Ania Goes to Mt. Everest

Ania left for Nepal to climb Mt. Everest. This expedition is especially significant to Ania because this will complete her seven summit challenge- climbing the highest mountain in each continent.

I have been meaning to write this blog for a while but things are pretty busy here at St. Olaf. In less than seven weeks, I will be the first person from my family to graduate from college. The emotions are running high. at the same time, the peace school project is rolling on. I interviewed few people for the teaching position. All of them are amazing people with such a good sense of the world that exists outside of the United States. I was surprised to see the number of applicants from IVY league schools. Some of them were even in graduate school.

I am working with Erin Carson and my friends here at St. Olaf for fundraiser set for April 29th. Erin is truly amazing woman who has been supporting me from the first day we met here at St. Olaf. We hope to aware people about the status of children in Nepal and how they can be part of building this war torn country.

Back to Ania. I met Ania Lichota at the European Summit for Global Transformation (ESGT) in November 2009 in Amsterdam. This was all made possible by Rebecca Self. She is the driving force behind many of us who keep on working hard to help others in need. After my presentation at ESGT, Ania decided to help me with building the first peace school in the country. The recent fund raising trends have been amazing. I wrote this story for the Huffington Post about her expedition. Ania is such an inspirational and selfless person. She has been helping the UNICEF and the Polish Orphanages in raising money for number of years now.

Everest within reach

Since she left for Nepal, Ania has been dealing with number of bad news. In her blog, she writes that her father suffered from a stroke and one of her close friend passed away. She even contemplated returning but her father inspired her to go ahead with her plans.  Our prayers and thoughts are with her father and hope he gets well soon. Our thoughts and prayers also goes to her friend who passed away recently. Let’s hope that the bereaved family gets peace and love and the departed soul rest in peace in heaven.

My thoughts and prayers are also with Jen Lemen who is currently in Rwanda helping struggling family that she has been part of  for years now. Jen is a gem. Truly inspirational woman.

In the last few months I have learned to withstand people’s pressure,  intimidation and insults. I have become so used to and they do not bother me anymore. On a different note: few weeks back I received a letter from St. Olaf College President Anderson saying that I have been awarded the President’s Service Leadership Award. Honestly speaking, I was little sad. I feel like I do not deserve all these awards and recognition because I am just beginning my work. And I have not done anything to this point. They have nominated me for another award. I just wish I could decline all those and stay away from the spotlight all the time. I am scared that things like awards might steer me away from my focus of helping war affected children and healing the post conflict society. They are my focus and attention. I do NOT want to be highlighted in anyway whatsoever.

On the other hand, it is truly amazing how people are willing to help your cause if they believe in you. Few months back I contacted an organization called Project H-Design and talked with Matthew Miller, the architect of the organization. They go around the world and help design sustainable buildings for schools and more.  I was really impressed with their work. Matt will be traveling to my hometown to help us with our school design this summer. Lately, I have been collection tons and tons of information about sustainable way to design building in remote settings like ours. I have so many ideas and it will be exciting to work with Nepali and American Architects on the project.

In the mean time. I am also working on my speech for the graduation. If selected, I really want to give an inspiring speech

Two days after I graduate, I will be flying Berlin to participate in six-week long Humanity in Action (HIA) Summer Fellows Program. I am excited to meet young people from all around he world and see how we can work together to make our world a better place.

If you feel like supporting our work in Nepal, please donate through this link. Every penny of your contribution counts. I will ensure that 100% of the donations go to the peace school project. We will be posting all the financial details in our website once we being building the school.

Got to do my homework now.

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