My computer was out of my hands for the last week as one of my former students here is helping me create a book of my drawing process so just received my ipad back so that I can communicate again. As you know I worked with the founder of GATE College (a hospitality training college in Kathmandu) in 2009-2011. There were really no vocational colleges in Kathmandu and certainty no Hospitality Schools. Khem Lakai who invited me in joining him in creating the foundations, had been trained in the swiss schools of hospitality and wanted to bring this training to Nepal. Having employed myself in Hawaii with many waitress and cooking jobs, I knew what it took to do this hard work. I had the belief that to do this work you need both a physical and mental toughness. That learning was not exclusive to the classroom absorbing information but real practice was needed to see if these students really wanted this career. Thus I found ways to take the students out of the classroom and into doing the work and I worked along side of them. There were many ideas I had and several things that I was able to implement. I left living in Nepal in 2011 and Khem continued with the foundations we had laid down. Moving forward 12 years, for the last two years Khem has been inviting me back to Nepal so that I could see how the seeds I had sown about this mental and physical work had taken hold. I finally decided to return to Nepal after he said to me, that I didn’t have to do anything only just observe and see if there was anything I wanted to do.
Deborah, this is simply amazing. Khem was so right to insist you come back. What a marvelous journey to see and feel the fruits and trees from all the little seeds you planted and watered during your original time in Nepal. <3
Deborah, this is simply amazing. Khem was so right to insist you come back. What a marvelous journey to see and feel the fruits and trees from all the little seeds you planted and watered during your original time in Nepal. <3