Approaching 15 Years with OWC: September 2024 Newsletter (Copy)
When I was 17 years old, I met a teacher from Nepal named Govinda Panthy on an educational website called ArtSnacks. I had no way of knowing that meeting Govinda would change my life forever. Govinda Panthy ran the SAV School, an elementary school with his wife, Sudha, but when Govinda told me his dream to bring a library to his students, I didn’t really have any direction in my life.
The Panthy Family
(Left to Right) Sudha, Swachalika, and Govinda Panthy in 2010.
At the time, my Dad used to help run an education conference in Wichita, Kansas called Podstock. I didn’t have much of an interest in being a part of that. The only benefit I saw was that my parents were gone for 4 days in the summer, and that was when I could do whatever I wanted. Unfortunately, right before he was about to speak at one of these conferences, I had to call my Dad and tell him I was detained by two police officers who were considering charging me with Disorderly Conduct after a prank gone horribly wrong. It was one of the most humiliating moments of my life and I knew I let my parents down.
The universe gave me another chance that day. I was never motivated by getting straight A’s, but when I met Govinda and Sudha Panthy, I knew I had a choice to be a part of something that was larger than myself. It made me realize that my stupid decisions could hurt people who dreamed of bringing a library to children. For the first time in my life, I felt I had a direction that went beyond myself.
Myself (Right) and Jane Waters (Left), started the Open World Project in High School.
We made T-shirts, videos, and banners around the school and the Hutchinson community to support the project.
We raised money to add two laptops, internet access, and a library to the school and had our first video call in April 2011.
As a senior in high school, I started the Open World Project with classmate Jane Waters to help make Govinda’s dream a reality. Connor Janzen, another senior, joined our effort in April 2011 and together we raised $5,700 to bring two computers, internet access, and a library to the SAV School. After monsoon season in Nepal wiped out two classrooms in June 2011, Connor and I brought Open World Project to the University of Kansas. There, we met Shelby Todd, who helped us transform our efforts into a non-profit called Open World Cause (OWC).
Open World Cause was led by myself, Connor, Shelby, Abby, and Devin Canfield at KU from 2012-2019. We organized fundraising and outreach events through Kansas City and Lawrence.
Shelby Todd shows Nepali students a video she made promoting the work their school was doing in Narayanpur, Nepal.
As a non-profit since 2015, Myself, Connor, Shelby, and a student we met at KU named Abigail Schletzbaum have served as executives to OWC. With the four of us leading OWC as we started our professional careers, it allowed us to expand the scope of our efforts. In 2016, Livingstone Kegode and Fredrick Manzugu, leaders of the HIPAfrica school in Kenya, reached out to OWC and asked if we could help them save their school. As we had done before, we extended this challenge out to students throughout the U.S. In 2017, middle school students in Colorado named Amelia and Christina partnered with OWC to save HIPAfrica. Amelia and Christina’s work got the attention of Microsoft Education, and the students led an effort through Microsoft that partnered 50 schools to raise over $16,000 to save the HIPAfrica School in Kenya.
In Spring 2017, Amelia and Christina's Project to save the HIPAfrica school in Kenya got promoted on the front page of Microsoft Education.
In August 2017, Amelia and Christina's fundraising with OWC led to HIPAfrica constructing new bathrooms.
In May 2018, HIPAfrica was able to open new classrooms and continue educating the Kimilili community in Kenya.
Meanwhile, we continued our efforts providing structural change for students in the Narayanpur community in Nepal. From 2015-2019, OWC was able to provide Sawyer water filters to families at SAV, Tri Ka and HIPAfrica, educational professional development requested by the teachers at Tri Ka and helped run a Days for Girls event providing women’s health education to women in the Narayanpur community. OWC’s efforts in Nepal culminated in a five year effort to fund the construction of a school serving indigenous students known as the Tharu alongside Belgian organizations Nanri and Edukado, and is open to all young elementary aged students in Narayanpur, Nepal.
The Staff of Tri Ka with the OWC team in 2019. Professor Melissa Collum led this surveying trip and our 2017 trip to Kenya.
77 women from the Narayanpur community attended the Days for Girls educational program.
OWC has funded the construction of three classrooms and two washrooms in the Narayanpur community.
I’m now 31 years old, and in the fourteen years since I got that initial challenge from Govinda, OWC has become a life defining journey for me. On a personal level, working with OWC inspired me to enter the classroom as a teacher, it led me to meet my wife, a teacher named Natalie, and allowed me to travel to Nepal, Kenya, and find friendships that have come to define my life. OWC has also led to opportunities that have gone beyond myself, helping provide scholarships for K-12 students and award opportunities for educators all around the world.
(Left to Right) Erika Taylor with her partners Kaleb and Gianna of Crossing World Barriers. Erika won the Wagon Boss Scholarship in part from her volunteer work with OWC and studied in Ireland in 2023.
Sarita Timalsina spoke at a 2019 United Nations event about her work helping OWC establish a Days for Girls program in Narayanpur. Sarita surveyed the community about the program's impact.
Garrett Wilkinson won a Civic Leadership scholarship at Kansas State University in 2014 from his work with Project Purus, a project with OWC to provide water filters to the SAV School in Nepal.
So where is OWC now?
Open World Cause is going back to the beginning. I’ve now been a classroom teacher for 9 years, and in August 2022, one of my students named Paige learned about how Amelia and Christina helped save a school in Kenya five years earlier and asked if she could start an initiative through OWC. Paige started the Kenya Read Project, a Project to fund the construction of a library for students at the Twins Bright school in Eldoret, Kenya. Paige aims to raise $14,000 for this mission, and has already raised close to $2,000 to make this mission a reality.
Paige (far right) presents about the Kenya Read Project with her partner Quinn (center right) at a fundraiser in Woodland Park, CO.
Paige’s initiative has inspired OWC to take the next step in our organization, and that’s to a non-profit that challenges K-12 students everywhere to find their purpose and make transformative, global partnerships that can make impacts in communities in Eldoret, Kenya, Narayanpur, Nepal, and for students all across the United States. A challenge that echoes the one Govinda originally made to me.
Open World Cause has given my life direction, and now, OWC aims to let give students similar opportunities around the world. We aim help facilitate as students create life changing, positive partnerships that make generational impacts for students in Kenya and Nepal. I am excited for OWC to take the next step in our mission.
To join Paige’s Kenya Read Mission, see our featured article below or click here:
Checking in on the Panthy’s, 15 years later.
Govinda Panthy is the Executive Director of the Tri Ka school while his wife, Sudha, is the headmistress who oversees the day to day operation in the school. Tri Ka provides pre primary education to around 90 children ranging in age from 3 to 7 years old in Narayanpur who otherwise would not receive it. The school started in 2015 and the community has grown to appreciate the opportunity to send their kids to a school they truly enjoy, Panthy said. He said parents now have requested to expand the grade levels offered to grade 5. Due to size constraints, teacher availability and some difficulties with the government to establish more grade levels, Panthy said they would likely only provide pre primary level education at least for the near future.
Govinda feels that many schools in Nepal do not create a desirable learning environment. He said many schools lack the resources to devote individual attention to students considering the lecture format of the classes and the overcrowding of students in each class. Govinda and Sudha take the children’s experience seriously. They desire to create a real love of school and learning. As Govinda himself was born into a rural farming family, he said he was able to explore life with more options because of his education and he wants to provide the opportunity to pursue options to children growing up in similar circumstances.
The couple does this through creating a motivating learning environment from starting the day with yoga, dancing and singing before the children continue to their lessons. On Fridays, he said they have a special activity in the arts to encourage their creativity. At break times, he said they and the other teachers stay engaged with the children through playing and conversing with them at their level.
Attracting educators can be a challenge living in a rural community. In 2021, Tri Ka added living quarters that would allow traveling teachers to live in while teaching at Tri Ka. In April 2023, educators Josh Davidson and Chloe Cassens volunteered at the school through Open World Cause. Josh, an art teacher, painted multiple murals at the school while Chloe provided PD’s to the educators during her stay.
Govinda and Sudha’s next dream is to build an outdoor playground for the children with slides, monkey bars, see-saws and bicycles. Thank you to our donors for supporting Open World Cause, and thus helping Govinda and Sudha Panthy, and most importantly their students, continue to give and receive the gift of a more holistic education.
The Kenya Read Project: Bringing a Library to Twins Bright
Open World Cause started as a high school service project to bring a library to the SAV School in Napal and it’s fitting that student Paige Bissue is now leading the Kenya Read Project, which is aiming to build a library in Eldoret, Kenya with the Twinsbright school.
Paige Bissue, a student-leader for the Kenya Read Project, said she joined the initiative because she believes everyone should have the opportunity to advance education and have the tools to succeed in life. She heard about Open World Cause from Mr.Honeycutt, her forensics coach, who inspired her with his story about starting the organization when he was in high school.
Paige is trying to raise $14,000 o go toward building the library. In 2023, the students raised $2,000 from a coffee cart selling drinks and snacks over the course of the school year. They are also designing T-Shirts, pencils, keychains and posters to advertise their fundraising campaign.
A larger sum may still come from grant funding through a private company for $3,000 but that money has not yet been awarded to the Kenya project. Paige has also submitted two lesser proposals that would go toward building costs of the library.
Paige said she has learned how to budget money effectively and more about financial stability after having taken a leadership role in the Kenya Project. She said she is most thankful for partners as they work toward their goals together. “It’s always better to have someone by your side,” she said.