<img width="1920" height="1080" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110111124/636cd1709c7e80680e08f8b3jpeg.jpg" alt=""/>The <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/bhaktapurs-covid-19-heroes/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">volunteer group RNA16</a> shot into the limelight in May 2020 after it handled the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/the-story-of-nepals-first-covid-19-fatality/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">first coronavirus death in Nepal</a> at a time when there was extreme stigma about the disease.Eight months on, they continue to conduct rescue missions for other crises besides Covid-19, and the team has grown from four to ten."We have handled close to 26 Covid bodies," says Arun Sainju, who leads the team that worked closely with the Nepal Army in <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/with-3rd-covid-19-fatality-nepal-issues-funeral-guideline/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">handling the coronavirus casulties</a>.Sainju and his team were awarded a national medal by President Bidya Devi Bhandari in September 2020. They also received the Gallantry Award First-class from Nepal Scouts in October.RNA16 is a short form for ‘Rescue And Awareness in 16 Types of Disasters’, and speaks for the work it does. Currently, the team helps people with PCR tests, ambulance service in response vehicles, fumigation of affected areas, and <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/dead-body-management-training-in-nepal/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">training on Covid-19 safety</a> to health institutions, hospitals, and community health groups. <img width="606" height="580" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110111124/636cd1739c7e80680e08f8b4jpeg.jpg" alt="">During last year’s monsoon, the team also was called to respond to <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/deadly-monsoon-in-nepal-turns-deadlier/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">landslides in Sindhupalchok</a> where it conducted rescues."The last two months were quite busy with training sessions," says Sainju, who has just returned from Solu Khumbu after training 134 staff in dealing with Covid emergency response. <figure><img width="886" height="1094" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110111124/636cd1759c7e80680e08f8b5jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Arun SainjuNot all heroes wear capes but the team in-charge of RNA16 Arun Sainju easily stands out in a crowd. Clad in a fluorescent green rescue jacket, a walkie-talkie slung to his waist, he sports a ‘RNA16’ tattoo on his neck. The 31-year-old recognised his calling in life after an incident involving the drowning of an 11-year-old girl.During the 2015 earthquakes, he was hospitalised with injuries himself, and was constantly in the presence of people in pain in beds next to him. He asked if he could be of any help, and was soon  assisting his medic friends in providing relief to others injured in the earthquakes.Since then, he has not looked back. Sainju has gone on from one emergency to another, providing his support to survivors and rescuing people during landslides, floods— even the crash of the US Bangla flight at Kathmandu airport in 2018."Everything looks normal now despite the pandemic, people have started to go about their daily lives. We are probably learning to adapt to the virus situation. But there will always be emergencies for which we need to prepare," says Sainju.  <figure><img width="1000" height="1500" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110111124/636cd1789c7e80680e08f8b6jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Rajesh GainjuTeam leader Arun Sainju noticed Gainju during a fire rescue drill, and immediately decided to ask him to join RNA16. Since then, they have been working together as emergency responders. Together, they became the ones to volunteer in managing the first Covid dead body in Nepal.Gainju, 30, has been a Scout for more than half his life. With skills in rope rescue, he has had an adventurous life, plucking people trapped on mountains and in rivers. His temerity was first tested during the Nepal earthquakes of 2015. While his own house was damaged, he was busy pulling out other people from under the debris of fallen buildings in Bhaktapur. After the earthquake, he traveled to different districts as a volunteer to rebuild public schools.During the pandemic lockdown, he spent his days feeding an old couple in an isolation ward. When they recovered, he also helped them return home. “They wept in gratitude. Life has no purpose if one cannot use it to help people in need,” he says.  <img width="1000" height="1500" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110111124/636cd17a9c7e80680e08f8b7jpeg.jpg" alt="">Nhuza KijuNhuza Kiju works as a computer operator in Bhaktapur Municipality. A Scout from a young age, he was active in local youth clubs. After the April 2015 earthquakes, he helped build temporary shelters.He met Arun Sainju at a scouting camp in Kakani, and currently manages information for the team, which includes handling not just social media but emergency calls as well.Since the pandemic started, he has also been helping the team in contact tracing Covid cases and assisting in preparing funerals for coronavirus victims."It was very hard to see the grief of patients' families not being able to see their loved ones," says the 21-year-old, who is working to join the Nepal Police in the future. <figure><img width="1000" height="1500" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110111124/636cd17d9c7e80680e08f8b8jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Poonam KarmacharyaPoonam Karmacharya was the first female volunteer in RNA16. A staff nurse by profession, she joined the team four years ago, conducts self-defense training and is also involved in rescue, safety, and awareness programs.Besides her nursing skills, 23-year-old Karmacharya helps manage team communication. The bulk of her work comprises collecting details of Covid-19 patients and guiding them through recovery procedures in hospitals.Karmacharya wants to conduct awareness programs related to women's health and hygiene in rural Nepal in future. She adds: "The hardest part of living in a tent for more than three months as a volunteer was not having proper toilet facilities, which made me realise how women’s needs during crisis can be different."

Monika Deupala

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From one emergency to another

<figure><img width="1634" height="912" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022110915118/636bb4589c7e80680e07bb99jpeg.jpg" alt=""/><figcaption>The 100's Group has been feeding 600 people every day at Khula March for the past five months from donations. Photos: Ansu Yadav Facebook</figcaption></figure><a href="https://www.facebook.com/aasharam.yadav?fref=gs&amp;__tn__=%2CdlC-R-R&amp;eid=ARDiBZgJ7ufICy3El6ctFQQg6KT-HQmKpUxNDt4dYWccv_nmH5Pj2kTglejjKS4Oi0LmvN_6qCm9KH06&amp;hc_ref=ARRuvYqnTsrFJAxkYo3BN3xcRMSTE2x06s2IPX8PFqMAfB4GFH9yPq71vRc10jQa4oU&amp;dti=834061476653097&amp;hc_location=group" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.facebook.com/aasharam.yadav?fref%3Dgs%26__tn__%3D%252CdlC-R-R%26eid%3DARDiBZgJ7ufICy3El6ctFQQg6KT-HQmKpUxNDt4dYWccv_nmH5Pj2kTglejjKS4Oi0LmvN_6qCm9KH06%26hc_ref%3DARRuvYqnTsrFJAxkYo3BN3xcRMSTE2x06s2IPX8PFqMAfB4GFH9yPq71vRc10jQa4oU%26dti%3D834061476653097%26hc_location%3Dgroup&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1600146333148000&amp;usg=AFQjCNGhEdaWubeWqqP70fFC8JKLoCHy9Q">Ansu Yadav’s</a> food bank campaign seems almost to be inspired by Karl Marx’s famous axiom: ‘From each according to their ability, to each according to their need.’ But Yadav is no communist, he is just trying to do his bit to lend a helping hand to thousands of Nepalis who have lost their livelihoods, and have no other way to feed themselves. Just like Nepal’s youth stepped in after the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/reviewing-lessons-of-the-2015-nepal-earthquake/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/reviewing-lessons-of-the-2015-nepal-earthquake/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1600146333148000&amp;usg=AFQjCNELrzME5t4rSw0d_EJ6N6VJx0WsWA">2015 earthquake</a> to provide food and shelter to survivors of the disaster, Yadav is among young Nepalis who are trying to do what the government should be doing to help those left vulnerable by the Covid-19 economic crisis.The concept of the food bank is simple: those who have the ability deposit food and other essential items, and the neediest are free to take them. His campaign is has been feeding 600 people every day in Kathmandu Valley since April, and 1,000 plus across the country.  <figure><img width="1814" height="1050" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022110915118/636bb45b9c7e80680e07bb9ajpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption>The Simara Food Bank in Bara district was inspired by the 100s Group in Kathmandu that has been feeding 600 people every day for the past three months.</figcaption></figure>“Initially it was just me using some of my pocket money, but the idea spread quickly through social media and other friends and volunteers stepped in,” says Yadav who was a student at the Nepal Engineering Campus and has named his growing campaign the 100's Group.On days when the donations are not enough, Yadav has to buy what is needed to prepare meals at his home in Baneswor. His team then dons PPEs and transports it to the Khula Manch in out-of-work Safa Tempos to distribute it in paper or leaf plates to hundreds of people who are hungry because they are stranded in Kathmandu with no source of income. Five months after he started, Yadav’s feeding campaign has also expanded to Siraha and Banke districts where volunteers are carrying the work forward. This week, the 100's Group is collecting food and relief for the 30 believed killed in Sunday's landslide in Sindhupalchok.Read also:<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/lockdown-brings-out-the-best-in-nepalis/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/lockdown-brings-out-the-best-in-nepalis/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1600146333148000&amp;usg=AFQjCNFec5qy6bY8UVli7IE9GjwihonxjA">Lockdown brings out the best in Nepalis</a>, Alisha Sijapati<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/volunteers-to-the-rescue-in-nepals-flood-season/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/volunteers-to-the-rescue-in-nepals-flood-season/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1600146333148000&amp;usg=AFQjCNHM9ug9j0sZ3XM2O619ea4Vk9lixw">Volunteers to the rescue in Nepali flood season</a>, Marty Logan <figure><img width="1596" height="1100" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022110915118/636bb45e9c7e80680e07bb9bjpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption>The idea has also spread to Baglung and other parts of Nepal.</figcaption></figure>Catching wind of the project’s success in Kathmandu, the municiaplities of Morang district in the eastern Tarai have also replicated the campaign, and are currently feeding more than 3,000 daily wage earners. Members of the Nepali Congress-affiliated Tarun Dal in the Kebari Rural Municipality  organised their own food bank from 22 August till 1 September, and helped feed 1,400 of the most vulnerable local residents packaging 2kg of rice, 250gm of soybeans, ½ litre of cooking oil and a packet of salt that they got from donations. “We started out distributing food at the municipality, but after finding out that most locals were unaware of our relief effort, we began distributing food in every ward,” reports Pappu Shah, a local volunteer in Kerabari. In Sundar Haraincha municipality local youth set up their own food bank to help 1,000 families in more desperate need. The initiative was supported by 35 local residents who made donations in cash and kind. Each family got a package of food to last a week. “Lockdown restrictions may have eased, but our daily wage earners are still struggling to earn money. We had to continue our campaign to ensure that they had something to eat,” explained volunteer Prakash Shrestha.  <figure><img width="1292" height="824" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022110915118/636bb4629c7e80680e07bb9cjpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption>The Food Bank in Birat Chok of Morang district uses items donated by local household for those who have lost their livelihoods.</figcaption></figure>Yosa Guragain, a member of a local women’s volunteer club in Itahari, believes that her community’s food bank has become a self-sustaining cycle for relief during the lockdown for some 650 local families. “Us volunteers just serve as the link between those who want to help and those who are in need,” she explained. “And the assistance is self-sustaining because it is local, and the better off are willing to help struggling families as long as the need is there.”The slogan ‘हुनेले दिएर जाऔं, नहुनेले लिएर जाऔं’ and the altruistic concept has gone viral, as it were, because young Nepalis across the country who want to help have latched on to the idea. Recently, local groups in Baglung, Bara, and Palpa have also established food banks by mobilising local donors. The Baglung Kalika Leo Club assisted 300 families for five days, and in Palpa’s Rampur Municipality youth clubs raised money and food to provide for 500 families. “Those with enough food at home helped those who did not have enough, and the local government also chipped in,” said Homanth Neupane of Rampur Municipality. Indeed, in many places local governments and elected representatives have been forced to also set up food banks after seeing the young people in their locality spring spontaneously into action.Read also:<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/nepals-out-of-school-children-get-food-at-home/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/nepals-out-of-school-children-get-food-at-home/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1600146333148000&amp;usg=AFQjCNEooeW5BDtl4p6ietSGqgMvi7NRsA">Nepal's out-of-school children get food at home</a>, Nepali Times<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/eu-unicef-support-child-nutrition-during-lockdown/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/eu-unicef-support-child-nutrition-during-lockdown/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1600146333148000&amp;usg=AFQjCNH1LanXfizac5PzWh5cG_d7Jh-BOw">EU Unicef support child nutrition during lockdown</a>, Nepali TimesSita Dungana is vice chair of Gajuri Rural Municipality of Dhading district, and her office was one of the first to start an effective food bank initiative from the local government level. The municipality is located along the Prithvi Highway and there are hundreds of day labourers here who have had no income for the past six months. Most of the donations are from households, not from aid agencies or non-profits, and here it was the municipality, and not youth volunteers, that first took the initiative. Households with more members get more rice and food items than smaller ones, so it truly follows the concept, ‘to each according to their need’. “All of us elected representatives collectively agreed that our first priority would be to keep daily wage earners fed. Our food bank is supported by better off community members, but also by the local government,” she explained. “It makes me very happy that this spirit of helping those in need has spread.”Read also:<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/wanting-nothing-in-return-but-love/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/wanting-nothing-in-return-but-love/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1600146333148000&amp;usg=AFQjCNGWAom5vEjZz3Y96HLihcYN0Tfhlw">Wanting nothing in return but love</a>, Shusma Barali<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=shW-kgNZw_M&amp;feature=emb_title">Watch video</a> of sita Dhungana, vice-chair of Gajuri rural Municipality on the Prithvi Highway, which also raises donations in cash and kind from better off households, supplements it with aid from the municipality and helps feed those without daily age income.https://youtu.be/shW-kgNZw_M

Youth-led feeding campaign spreads across Nepal

In the black and white photograph, General Wangdu smiles broadly in front of the dusty cactus garden in Kathmandu’s Annapurna Hotel. With an ill-fitting jacket and shaggy hair he looks benign enough, but this was the last leader of the Tibetan freedom fighters who led the resistance against the Chinese from their remote mountain hideouts in <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/comings-and-goings-in-mustang">Mustang</a>. Five months later, Wangdu was dead. Snapped in March 1974, I had only recently arrived in Nepal. How did I meet this legendary fighter? Possibly with his devoted camp follower, Lynne Klapecki, and probably in the Om Restaurant near Freak Street which was the preferred <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/hippie-trail-nostalgia-in-kathmandu">hippie hang-out</a>. Om Lobsang and his brother Yeshe were <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/page/earthquake-brings-back-memories-of-camps-for-tibetan-refugees">refugees from East Tibet </a>whose cafe offered a friendly welcome and<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/multimedia/momo-loco"> the best momos</a> - they became my in-laws after I married their eldest brother Tenzin, but that was a decade later.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2025052403054_4573b34282b0f5395c007243d6bef12c7ba76bfd520419e994cdcea048d795a1.jpg" data-media-id="editor_4" data-image-id="2025052403054_4573b34282b0f5395c007243d6bef12c7ba76bfd520419e994cdcea048d795a1" data-rendition-name="original" width="1000" height="1583" loading="lazy" alt="The last days of the Khampa NT"> <figcaption>Photo: LISA CHOEGYAL</figcaption> </figure>  Wangdu’s English was enthusiastically rudimentary, but even riding around town with him on the back of an aging <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/kathmandu-s-new-motorbike-museum">motorbike</a>, he was a commanding presence. Always flanked by armed outriders, impressive scars marked his forearms and a pistol hung from the cord around his neck. A charismatic guerrilla leader, Wangdu was celebrated by his followers for his tough commitment and respected for his measured pragmatism. He seemed so young to have shouldered such a responsibility of command, leading hundreds of hardened <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/50-years-after-the%20raid-into-Tibet,1012#google_vignette">Khampa combatants </a>through what had been a particularly <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/heavy-snowfall-over-nepal-himalaya">brutal winter in Mustang</a>, the last bastion to hold out against the Chinese invasion of their Tibetan homeland.&nbsp; The freedom fighters of Tibet, known as the Chushi-Gangdruk, had emerged to resist the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/editorial/territorialism">Chinese takeover</a> of Tibet during the 1950s. Estimated to be 80,000-strong at the time of <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/what-or-who-after-the-dalai-lama">the Dalai Lama</a>’s final escape to India in 1959, the sheer number of Chinese deployed into Tibet eventually forced the Chushi-Gangdruk to retreat to Mustang, From this high Himalayan stronghold, they continued cross-border raids on the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) throughout the 1960s.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2025052403054_8a4a935ba25ae79dc3a63bb5c14626927020e5ec098093c45ccb9a5982e009fd.jpg" data-media-id="editor_10" data-image-id="2025052403054_8a4a935ba25ae79dc3a63bb5c14626927020e5ec098093c45ccb9a5982e009fd" data-rendition-name="original" width="1114" height="676" loading="lazy" alt="The last days of the Khampa NT"> <figcaption>Guerrillas known as the Chushi-Gangdruk emerged to resist the Chinese annexation of Tibet during the 1950s. Photo courtesy: MIKEL DUNHAM</figcaption> </figure>  Their Kathmandu base was a small discreet lodge in a back lane near Rani Pokhari. Sipping sweet tea from a blue mug with a chipped lid, I sat bemused in a corner of the Mustang Hotel room whilst Wangdu and his cohorts received a battered brown suitcase from their CIA connection, a tousle-haired American in a leather jacket. Heaved onto the dingy bedspread that covered the thin mattress, it was clicked open to reveal piles of neatly stacked dollar bills.&nbsp; I cannot think why Wangdu allowed me to witness this handover but I was clearly no threat, a newly arrived world traveller with no understanding of the stakes nor any Nepali or <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/multimedia/tibetan-music-in-nepals-sacred-valley">Tibetan language</a>. Despite armed guards in the corridor,Wangdu radiated confidence and bravado, and there was a practiced familiarity to the tense transaction. This deadly dance for many years had been funded by the Americans, tolerated by <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/the-kingdom-within-a-republic">Mustang’s residents</a>, and permitted by King Mahendra and the Nepali authorities who it suited to turn a blind eye.&nbsp; But Mahendra died in 1972, and times were changing. Richard Nixon’s ping-pong diplomacy thawed the cold war and signalled a fresh entente with China. Nepal’s yet-to-be-crowned <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/if-birendra-was-alive-nepal-could-still-be-a-monarchy">King Birendra </a>was under pressure to curb the irritating incursions against the PLA launched from the Nepali territory of Mustang. Keen to appease his northern neighbour, on several occasions the King summoned Wangdu for peace talks but, despite increasingly overwhelming odds, Wangdu refused to surrender.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2025052403054_a8efd5cfb92cd997bd7cb74296a936fef46e2f7428f9cd642b03f1ac4ea11ecb.jpg" data-media-id="editor_14" data-image-id="2025052403054_a8efd5cfb92cd997bd7cb74296a936fef46e2f7428f9cd642b03f1ac4ea11ecb" data-rendition-name="original" width="1055" height="885" loading="lazy" alt="The last days of the Khampa NT"> <figcaption>General Wangdu flanked by two Tibetan resistance fighters in Mustang in the 1970s. Photo courtesy: MIKEL DUNHAM</figcaption> </figure>   <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2025052403054_75969125a745847a2ef82b6fe8b9106c0b21a116d85b8efdf5d2ee89a347bb31.jpg" data-media-id="editor_15" data-image-id="2025052403054_75969125a745847a2ef82b6fe8b9106c0b21a116d85b8efdf5d2ee89a347bb31" data-rendition-name="original" width="1044" height="792" loading="lazy" alt="The last days of the Khampa NT"> <figcaption>King Birendra with General Wangdu (right in dark glasses) taken in 1974 possibly in Mustang after one of their few attempts at negotiation. Photo courtesy: RAJRNDRA KUNWAR</figcaption> </figure>  While I naively rode pillion around Kathmandu in the spring sunshine, Wangdu was in the midst of what turned out to be his final round of negotiations with the Nepal government. Refusing to cease hostilities with the Chinese, Wangdu must have suspected the cost of his decision, making his cheerful smile in the photograph all the more poignant and brave. It was only much later that I appreciated the significance of the moment. Wangdu had been sent to replace the first resistance leader in Mustang, Baba Gen Yeshe, a much derided corrupt character who stole money meant for his troops and exploited fleeing refugees by seizing their treasures. Baba Gen Yeshe never forgave Wangdu,and sought revenge in May 1974 by betraying him and his commanders to the Nepal authorities. Renewed Chinese incursions from the north, active PLA collusion with the Nepali forces under the new King, and treachery from within the Chushi-Gangdrukranks combined to seal their fate.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2025052403054_e0987a7c90d76431b0d7d5e6115ebfe3dbda7ab939e5941e079c18d722e884c0.jpg" data-media-id="editor_16" data-image-id="2025052403054_e0987a7c90d76431b0d7d5e6115ebfe3dbda7ab939e5941e079c18d722e884c0" data-rendition-name="original" width="1400" height="769" loading="lazy" alt="The last days of the Khampa NT"> <figcaption>British television journalists George Patterson and Adrian Cowell embedded themselves with Khampa guerrillas and accompanied them from Tsum Valley on a cross border raid on a Chinese Army convoy in 1964. Photo: ESSAYS ON NEPAL / SAM COWAN</figcaption> </figure>  Mikel Dunham, renowned author of Buddha’s Warriors, writes: ‘It is possible that Wangdu was waiting for some cue from the Dalai Lama’s government-in-exile in Dharamsala, India. It is equally possible – during that last, <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/multimedia/the-human-cost-of-nepal-s-yarsa-gold-rush?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR31-Cqw8oyIwMPzf_35e4Skr0ululJvLf3_vDkzHn-AYG2h8uPw2rqqErg_aem_tGVn5coY1-jA7fze_xqhew">desolate winter </a>– that he made the decision to go out in glory rather than admit defeat. Over the last fifteen years, Wangdu had experienced Tibet’s organized resistance being squeezed and shoved around by every conceivable outside force.&nbsp; First they had been pushed out of their own country by the PLA; then they had been refused sanction while on <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/borderlines/nepal-india-trans-boundary-bonds?fbclid=IwAR0PpJ5zUEbwdug3g_U3ar6FUugngRY0S8Tl2v_7wqzrsHmXWcXsKjvL4t4">Indian soil</a>; then they were abandoned by the Americans because, apparently, Nixon wanted to make friends with Wangdu’s mortal enemies, the communists; then they had been betrayed by the vampiric Baba Gen Yeshe – a Tibetan and, even worse, a fellow Khampa; and now, finally Wangdu’s army was being evicted by the Nepalis. One thing was certain: Wangdu was a warrior. To imagine Wangdu simply giving up and settling down in the pacific squalor of a <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/elderly-left-in-bhutan-refugee-camp">refugee camp </a>was unthinkable.’  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2025052403054_8fc1ffef4ae751628b90ae781b66e11e51e4fdde2787207c9042efbee345ce49.jpg" data-media-id="editor_20" data-image-id="2025052403054_8fc1ffef4ae751628b90ae781b66e11e51e4fdde2787207c9042efbee345ce49" data-rendition-name="original" width="500" height="746" loading="lazy" alt="The last days of the Khampa NT"> <figcaption>The much derided Baba Gen Yeshe, the first Tibetan resistance leader in Mustang, who betrayed Wangdu for personal gain. Photo courtesy: MIKEL DUNHAM</figcaption> </figure>   <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2025052403054_b1d833cdb00d3ac4416b844d8730475cd88c238caaaf8da69889a584eea229a3.jpg" data-media-id="editor_21" data-image-id="2025052403054_b1d833cdb00d3ac4416b844d8730475cd88c238caaaf8da69889a584eea229a3" data-rendition-name="original" width="500" height="656" loading="lazy" alt="The last days of the Khampa NT"> <figcaption>Aditya SJB Rana of the Royal Nepal Army whose team ambushed Wangdu and his cohorts at the top of Tinker Pass in Darchula, West Nepal. Photo courtesy: GAUTAM SJB RANA</figcaption> </figure>  By August 1974 the game was up. Wangdu and six of his exhausted party were killed on their horses by <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=7270">the Royal Nepal Army</a> on the brink of escape. The officer in charge, Aditya SJB Rana, cleverly predicted their route into India after they failed to silence a police radio in Yari. A carefully laid ambush trapped them near the summit of the Tinker Pass in Darchula,at 5,000 meters the highest military operation of its time. Wangdu’s body was helicoptered to Kathmandu, and a big show made of the royal Nepal victory.&nbsp; The Tibetan armed insurgency against China had reached its end.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250524030520_3ff9c6fc85a65bc9a2c3afe9736d9f5f9413de752e790a5d9dca0981ea94f9b4.jpg" data-media-id="editor_23" data-image-id="20250524030520_3ff9c6fc85a65bc9a2c3afe9736d9f5f9413de752e790a5d9dca0981ea94f9b4" data-rendition-name="original" width="1136" height="702" loading="lazy" alt="The last days of the Khampa NT"> </figure>

The Last Days of the Khampa

The newly-formed Himalayan Art Council is set to launch Nepal’s National Art Protection Platform that seeks to preserve <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/the-history-of-heritage">Nepal’s unique cultural heritage </a>using<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/artificial-censorship"> AI-powered tools</a>. The Council seeks to safeguard <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/nepali-art-going-places">Nepali art works</a> from neglect, theft and counterfeiting as well as preserve existing artwork and celebrate living masters by giving them a cultural space to continue the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/sacred-survival">sacred art traditions</a>. "We are introducing a new digital platform designed to preserve, verify and elevate <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/nepals-new-generation-of-alternative-artists">Nepal’s art for generations to come,</a>” says a statement from the Council, adding that the digital platform will use AI told for authentication and blockchain to keep track of works of art. Artists can now be protected by <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/multimedia/ayo-ai?fbclid=IwAR1uwmTVq4gUB70ljfRezjzukD9ArWXPuMnUikopeQ8PoiZMjicToPSwhKE&amp;=1">AI tools</a> that detect forgeries, identify their work even when unsigned, and ensure they receive proper recognition and credit. The archives will be searchable with translated inscription and interactive guides. Says curator Meena Lama: “AI and blockchains are tools that give us the power to detect fakes and identify unsigned paintings and track every piece. With these tools we can restore trust, secure authorship and give artists the dignity they deserve.”  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250514170544_2ab58f6313c0458f75114a692b0016bd9efb3b59d5f8f07f0da72e1e37b82f53.jpg" data-media-id="editor_6" data-image-id="20250514170544_2ab58f6313c0458f75114a692b0016bd9efb3b59d5f8f07f0da72e1e37b82f53" data-rendition-name="original" width="1300" height="1000" loading="lazy" alt="Artwork at the Traditional Art Exhibition at Patan Museum."> <figcaption>Artwork at the Traditional Art Exhibition at Patan Museum.</figcaption> </figure>  The Council is also holding an exhibition of Nepali cultural masterpieces with 50 historical <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/Buzz-the-art,671">thangka and paubha </a>by past masters and <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/review/between-the-sacred-and-everyday">contemporary works by current artists</a>. This curated collection is a living tribute to <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/when-yaks-go-so-does-culture">Himalayan culture</a> with economic depictions of deities, mandala and sacred narratives. The exhibition at <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/multimedia/a-portal-into-patan-s-past-and-present">Patan Museum</a> also provides an opportunity to meet painters and custodians of art and culture. Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/review/golden-deities">Golden deities</a>, Sewa Bhattarai ‘The exhibition is only the first step in a long journey to ensure that Nepali art is no just seen but fully understood, <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/Narratives-of-Faith-and-Memory-Remembering-the-Lost-Sculptures-of-Kathmandu-exhibition,987">protected and remembered</a>,’ the Council says. Artist Kailash K Shrestha of Artudio has spent decades promoting thankha and paubha traditions because of their beauty and devotional meaning. But he also says artists are underpaid, exploited and ignored. He adds, “AI and blockchain are not just buzzwords, they are powerful tools that can protect Nepal’s artists from fraud, verify authenticity and build a permanent record of provenance.” Traditional Art Exhibition Till 17 May Patan Museum

Digital protection for Nepal’s art

Starting 17 September Turkish Airlines will fly daily to Seville, one of Spain’s major tourist draws. This is Turkish’s sixth destination in Spain after Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia, Malaga, and Bilbao. Seville is in the Andalusia region on Spain’s south coast with a rich Moor history. There are approximately 30,000 Nepalis living in Spain.&nbsp;

Turkish to Seville

<a href="https://www.instagram.com/prabalgurung/" target="_blank">Prabal Gurung</a> left Nepal for New York in 1999 to escape years of bullying, sexism and homophobia, and to pursue his dream of becoming a fashion designer. He <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KqN0VaoAI5w" target="_blank">realised his dream</a>, but did not escape discrimination and racism in the new world. Propelled by passion for fashion, Gurung overcame everything America threw at him. He has attained <a href="https://www.vanityfair.com/style/story/prabal-gurung-recalls-his-first-met-gala-when-zoe-saldana-was-at-his-side?srsltid=AfmBOooy-H0oGgxMit864FnW_Pmw8mUnV8rYrh-co-f6OyYK6m2ip5hP" target="_blank">fame and recognition</a> for his haute couture dress designs while remaining true to his Nepali roots, and is even more resolute in <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dSmNauyzACk" target="_blank">fighting prejudice</a> in all its forms. Prabal Gurung’s newly-released memoir <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Audible-Walk-Like-Girl-Memoir/dp/B0DG11HCDQ?fbclid=IwY2xjawKZfpxleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHuZcIJO2OXyXcRm1oq1iG6wzeoF7VJFrQ7GXOFI0YxuZZ4id_CNvSZSZZIna_aem_pG_mOKG73RTnYvN8JaC4fA">Walk Like a Girl</a> is a saga of harrowing abuse in boarding schools in Nepal and India, only finding himself facing a different kind of bullying in the US. He prevails over it all to be where he is today: an award-winning American fashion designer with his own label. Walk Like a Girl was launched last week in New York at a time when everything Gurung fought for — tolerance, inclusion and diversity — are in retreat in his adopted country because of a president who has espoused a culture of bullying. The book is a searing, raw exposé of how cruel and abusive people can be even at a young age in school. On the other hand, it also shows that there are generous, compassionate and open-minded souls out there. In his book, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K4le_uWX7YE">Prabal Gurung</a> calls out those who tormented and tried to hold him back (some of their names have been altered). The moral of his story is: resist, never stop believing in yourself, do not let others define you, never lose sight of your dream, and help those who have been kept out. “Walk like a girl” was a slur used by bullies back in school in Nepal and India for Gurung’s effeminate ways. He fought back then, and he is still resisting by turning those words into something to be proud of.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250519170544_4ffc9c3f565dd2cfa754d10b224816897b82bb31ebaee91b6d79d469fc96f14e.jpg" data-media-id="editor_6" data-image-id="20250519170544_4ffc9c3f565dd2cfa754d10b224816897b82bb31ebaee91b6d79d469fc96f14e" data-rendition-name="original" width="1000" height="1253" loading="lazy" alt="Prabal Gurung NT"> <figcaption>Prabal Gurung at home in Kathmandu in the 1990s.</figcaption> </figure>  “Living through it all was one thing, but writing about it is one of the hardest things I have done in my life,” admitted Gurung during the launch. “I broke down constantly during the six-year writing process.” He continues: “I did not want this to be a victim’s book. I did not want to burden my readers with my emotions. I wanted my struggle to be an inspiration for others facing what I faced. I am grateful to those who bullied me in school, they made me a stronger person ready to face the world.” Indeed, this book is a departure from his earlier one titled simply, Prabal Gurung (Abrams, 2019), which was a lush pictorial autobiography of his career in fashion. Walk Like a Girl is not a typical fashion book, it is an intimate tale of <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=16997">Gurung’s travails and triumphs</a>, and how he willed himself to succeed. Prabal pays a lavish tribute to his mother Durga Rana. We find out she is a descendant of the first wife of the eldest son of Jang Bahadur Rana who was banished to Palpa in the late 19th century. Prabal’s father served in the Singapore Police and that is where he was born before the family returned to Nepal when he was four. Gurung relates with brutal honesty about the violence his mother endured from his father. Durga raises three children as a single mother in Nepal, and Prabal credits her for his fierce determination to resist patriarchy and injustice, which in time manifests itself in his hyper-feminine and subversive dress designs. Writing the book has been a cathartic experience for Gurung, who says he is now relieved of the burdens of his past. It no longer haunts him, and he does not have to prove anything to anyone anymore. Walk Like a Girl has life lessons not just for the <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/DJmOcSgxdWz/" target="_blank">fashion industry</a>, but for every other profession. How can my job serve a greater cause? Gurung tells us his work is <a href="https://asiasociety.org/blog/asia/why-designer-prabal-gurung-doesnt-want-just-stick-fashion" target="_blank">bigger than just making clothes</a>, it is about making the world a better place because it could do with a lot of improvement.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250519170544_d75296ad8bfdc00d88935f40d23543c6fea3d4d6a10e61a99d6cfc6127f2ee5b.png" data-media-id="editor_10" data-image-id="20250519170544_d75296ad8bfdc00d88935f40d23543c6fea3d4d6a10e61a99d6cfc6127f2ee5b" data-rendition-name="original" width="1516" height="1000" loading="lazy" alt="Prabal Gurung"> </figure>  This story of chasing the American dream may sound familiar to many immigrants: knocking on doors for jobs, rejections, trying to survive from day to day on expensive rent, and dealing with subtle racism in white America. Gurung finds racism is rife, and he is often mockingly called ‘gaysian’. He writes: ‘There was a strong hypocrisy — this idea of independence felt like a marketting ruse … and for all the talk of feminism in America, these high society women were trapped by the patriarchy just like in Nepal and India.’ After a trek to the Khumbu region in 2013, Gurung is inspired to use the colours, palette and textures of Nepal for his collection exhibited on Manhattan’s 8th Avenue. A major buyer tells him bluntly: “Stick to making pretty dresses … if I need to see a collection like this, I could buy a copy of National Geographic.” The New York Times was equally dismissive: ‘The designer tries to draw connections between blistered techo-fabric used to construct it and the topography of his homeland, Nepal. But, at the moment, he has lost his map.’ One potential investor tells Gurung he cannot design for Americana because “you do not look American”. Gurung wants to use expletives, but restrains himself. After a fundraiser in New York for the Nepal earthquake in 2015, some belittled his effort, saying: “Here comes the saviour."&nbsp; Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/review/prabal-gurung-by-prabal-gurung">Prabal Gurung by Prabal Gurung</a>, Kunda Dixit The Gurkha DNA must be dominant in Prabal Gurung’s genes because he does not take such mistreatment lying down. When asked by a fashion publicist why he was designing clothes for fat people, he snaps back: “Because of people like you.” He joins the Black Lives Matter and #MeToo movements, launches the Shikshya Foundation charity in Nepal, and has powerful allies among celebrities who wear clothes he designed: Michelle Obama, Oprah Winfrey, Sara Jessica Parker, Kamala Harris, Deepika Padukone … it is a long list.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250519150556_48a5f4211991a23fa85b64bbd5377575ca7081d97309d7542035591dda5180fe.png" data-media-id="editor_12" data-image-id="20250519150556_48a5f4211991a23fa85b64bbd5377575ca7081d97309d7542035591dda5180fe" data-rendition-name="original" width="1114" height="1534" loading="lazy" alt="Being Prabal Gurung by design"> <figcaption>Nigerian novelist Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie wearing Atelier Prabal Gurung’s design for Met Gala 2025 in which the theme was ‘Superfine: Tailoring Black Style’. </figcaption> </figure>  “I don’t dress women to look beautiful, they already are,” Gurung says. “I try to bring out their innate strength and grace.” <a href="https://www.instagram.com/stories/highlights/17908766880140171/" target="_blank">Admirers</a> tell Gurung he makes it all look so easy, but he used to put up a strong facade to not show his own vulnerabilities in public. “I was closed because of my childhood experiences,” he says. “I was always on guard to defend myself because I never knew where the next punch would come from.” But in <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PPVepzPA210" target="_blank">Walk Like a Girl,</a> Gurung comes to terms with his vulnerability, and bares his soul. It has not been easy, it took sustained will power and support from his mother, sister Kumudini and a circle of close friends. “I made unbelonging my power,” he says. “Nepal is where I still have my heart and soul. Nepal grounds you. It is where people go to find themselves. But I escaped.” Recently appointed vice-chair of the <a href="https://cfda.com/about-cfda" target="_blank">Council of American Fashion Designers</a>, Gurung says: “I can’t believe I am here, it feels like it is happening to someone else. Writing this book, the healing has finally begun.” <h2>‘Everything is better in color’</h2> The Met Gala was two weeks later, and my table was an example of everything I’d been fighting for all these years as my guests represented everything I believed in: dynamic, powerful, influential women who were unapologetically original and unabashedly graceful. I was grateful to Anna for inviting me to host and dress a table that reflected my ethos—and for her guidance in doing so. I was also aware of the privilege as one of the first-­ever Asian fashion designers—not just from Nepal, but from the entire continent— to get the opportunity to do so. That fact was not lost on me. I reached out beyond the expected Hollywood celebrities and well-­known socialites to curate a table of exceptional women who inspired me. I invited Deepika Padukone and Alia Bhatt for their first-­ever Met Galas, as well as Michelle Yeoh, Mindy Kaling, Camila Cabello, Ashley Park, Denée Benton, KiKi Layne, Quannah Chasinghorse, and Grace Elizabeth. Together we checked many boxes: Asian, Black, Latinx, and Indigenous, each woman undeniably chic and powerful, a dazzling array of skin tones and experiences that proved my decades‑in‑the-­making hypothesis: everything is better in color. Excerpt from Walk Like a Girl Viking © 2025 by Prabal Gurung  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250519170520_6b91d560e9f072c37d16876901058c073a51ffa05e7ad1b9461d19e1c9c28215.jpg" data-media-id="editor_16" data-image-id="20250519170520_6b91d560e9f072c37d16876901058c073a51ffa05e7ad1b9461d19e1c9c28215" data-rendition-name="original" width="1136" height="702" loading="lazy" alt="Prabal Gurung book details NT"> </figure>   <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250519170520_345240c21be400e2ce2ec629b52bd82bb53890e5bd86fe95b48340d84b5f1748.jpg" data-media-id="editor_17" data-image-id="20250519170520_345240c21be400e2ce2ec629b52bd82bb53890e5bd86fe95b48340d84b5f1748" data-rendition-name="original" width="1136" height="702" loading="lazy" alt="Prabal Gurung book details NT"> </figure>  &nbsp;