World Newah Organization, UK chapter organized a talk program on issues related to the Newah civilization on June 24th at SOAS University.

The talk commenced with a brief welcome by the publisher of Matina Swalapau (quarterly magazine from UK) Mr Shashi Mahaju, on behalf of the organizer World Newah Organization, UK Chapter.

Speakers included:

(i) Mr. Saurav Shrestha, (London, U.K.)
Chevening scholar, Building & Urban design in development

(ii) Mrs. Shriju Pradhan, (Kathmandu, Nepal)
Deputy Director, Kathmandu Metropolitan City Office

(iii) Ms Supriya Manandhar, (New York, U.S.A.)
Artist, educator and activist promoting youth engagement in Newah issues

(iv) Ms Sumana Shrestha (Kathmandu, Nepal)
Newah activist, former consultant for Boston Consulting Group & MIT Alumni

Members of the audience included Dr Sachetan Tuladhar (Imperial College London), Er Ghanashyam Poudel (President Society of Nepalese Engineers UK), Dr Mona Chhetri (SOAS), Er Anjana Shrestha (City University), Dr Kakshepati, and students of architecture and those interested in heritage.

The talk concluded by Er Sanyukta Shrestha, WNO UK chapter coordinator, with an idea that there is really a lot of things one could do in one’s spare time while still being in the UK, for the heritage in Nepal, be it financially or with one’s expertise and know-how. He demonstrated the same by using some real life case studies.

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Contents of the presentation covered the followings:

[i] Experts with the first-hand experience laid out the facts and figures that illustrated the ongoing and upcoming risks for settlement and heritage in and around Kathmandu,

[ii] Proven solutions, and tools to achieve those solutions were discussed by those who created, maintained and used then on daily basis,

[iii] Prospective projects in Nepal kicked off right from this talk program onwards (e.g., an endowment fund for research in Nepali heritage), which would shape up the future of youth involvement in heritage preservation, which made it all very important for the audience to be a part of this talk program,

[iv] Audience were introduced to a huge team of youth in Nepal who restlessly mobilized themselves on daily basis; who could listen to complaints on local heritage, be it a site next to our house in Nepal, or somewhere else we know which needed attention. Members of the audience assessed the effectiveness of this team for themselves and expressed their willingness to contribute in future with any nature and level of expertise.

Here are the videos from the presentation: