Sijapati presents on Nepal at Rotary

President Dave Smette presided over the Jan. 22 Rotary meeting. Dan Buchanan gave the invocation. Clarice Liechty and Bev Hall provided the music. Harold Bensch collected numerous “Happy Dollars” for Rotary projects.

Mark Sherfy updated the group on the spring fundraiser which will be a brunch from 9:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. April 20 at the Knights of Columbus Hall. This will be open to the public and tickets will be printed and available from Rotary members. The brunch will be an opportunity for people to have a bite to eat either coming from church or before they go to church.

Jamestown High School student Madeline Hornung was a student guest again. Robin Anderson, chairman of the International Committee, said Jamestown has an opportunity to be a host club for the Swedish group exchange which will be coming during the April-May time frame of 2008.

Udeep Sijapati is a junior at Jamestown College majoring in economics and math. He is developing his own special degree through the college. He likes to play soccer and cricket. He also works part time at the Anne Carlsen Center for Children. Sijapati is from Nepal. He grew up in the city of Kathmandu.

Sijapati shared a little about his country’s history and demographic. Nepal is the size of Arkansas. It is famous for the Himalayan Mountains bordering its country and has eight out of the 10 highest mountains in the world. Sijapati said Nepal has always been a struggling country. China borders on the north and India on the south, there has always been friction between the countries as well as within their own country, he said. He reviewed the history of his country and how different groups of people ruled it. There are 123 languages in Nepal, and 76 percent of the country’s economics is from agriculture. They do not have any large manufacturing. Tourism is a big industry as well, especially with the mountains. They have had opportunities over their history to have a multiparty democracy, but in 1996 a Maoist insurgency was launched and gained control, and threatened to overthrow the current government. Currently there are a lot of different factions working in their country, which does cause the country some instability.

Sijapati also said 35 to 40 percent of the country is still illiterate. It has only been in the last decade that more people are being taught to read. He said in their schools there might be one book per 15 students. Organizations like Rotary can do a lot of good will by buying books for the classrooms so students can have an opportunity to learn even more.

The major religion in Nepal is Hindu. There are small sections of Buddhists and Muslims and a very small group of Christians. Sijapati said in the north part of the country, in Kathmandu where he grew up, temperatures get down to about 20 degrees during the winter and can get up to 80 to 85 degrees in the summer.

Sijapati said he is at Jamestown College because a friend of his had applied and was going to Jamestown College on a scholarship. So Sijapati looked at the Web page and contacted the college. He found it has a good math program as well economics and physics. He figured it was a smaller college and the cost was more reasonable than some of the other schools he was considering. Based on his friend’s encouragement he chose Jamestown College and enjoys it very much. The International Committee is looking at the Rotary Club in Kathmandu for being a sister club.

Curt Liechty is in charge of today’s program. The invocation will be by Larry Hoffman, Gary Riffe will lead the music, and sergeant at arms will be Rick Pfeiffer.

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