995 and joined The Rising Nepal as a full time reporter. At the beginning I started as a political reporter. Later, I started covering business. In fact, I had been working as a lecturer for the last five years at a management college. I continued to search for some scholarship or fellowship program in the U.S. and U.K. I applied for the Reuters Foundation Fellowship and WPI Fellowship almost at the same time 2003. Luckily, I got both of them. I went to London to take part in the Reuters Training Program in 2004 March for a four- week training program.
I got the WPI fellowship in 2004, but could not come. I applied again and got it. As a matter of fact, a four-month stay in the U.S. would help me a lot to learn about the U.S. and journalism. We nine journalists from different parts of the world would definitely learn something during our four-month stay in this country. Our stay in the farm house helped us understand the American farmers very closely and our assignment in the community media office did certainly gave us lots of ideas about the U.S. journalism practices.
My imagination about the U.S. some 20 years before has now brought me to the real world. The success behind the U.S. to be the superpower, in my view is the hard labor of its citizens. The U.S. has lots of resources and they have been utilized properly and equitably. The prosperity does not come by itself, but it comes along with hard labor and commitment. We journalists from different parts of the world have learned a lot from American people. Still we have lots of things to learn until November.
