Minute Jan 7, 2017

Minute: Nepali American Friendship Association

Date: Jan 7th, 2017

Venue: 505 Rosa Rd Madison WI

Start time: 2:00 PM

Members Present:

a. Executive Member –

1. Purna Shrestha (Chaired meeting)

2. Abiskar Bharati

3. Archana Malla

4. Ayodhya Batajoo

5. Kabindra Adhikari

6. Rajeeb Karna

7. Rajendra Aryal

8. Ramesh Khanal

9. Rosha Pokharel

10. Som Khanal

a. SRP Subcommittee member –

1. Santosh Lamichhane

Agendas:

1. Updates on School Rebuild Project in Nepal (SRP/N): Briefing on fund raising efforts. Discussion and decision on MOU and Letter of commitments.

2. Review continue Program (Kakshya and Utkhanan).

3. Discussion/Preparation on Future Programs (International Fest). Assigned coordinator Abiskar Bharati (International Fest). Hall booking for Nepali New Year (April 15, 2017, Saturday) and Spot booking for NAFA Picnic (July 15, 2017, Saturday).

4. Treasurer's Report (Budget, Income and Expense Status).

5. Election Year. How and when we elect the new executive board (effective from April 15, 2017). Form of Election Commission?

6. Discussion on NAFA Social Media (Facebook, Youtube, Email and Website)

7. Miscellaneous

Agenda #1 – School Rebuild Project in Nepal (SRP/N) :

      • Purna Shrestha & Santosh Lamichhane briefed to executive board.

      • The subcommittee had selected Mahendrodaya High School, Dolakha (Proposed by Shanti Education Initiative Nepal) and proposed it to the NAFA executive board but this school along with SEI notified NAFA that it was added in the list of schools being rebuilt by combined effort of JICA, Indian Embassy(IE) & Asian Development Bank(ADB). Per Santosh Lamichhane, these 3 entities are rebuilding 500 schools in 12 districts which has 8 ropanies of land and are RCT mixer reachable.

      • Since Mahendrodaya High School, Dolakha was committed by other donors NAFA SRP/N sub-committee again reached out to other 2 schools in Gorkha & Kavre to get a verification letter from District Education office clarifying that their school is not in the list of other donors(ADB, IE, JICA) along with a new deadline date of December 20th 2016. During this deadline, SEI also submitted another proposal for much remote school in Dolakha District.

      • School in Gorkha sent a letter not specifying if any other donor is rebuilding the school and the school in Kavre sent email stating they do not know if the school is in any list.

      • SRP/N subcommittee again went through the complete process of selecting a new school and selected , Hilepani Sanskrit Higher Secondary School, Dolakha proposed by SEI Nepal.

      • As per SEI, Nepal representative, this school is 34 kilometers gravel road from Dolakha headquarters and has 246 students and has classes up to higher secondary (+2).

      • Executive Board was informed again 20% (5% Engineering associated and 15% SEI Nepal admin cost) of the cost will be the overhead cost and NAFA will have to provide $40,000 to rebuild the 4 classrooms. Board thinks the overhead cost is within the reasonable range.

      • SEI Nepal needs a letter of commitment (LOC) and memorandum of understanding (MOU) from NAFA. They will need to submit these documents to District Education Office (जिल्ला शिक्षा कार्यालय), District Administration Office (जिल्ला प्रशासन कार्यालय) and Nepal Reconstruction Authority (राष्ट्रिय पुनर्निर्माण प्राधिकरण) before starting the project and get a green flag from these government agencies.

      • Board approved the proposed school (Hilepani Sanskrit Higher Secondary School) and appointed Tilakram Luitel as NAFA Represntative in Nepal. NAFA will send an official letter to Tilakram Luitel.

      • NAFA Executive board had already passed commitment of $40,000 budget for SRP/N in last meeting held on Nov 19th 2016. Currently, NAFA has $31434.66 in Nepal Earthquake relief fund.

      • Fundraising

        • Putting name of donors donating $500 or more in classroom stone scripture.

        • Naming the classroom after the donor’s chosen name who donates $1,500 or more.

        • Holding a movie night for fundraising around March/April 2017.

        • Ramesh Khanal, the NAFA board member pledged donations of $500.00 for the school. He appreciated the School is Sanskrit Study.

Agenda #2 – NAFA On-going Events:

    • On-going Event :

    • Kakshya

      • Coordinator Abiskar Bharati briefed about Kakshya.

      • Kakshya was halted due to festivals and weather for almost a month.

      • Classes has resumed now.

      • Coordinators and volunteer are greatly needed.

    • Utkhanan

      • Utkhanan is going very well. A different platform and participant are enjoying the experience sharing and games played at the venue.

      • Utkhanan was last held on Saturday, December 17th, 2016.

      • Som Khanal was the guest speaker in this Utkhanan & fulfilled the enthusiastic query about dairy industry.

      • Dr Gautam Vajra Vajracharya will be sharing his experience about the Nepalese art in next utkhanan on January 14th, 2017.

Agenda #3 – NAFA Future Events

    • NAFA @ International Fest

      • Coordinator : Abiskar Bharati

      • Application is approved and allocated booth#26.

      • Abiskar Bharati will need NAFA’s painting and Handicraft to display. He will send out an email for handicrafts & volunteers.

    • NAFA New Year 2074

      • Coordinator assigned : Rosha Pokharel

      • Date : April 15th, 2017

      • Time : 4 PM to 11 PM

      • Som Khanal was requested to book the Eagle Heights Gym for the program.

    • NAFA Summer Picnic

      • Coordinator assigned : Not Assigned Yet

      • Date : July 15th. 2017

      • Picnic Spot : Search & Suggest ASAP

Agenda #4 – Treasurer’s Financial Report

      • No Change in Financial information since last board meeting.

      • For more details, Please contact Treasurer.

Agenda #5 – Election Year

      • Election Committee Coordinator : Kabindra Adhikari

      • Rosha Pokharel suggested to create an online nomination form to bring in new board member and start an election between those nominated candidate.

      • Election Committee Coordinator will request following person to be in the committee

        • Ram Shrestha

        • Mahesh Ram Shrestha

      • The Deadline to select the new board is March 30th, 2017.

Agenda #6 - NAFA Social Media

    • Websites/ YouTube

    • NAFA Facebook page

      • FB has been a route for many people moving to Madison to learn about the community and get the help needed.

    • NAFA Sahitya Blog

      • The blog is complete with all the poems of poets who recited at Kothey Bhela or at Sahitya Sanjh program. Few new Poems has been added.

      • All poet’s photos are added in the blog. :

      • http://nafasahitya.blogspot.com/

    • NAFA Library

      • Abiskar Bharati is numbering all the books present in NAFA Library to avoid missing books from library.

      • All the new & popular books in Nepal currently are here in library.

Agenda #7 - Miscellaneous

      • Some of the board members suggested to increase the executive term from 2 years to 3 years.

Meeting End time : 3:45 PM

Minute Prepared By :

Abiskar Bharati

Secretary

On behalf of NAFA.