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APRIL 2013
Happy Spring!
Our March newsletter is here with news about this year's applicants, new members of our team,
the penny drive and of course Mahilaa-- our biggest fundraiser of the year.
Dan Mazur and Janani Thapa have joined the Board of Advisors and Erin Inclan is our new Public
Relations Director. Read about these fantastic new members in the newsletter and follow the progress
of the Phoenix Penny Drive which to date has raised almost $900!
Support our higher education scholarships for women in Nepal and help us meet our 2013 fundraising
goals: purchase your tickets in advance! This year we are making it easy... Mahilaa tickets may be
purchased through Eventbrite.com, an easy-to-use, secure website. http://bmkf.eventbrite.com/
But hurry, there is limited sitting and we are filling up fast!
See you on May 19!
Sonnia J. Karlsson
Founder / Executive Director
Contact us at:
4414 34th Ave S
Seattle WA 98118
USA
206 354.3119
info@bomkarlsson.org
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Although I am Nepali I am very few of the things that come immediately to mind when most people hear "Nepal".
I have had the privilege of growing up globally with sprinklings of holidays in Nepal cocooned within family visits.
As I settled into adult life in the U.S., I began to search for a group that would help me contribute not only to
the country I left behind, but to connect with the large disadvantaged populations of Nepal that are in many ways
quite foreign to me. As soon as I heard about the Bo M. Karlsson Foundation, I knew their mission was the one I had
been searching for.
While I had pursued a Master's degree in gender and cultural studies, I did not need it to know one simple fact.
There is no greater single investment in a developing society than the education of its girls and women. This is
clearly visible in the macro effects of smaller, healthier, more educated families with lower infant and maternal
mortality. More immediately, educated daughters share their knowledge with their mothers, aunts and sisters, spread
ing basic but desperately needed information on topics such as hygiene, math and reading, immediately elevating the
capacity and productivity of large segments of underserved societies.
I never went to school in Nepal, but on occasion have had to deal with the various mazes of government bureaucracy
in attempting to receive various documents. I never fail to be amazed by the patience and diligence with which our
recipients must have gathered the letters and recommendations for our application. But it is always the essays that
stay with me. Many essays include descriptions of the hardships our applicants face: death of one or both parents
in an already struggling household, pressure to work as a domestic abroad to send money home and even physical
disabilities which in Nepal almost always add up to being socially ostracized.
These details are always shocking in their unfamiliarity to our relatively comfortable lives. Even more incredible
to me is the ability of these young women, in these difficult circumstances, to see the bigger picture. I am humbled
by their ability to transcend the difficulties of their daily struggles and not only see the systemic disorders of
our society, but to care about them. So much so, that they take on additional challenges to pursue professions that
empower them to take on the issues that have oppressed them.
Several of the young women left their villages for the first time to come to Kathmandu to study. One young woman who
just graduated as an engineer was one of only three women in her class. And despite acquiring degrees in fields like
engineering and education, all feel their lack of privilege acutely when job searching in a country where networks
are everything. Their focus to educate themselves, develop skills and attain knowledge to knock down the very obstacles
that threaten to hold them back is so incredibly courageous and selfless.
Two of the most regular programs the Bo M. Karlsson Foundation has funded are degrees in Education and Medicine. In
my role as Chair of the Education Committee, I have had the opportunity to get to know a few of the applicants through
email and phone, bringing their stories and the details of their application to life. They talk about the desire to
bring the benefits of the education they will receive, with our help, back to their communities. There can be so much
professional frustration in Nepal among youth on the lack of opportunity and paths to professional success. It is
so refreshing to come across such enthusiasm for such simple--yet society-changing goals--and to remember the
nobleness and civic pride that we ought to feel for these occupations: teacher, nurse, architect, these are the
builders of our society. There can be no greater proof, than the enthusiasm and commitment to their communities of
this particular group of women, of the solid investment that is in educating a nation's young women.
Bipasana Sakya Joshee
BMKF Board member and Education Chair
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