Archive - March 9, 2024

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“Photos from Afghanistan” from Juris Zagarins
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A Journey of Resilience: Bishnu Maya Pariyar (Nepal)

“Photos from Afghanistan” from Juris Zagarins

Picture the way it was —    My wife Robin Varnum showed  me your article suggesting that she send you eight photos to share. Since I am the family photographer, I am sending you eight photos chosen by me and Robin, also a recent head-shot of myself. I worked for two years with Afghan “counterparts” in the Ghazni office of the National Science Center 1972-1973, visiting all the secondary schools in Ghazni province to help improve science instruction. Then I extended my tour for a third year, 1974, teaching physics and such at Kabul University Faculty of Engineering, as did my friend Guy Toby Marion. I took many, many photos, so it was very hard to pick eight. Robin and I decided mostly on images of individual Afghans.   • • •                    • • • 

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A Journey of Resilience: Bishnu Maya Pariyar (Nepal)

After overcoming caste-based discrimination in her early years, Bishnu Maya Pariyar is now known for tireless efforts in uplifting marginalized communities. by Jagdishor Panday Katmandu Post 3/8/2024   Bishnu Maya Pariyar was born and raised in a supportive home in Shahid Lakhan Municipality Ward 4 in Gorkha District. She calls herself fortunate not to have experienced gender violence in her younger years. However, being born into a Dalit family, she faced caste-based discrimination.  Her parents, farmers by profession, were also not financially well off. She remembers that her mother, like many Nepali women of her time, never learned to read. “Growing up, girls—especially ones from the so-called ‘lower castes’—weren’t sent to school. Even when we did go, we were teased and bullied by other kids,” she recalls. Despite these challenges, she remained resilient and continued her education. Pariyar considers herself fortunate to have a father who recognised that education was . . .

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