Mahabir Pun uses the internet to improve life in remote parts of Nepal
Mahabir Pun uses the internet to improve education and medical services for those in remote areas of Nepal, writes Mark Sharp
Mahabir Pun is what the Internet Society calls a "global connector". His perseverance in leveraging the internet to improve lives in remote corners of Nepal saw him inducted into the society's Internet Hall of Fame at a ceremony held in Hong Kong in April. Yet the technology pioneer had not even come across a radio until visiting soldiers brought one to his village when he was a schoolboy.
The seeds of his initiative were sown in 2001 when he returned to his native village of Nangi, western Nepal, after completing a master's degree in education at University of Nebraska, Kearney, in the US.
To check his e-mail, he had to make a trip to Pokhara, which meant a five-hour walk and three-hour bus ride. In Nepal's mountains at that time, email was not much better than snail mail.
No doctor, after attending university in a city, wants to go and spend their time in a small village
So, Pun set himself the goal of bringing wireless internet to Nangi's 700 villagers, primarily to provide better educational opportunities for its youngsters.
He upgraded the village school with donor support via his Himanchal Education Foundation. Meanwhile, he set up income-generating projects such as yak and rabbit farming, and jam and cheese making in Nangi and neighbouring villages.
By 2006, he had hooked up 13 mountain hamlets to the information superhighway. The following year, he received a Ramon Magsaysay Award - Asia's equivalent of the Nobel Prize - in recognition of his achievements.
Pun's wireless internet initiative was initially a daunting task. When he began, the government was fighting a Maoist insurgency and had banned the movement of wireless equipment into the rebels' rural strongholds. But Pun was undeterred.
