The Himalayas, home to many of the world’s highest mountain peaks, separates the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau. This range of massive mountains covers more than 1,500 square miles and passes through India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, China, Bhutan, and Nepal.
While snow-topped peaks can be seen throughout the year, the greater mountain range includes a wide variety of grasslands, shrublands, and forests. Glacial runoff and natural springs make up many rivers and mountain lakes, providing life-sustaining water throughout the region.
While some areas within these mountains support cities with large populations, like Kabul in Afghanistan, with a population of almost 4.5 million, or Kathmandu in Nepal, with nearly 1.5 million people, these are the exceptions. Most of this area is relatively unpopulated, with small remote villages being the norm and some of the last truly nomadic tribes’ peoples wandering this wilderness.
The people in these remote locations must be self-sufficient, with small-farm agriculture being the primary means of subsistence. Growing crops and raising animals like goats and yaks produce much of what the villagers use for food and trade with others for the few essentials they lack.
It is one of these small villages, Pugmo, in the mountains of Nepal, that Fort Hays State University sophomore Nyima Gyalmu Lama calls home. With just 44 households, Pugmo is located within Shey Phoksundo National Park, Nepal’s largest national park. Like most of the villages in this area, Pugmo is accessible only by foot or helicopter, as there are no roads, trails, or paths suitable for vehicles to travel.
“It is a two-day trek from Pugmo to the Dolpa airport in Juphal, where you can take a plane to Kathmandu,” Nyima explains as she describes the route she would take from her home to Nepal’s capital city.
How exactly does someone from such a remote village in Nepal find their way to Hays, Kansas, to study nursing? The answer to that question involves overcoming challenges, making sacrifices, and seizing opportunities when they arise.
The Importance of Education
A lifelong advocate of education, Nyima’s father, Semduk Lama, went to great lengths to support her and her four siblings in their education. Due to the challenges of living in such a remote location, Nyima’s father enrolled her and her younger brother, Tsuldrim, in a boarding school in Kathmandu, the capital city of Nepal, when she was only six years old. He did this to ensure they would have more opportunities than if they had stayed in their village.
In addition to leading the rural hometown school, which he founded nearly 25 years ago, and is now the managing director, Nyima’s father does social work for the benefit of the village. He helps promote overall health and hygiene; he helps raise funds for the preservation of cultural monuments, local folk songs, and other cultural traditions; and he promotes skilled local training like crafting and painting.
The local school runs from March to September or October each year because of brutally cold winters. The lack of heating systems makes keeping the school operating in the winter months impossible. Instead of going to school for half of each year, Nyima grew up studying year-round in boarding school.
The time studying in Kathmandu was a period of growth for Nyima. She lived in a boarding school hostel, similar in many ways to college dorms in the United States. She attended classes where English was the only language they were allowed to speak during the school day. Nyima communicated with other students in Nepali, the official language of Nepal, only outside of school and rarely spoke Kham, the language spoken in her village back home.
Communication with her family, or anyone from her village, was limited to the occasional handwritten letter as there were no phones, email, or other electronic communication options available in her town at that time.
Nyima witnessed her father’s dedication to education for the people of their village grow through the years while she was studying in Kathmandu. Once she graduated from high school, Nyima discussed what she would do next with her family. At her father’s suggestion, Nyima decided to study forestry. He believed it would provide Nyima with a career that would be of benefit to the community and their village’s national park.
However, from a young age, Nyima recognized the lack of medical care throughout her village and always hoped she would be able to do something to help. A desire to address these needs led her to discover a love of physical education, health, and science.
After returning to Kathmandu and beginning to work on her bachelor’s degree in forestry, Nyima discovered a scholarship opportunity from Peter Werth Jr. that would allow her to change her focus and study nursing in America. A Hays native, Werth is a 1959 Fort Hays State University graduate. Through his philanthropic work, Werth’s generosity impacts the lives of students from the plains of western Kansas all the way to a small country in Asia, students like Nyima.
A Scholarship Creates New Opportunities
As a graduate of FHSU with a Bachelor of Science in chemistry, Werth used his background to create many life-changing entrepreneurial and service initiatives. In 1982, he founded ChemWerth Inc. in Woodbridge, Conn. ChemWerth develops active ingredients used in generic drugs. Through his philanthropic contributions, he became the namesake of FHSU’s Peter Werth College of Science, Technology, and Mathematics, as well as the Peter Werth Black and Gold Room in FHSU’s Memorial Union.
Nyima’s desire to help others and focus on the public good found a kindred spirit in Peter Werth. So, how did these similar-natured individuals cross paths? Peter’s son, Peter Werth III (Pete), is the founder and director of Himalaya Currents Inc, a 501 C3 nonprofit that works on energy and educational projects throughout villages in the Dolpa region of Nepal.
It was through this work that Nyima’s father came to know Pete. Pete approached Peter with the idea of providing a scholarship for a student in Nepal, for which Nyima was eventually able to apply. After completing an application for the Peter Werth scholarship, Nyima was selected for the program.
“I am very thankful and happy to have been given this incredible opportunity,” she said. “I want to thank the Werths, especially Mr. Peter, for this opportunity. The whole experience is just far beyond my expectations.”
Nyima’s parents were hesitant about her traveling to the United States – so far from home. However, they valued the educational opportunity for her future. Honored to be chosen from among many applicants, she prepared herself for a new adventure.
“I never dreamed I would be able to study in the United States,” Nyima said. “I feel very fortunate.”
Nyima spent much of her freshman year completing courses online from Nepal while awaiting visa approvals and the lifting of COVID restrictions. She maintained a grade point average of 4.0 during this time.
From Nepal to Fort Hays State University
Arriving in Hays in January of 2022 and setting foot on the campus of Fort Hays State was exciting but also a bit of a cultural shock for Nyima. It took several weeks for her to adjust to the lack of spices and overall sweetness in American food and drink.
“I am still surprised how many cold drinks, like iced coffee and tea, people drink here, even in the winter,” Nyima said, comparing the food to her native cuisine back in Nepal. She even admits that she cannot eat many things, like muffins, because they are so sweet compared to the ones she had in Nepal.
As a sophomore, Nyima now lives on campus in Agnew Hall, enjoying classes in anatomy, psychology, music, and statistics, and is working in the Forsyth Library.
“I am finishing my general coursework and look forward to more health-related courses in the future,” Nyima said.
“My instructors here at Fort Hays State University have been remarkable,” she added, “and I’m absolutely loving my studies.”
As part of the scholarship agreement between Nyima and Peter Werth, she must earn her nursing license and serve her hometown village of Pugmo for at least three years following graduation.
Nyima’s experience with the lack of modern medical services in northern Nepal continues to motivate her. Her goal is to bring knowledge and access to healthcare to those in her village. Nyima understands the demands of agricultural work in her community and how it may impact others’ willingness to report problems.
She intends to work hard to reduce those barriers and to build trust with the people of her community. Pugmo is a community of people engaged in physically taxing work. It is also a community where the inhabitants are relatively uneducated about modern medicine and healthcare, and they have been forced to address medical issues on their own for generations. She knows trust is essential in getting the villagers to follow her medical advice.
You, too, can change the trajectory of a student’s life. For more information, call the FHSU Foundation at 785-628-5620, email foundation@fhsu.edu or visit https://foundation.fhsu.edu.