Kisandol

Kisandol is a small village (aspiring to be a city soon) located at a distance of about 9 km from Kathmandu, the capital city of Nepal. The village spreads over a small hill having around 200 houses. The village comes under the Jitpur Phedi Village Development Committee (VDC). The main occupation of people of this village is farming. The village is moving forward along with the Kathmandu city towards the advancement and development though both of them are struggling hard for it.

Until before 1990, the village was under the black shadow of poverty and lack of education. The village had a small primary school named "Jitpur Prathamik Vidyalaya" at the center of the village. The school with a ramshackle old building sans furniture served the purpose of educating the whole village. The school kids had to use hay mats. The school sans proper protection from rain and gale used to close during extreme weathers. The percentage of educated people was very less and girl education was out of question. The village was sans healthy drinking water, toilet, electricity and roads.

But now the village has metamorphosed. There is a pair of two big buildings at the heart of the village labeled "Jitpur higher secondary school". There is a serpentine road stretch covering the whole area of the village. A playground is visible from distance. Every evening, young lads are seen playing football and volleyball on the ground. A club is also there where there is a small library where few people are digging deep into the books and few are pondering on chessboard. Few vehicles are seen parked at the side of the playground. The villagers do not have to rummage in the dark nights anymore as electricity has been availed for them. Few houses at the side of the road are seen to have motorbikes. Patches of few pucka cemented houses seem to protrude out of the clay houses. The school is having more girl students than boys. During weekdays morning, few people are seen in formals waiting at the bus stand to go to office. Not only Electricity poles but TV antennas and wireless telephone antennas are also seen rampant in the village. During the festival seasons, the evenings are fraught with cultural programs at the school playground. The well-lit ambit and well-equipped stages are not difficult things to achieve anymore. The village has recently got High school in its own effort and contribution from the villagers. A private English boarding school has also been established to serve the purpose of the nouveau-riche. During festivals the village organizes different sports tournaments inviting the nearby villages and schools.

People have started adopting new professions as well. Few families has starting poultry farm as their new side profession which they can handle along with the farming without any extra manpower. Many shops has opened at the side of the road. People have started sending their children out of village for higher education. Though few in number, there are people with master's degree and Engineers. People from nearby villages are jealous of the progress and unity of this village.

The whole credit for the present good status of the village and the smiles at the villagers' face solely goes to "The Plan International", an NGO. The NGO started its operation in this village in 1989. It started helping poor families by adopting girl children and admitting them in a good school (inside or outside the country). The choose few girl children from the impoverished families with many children. The next great thing initiated by PLAN was building simple toilets and providing healthy drinking water for the villagers. For this purpose, the PLAN gathered villagers and motivated them to contribute labor or money or resource whichever possible. The village got a road in 1990 and first school building in 1992. The school changed its building and started incrementing the standard by 1 standard every year. In 1997, the school became a secondary school. In 1998, the school added one more building to accommodate the increasing number of students. The standard of education in the school kept on improving and in 2001 in started higher education in Arts and Commerce streams.

The slippery narrow walking ways of village have been replaced by concrete steps and wider paths. The sinuous concrete stepped path bifurcates the green fields of the village. The villagers with load on their back no more stagger to maintain their balance during the rainy season. Small kids are seen walking to and from the playground and home without holding their guardians fingers.

Apart from these, the village has recently got Cable TV connection. People have started using mobile phones and computers. more and more people are choosing to do new. The sprawling green field and swards just below the village has got a long stretch of road which has shortened its distance to 5 km from the Kathmandu city.

But, the life in this village is not as rosy as you are thinking. One tragedy is that the road has been there in the initial stage for more than 6 years, but it never got that black layer on it. The electricity seems to be a rare guest to the villages as load shedding has increased from 12 hours to 16 hours. The present not so good state of village depicts that few not so good politicians seem to have duped the not so clever villagers to win their votes and seem to have forgotten the village till the next election. The concrete steps seem to be struggling to maintain their existence as half of it has been covered by mud and weeds.

Let there be more light and more Education. Let the villagers be justly treated. Let Kisandol be back to its pristine glory and beauty.