Melbourne-based businessman and president of Non Resident Nepali Association (NRNA) Shesh Ghale on Thursday announced a charity trust worth Rs 1 billion. Ghale’s MIT Group Holdings has also invested Rs 8 billion for construction of Sheraton Hotel in Kathmandu.
An excerpt from Ghale’s speech during the press meet:
Today is the happiest day of our lives. My wife, Jamuna and I feel glad to be giving back to society a small portion of what society has given us. We owe what we have and who we are to Nepal. Although we have been involved in various philanthropic activities through different organisations in the past, we felt we needed to coordinate and consolidate it for greater impact. MIT Group Foundation is the result of years of preparation under which my wife and I will invest a portion of our earnings for the development of health and education sectors in Nepal.
Both my wife and I know what it’s like to go through life without resources. We were both born in rural Lamjung to poor families. Even though our parents were uneducated, they understood the importance of education and enrolled us in schools. I remember the hard work my father had to put in to send me to school. And, it was only because of the available scholarships that we got a chance to study further. I studied engineering on a scholarship and moved to Australia in search of better opportunities. If it wasn’t for a fair system of rewarding those with merit we wouldn’t be where we are today.
We plan to invest in education so students in remote parts of the country do not have to drop out of school to earn for their families. We will provide financial aid to students from economically weak families as well as help schools with infrastructure and resources. People in remote areas of the country still don’t have access to basic health care services. I know how it feels to lose a family due to lack of health services.
Rs 1 billion is not enough, but we will add more resources as we go along and in partnership with other organisations. We will be fully transparent and the selection and impact of the project will be done as per international standards.