Region History

By Fr. Ludwig Stiller, S.J.
(From the Nepal Region’s 50th Anniversary Book, 2001)

On November 1, 1950, General Mrigendra Shamser Rana, Director of Public Education in Nepal, visited Patna to inform Fr. Moran that the Kingdom of Nepal, the “Forbidden Kingdom,” invited him to open a school in Nepal at Godavari. At that time, Fr. Moran was Principal of St. Xavier’s School in Patna. Fr. Moran had visited Nepal in October 1949, and while he was at Kathmandu the possibility of such a school had been discussed.

In the winter of 1950-51, Fr. Joseph M. Egan, the Chicago Provincial, visited Godavari on the Feast of Epiphany, 1951. He was convinced that the proposed school was viable and he gave his approval.

Implementation of this decision was delayed by political changes in Nepal, but, on May 3, 1951, Fr. Moran was informed that the plan to establish St. Xavier’s School in Godavari had been approved. Fr. Moran returned to Patna with the news and then to Calcutta, where he purchased the supplies he considered essential. On his return to Patna, he chartered a plane to take two tons of supplies, a Land Rover, Frs. Francis Murphy and Ed Saxton to Kathmandu. The three Jesuits and their plane loaded with supplies arrived in Kathmandu on June 6th, and, after five hours in customs, proceeded to Godavari. A beginning had been made.

Starting St. Xavier’s was not a simple matter of admitting students and beginning to teach them. The buildings already standing at Godavari were impressive but not very practical for a school. The most pressing concern was furniture. Godavari was to be a boarding school, but there were no beds for the boys, no shelves for their clothing, no desks, no chairs, no blackboards, no tables in the dining room, and no benches for the boys to sit on while eating. Like it or not, a great deal had to be done, and until it was done “make do” would have to be the slogan. It could not have been easy. But these pioneering Jesuits and those Jesuits who joined them in later years found that they indeed could “make do” and do it in a style that established the school from the beginning as a home for serious study.

On June 6, 1951, the Principal of Trichandra College (Rudra Raj Pandey), the Secretary of Education (Netra Bahadur Thapa), a representative of the Education Department (Tara Man Singh), Professor Burathoki (Trichandra College), and Fr. Moran screen 300 candidates for the new school at the Singha Durbar Secretariat. In three hours they selected sixty boys. On July 1st these sixty boys along with five Nepalese boys Fr. Moran had brought with him from St. Kavier’s in Patna began classes in the new St. Xavier’s School in Godavari. In a very short time the school became known simply as “Godavari.”

The Godavari Jesuits soon learned what it meant to live in a landlocked country. They also learned that the term “landlocked” did not fully described Nepal’s isolation. At that time there were in Nepal no modern means of communication and no international post office. Letters had to be taken to the Indian Embassy for posting. Incoming mail and parcels had to be picked up there. Fortunately, Fr. Moran had no objection to driving. In the Land Rover he made countless trips to and from Kathmandu on the narrow unimproved road that linked Godavari to the city. While trying to purchase supplies needed by the school, he also learned that shopping in a city tucked away in the mountains was quite different from shopping in Patna. It was, in fact, a totally new experience.

Almost all goods found in the bazaar, other than rice, dal, and a few vegetables were imported. Imported goods in those days were brought to Kathmandu Valley either by electric rope-way that carried a maximum of eight tons per hour or by porters who carried their loads over the mountain passes into Kathmandu. The transportation link to India was a patch-work affair designed to protect Nepal from Indian influence. Goods crossed the border at Birgunj. A tiny railway carried some goods and passengers from Birgunj to Amlekhgunj. From Amlekhgunj there was an unimproved road going as far as Hetauda. From Hetauda the transportation of goods was either by rope-way or porter.

Travelers walked. Occasional Dakota DC 3 flights brought some supplies from Patna, but most imported goods came by land route. Tinned goods, if found in the bazaar, could not be bought by the case. Shopkeepers rationed them to their customers. Those fortunate or foolish enough to buy a whole case usually found some damaged content inside. Those were normal hazards of shopping in Kathmandu.

Hardware was even more difficult to find, and Fr. Moran needed nails, hinges, screws, paint, chalk, and basic materials for building maintenance. The supplies he had brought with him were enough to make a start. The improvements the school would need year after year depend on the ingenuity of Fr. Moran and the cooperation of the merchants he learned to trust. A full five years would pass before a highway to India could be opened and even longer before the kinds of things needed were readily available in the market.

When Indian Airlines began scheduled air flights to Kathmandu from Patna, a way was opened for urgently needed supplies. In the meanwhile, Fr. Moran became the official “errand boy” of the school while Fr. Murphy managed the school. In later years, Fr. Murphy, an exceptional ranconteur, kept many a young Jesuit entranced with tales of “the old days.” But in 1951, 1952, and 1953, these were not stories, they were the facts of life.

The three Godavari Jesuits were isolated but not forgotten. Fr. Saubolle, then teaching at North Point in Darjeeling, volunteered to join them at Godavari, where he would teach and serve as “Minister” of the small Jesuit community. He was a Godsend. Not only was he an excellent teacher, but he was truly a “jack-of-all-trades.” He also spoke fluent Nepali. Fr. Saubolle arrived at Godavari on January 14, 1952, followed shortly afterwards by Fr. Downing. They were welcomed with open arms. Fr. Paxton had returned to Patna in on December 5, 1951, and for six weeks Fr. Moran and Fr. Murphy had been trying to cope. These new arrivals were also a Godsend.

Within a few months of arrival Fr. Downing and the boys of Class Four staged the first performance of Hansel and Gretel, and thus began one of the great traditions of the junior school.

Soon after this, the older boys had their first boxing match, and boxing too, became a tradition of the school. By June of that year the boys had a volleyball court, and slowly the school traditions began to take shape. But a heavy price had to be paid for these extra-curricular advance.

A simple note left by Fr. Downing tells quite a story: Frs. Moran, Downing, Saubolle, and Murphy taught all subjects (except Nepali) to Classes Two to Six. They taught every period of every day in addition to their normal duty of prefecting in a boarding school. There was a Jesuit with the boys when they got up in the morning, when they studied, when they played, when they had their meals, and when they went to bed at night. To younger Jesuits arriving in later years, the mere thought of such a schedule was awesome.

Only by talking to senior Nepalese academics can one appreciate the boldness of the effort to establish an English medium school in a country such as Nepal at that time. To know how to read, write, and speak English was a very rare achievement. Dedicated students and those who had the good fortune to study in the great schools of North India achieved fluency. Nepal was still a country of which one English writer commented: “As for schools in Nepal, they are like snakes in Ireland. There are none.” This was not completely true, but it was not far off the mark.

Even years later, a Godavari Jesuit who chanced to meet a Godavari student on the streets of Kathmandu during the holidays could create an instant sensation by conversing with the boy in English. Policemen were apt to investigate the cause of the commotion and walk away in wonder that a small boy could speak English. Godavari had no need of paid advertisement, even if there was the means to do so. Godavari students were walking, talking advertisements. Their stories of school life, suitably enhanced by vivid imaginations, delighted family and friends. What seemed to stun the parents was the fact that, almost to a boy, these students of Godavari really “liked” school, even if it meant being away from home and missing well-loved family food.

From the early days to the present, the story of the Nepal Jesuits is one of imagination, hard work and prayer. Because of the steady growth of the Godavari school, the primary department was moved from Godavari to Jawalakhel in 1954. On the day of the move, the road was out. Students and staff walked, and porters carried their furniture and baggage. With his usual elan, Fr. Downing made it an outing, and the boys responded with the joys of pioneers.

As early as 1959, Fr. Edward Niesen, then Superior of the Nepal Jesuits, began going occasionally to the area Biratnagar where he found out that there were Santals who were Catholics. These Santals have been in Nepal for several generations, had Nepali citizenship, and owned land. In the early 1960’s, as tea estates were established in Nepal, adivasis (mainly Uraons, but also Karias and Mundas) began to come into Nepal from Gayaganga (originally from Ranchi) to work on the tea estates. The work was then extended to meet the needs of the people.

For Fr. Niesen, travel was not easy. There was at that time no east-west highway, but there were unimproved roads and trails. This began the first ministry outside Kathmandu Valley. Fr. Niesen took this work upon himself because the growth of the two schools, both with large number of boarders, took all the energies of the Jesuit staff. When Father could not make the trip himself, he obtained help mainly from the Maltese Fathers in Dumka-Raiganj and arranged for the schooling of many of these children in Dumka-Raiganj schools. He also called on the Fathers of St. Mary’s, Kurseong, for help, which sometimes caused some of the Santals to wonder what sort of priest Fr. Niesen was with his ability to change his appearance when he wished. Occasionally, Indian Jesuits also came from Patna and Calcutta to help.

When Fr. Miller was appointed Vicar Episcopal, he followed up Fr. Niesen’s initiative with dedication and determination. Jesuit companions grew used to seeing him coming back from such trip, soiled and worn, but full of hope. He began the project of starting Suryoyada School in Damak to cater to needs of the adivasis working in the tea estates and provide them with education for their children as well as the Catholic atmosphere and instruction for their children. Msgr. Anthony Sharma, as Ecclesiastial Superior of Nepal, and Fr. Harvey continued this work with the establishment of the Suryoyada English Medium School and an Apostolic School in Damak. Fr. Mathew, the current Jesuit Superior of the Nepal Jesuits, has written the most recent chapter by founding schools for the Santals in Maheshpur and Deonia.

The various works of the Jesuits in Nepal Tarai were not isolated apostolates. Other religious congregations established a strong Catholic presence there, and the Jesuit Refugee Service has performed magnificently in organizing and administering education for the thousands of Bhutanese refugees in Nepal. But the pioneer was Fr. Niesen, and his motive was sheer love of the people of God.

Fr. Niesen was an educator who believed that his duty to his students was not completed when they walked out the door of the school. As early as 1957, he set in motion, through a series of meetings with former students, the development of what became the Godavari Alumni Association (GAA). With Fr. Moran’s help, he opened the Xavier House in Kathmandu in 1960. He used it as a city office for the school, but also as a counseling centre.

During school days, Fr. Gafney supplemented his efforts to be a continuing source of encouragement and advice for former students. In 1964 Fr. Stiller was appointed for this work, and in 1966 he was transferred to full-time alumni work. In 1967 Fr. Watrin joined Fr. Stiller in alumni work. In 1970 Fr. Dressman replaced Fr. Stiller at the GAA and continued the apostolate along with Fr. Watrin until 1976. From 1976 to the present Fr. Watrin has developed and expanded his work to include not only alumni work but a whole series of social service activities. This is largely possible because of the active leadership of the alumni themselves in organizing and administering an annual series of activities for the alumni and for the schools of Kathmandu.

Another interesting development, and an unusual one for a small group of Jesuits, of the institution of what is now known as the Human Resources Development Centre. It began simply, as is often the way with Jesuit works. Fr. Stiller was assigned to special studies of Nepalese history in 1966, and Fr. Locke was assigned to special studies in Nepalese religions in 1971. These two Jesuits set up a separate residence in 1971, which in time became HRDC Research Centre. In 1975 Fr. Miller joined them, focusing his study and research on anthropology.

All three of these Jesuits completed their doctoral studies at Tribhuvan University, and all have contributed by their research and writings to the development of Nepal. Fr. Miller carried his knowledge with him into the formation of young Jesuits as Dean of Nepal’s juniorate. Fr. Locke’s contribution is on the larger stage of the Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conference where he serves as Executive Secretary of the panel of theologians who assist the Bishops in their planning for the growth of the Church in Asia.

One of the best known Jesuit apostolates in Nepal other than the school is the work of Fr. Tom Gafney. Fr. Tom’s concern for the poor prodded him, even as the Rector of St. Xavier’s, to find a way to assist the poor actively. A short advertisement in the newspaper provided an opening. Two Australian tourists had provided food and shelter to a few of the street children who had begun to haunt the tourist areas of Kathmandu. As the time of their stay in Nepal came to an end, they looked for someone to take over the work that they had begun. Fr. Gafney made contact with them and after some discussion agreed to take on the task. It was to become a work of love. The two tourists promised to assist him in the early years and did, in fact, raise funds and arrange speaking engagement for Fr. Gafney in Australia.

From that beginning, Fr. Gafney never looked back. He rented space in Mahendra Youth Hostel opposite St. Xavier’s Jawalakhel, and there he housed the youngsters under his care. When the small building near the school became available, the Nepal Jesuits bought it as the permanent home for the children under Father’s care. After he completed his term as superior of St. Xavier’s Jawalakhel, Fr. Tom devoted his energies to needy children in Kathmandu. His concern reached from the homeless to those afflicted with substance abuse.

Over the years he not only became the champion of the cause but an outstanding spokesman for those needing help, support and understanding. As Father’s interest grew, the work expanded. Under the care of St. Xavier’s Social Services Centres, Fr. Tom’s works included the original Social Service Residence, the Nakipot Farm Centre which houses and cares for the blind, the Freedom Centre for the care and rehabilitation of young drug addicts, and an outreach program that functions city-wide.

Fr. Gafney was a counselor with a heart. He was not only available to all young men with health problems but also available for counseling for those under his care or anyone who needed his help. After Father was murdered in his residence in December 1997, the Nepal Jesuits promised to continue complete support to his work. Fr. Robins has shouldered this task, and all Nepal Jesuits are committed to the task in which Fr. Gafney found such complete fulfillment. This work alone is probably the most profound witness of the Society’s commitment to those in need, and for this realization the Nepal Jesuits feel a debt of gratitude to Fr. Gafney and those who worked with him and carry on his work today.

Another pioneer in the apostolate of social service is Fr. Akijiro Ooki, a Jesuit from the Japanese Province who has worked for many years in Nepal. Nine years after Fr. Gafney begun his work with the street children, Fr. Ooki chose Pokhara, to the west of Kathmandu, as his area of concern. He was the first Jesuit in modern times to take up a full-time apostolate outside Kathmandu Valley. School men measure their success in terms of their students’ achievement in annual examinations. For Fr. Ooki there was no gratification. Progress with the mentally retarded is very slow, but these children are as dear to their parents as any normal child, perhaps more dear.

For more than twenty years, Fr. Ooki and his staff (initially one teacher, now twelve teachers) have worked patiently with these children. He and his staff have cared for and have trained over two hundred of these little ones and have set an example that has won international attention and respect.

As with every undertaking of the Nepal Jesuits, these apostolate has spawned new but related activities. The first was the establishment of a similar training centre for mentally retarded children in Baglung. The initiative for this came with the Nepalese Association for the Welfare of Mentally Retarded. Fr. Ooki managed this added task for three years before another NGO could undertake it. However, at the request of Msgr. Sharma, Fr. Ooki began a new centre in Bhairahawa. This centre, Jyoti Kendra, is staffed by three Holy Cross Sisters and four lay teachers. Eighteen mentally retarded children benefit from the care they receive at Jyoti Kendra.

Fr. Ooki has a special program at Shishu Bikas Kendra for hearing-impaired children. For those whose progress warrants it, Fr. Ooki has established a small vocational school to teach them marketable skills.

In addition, Fr. Ooki’s chicken farm provides eggs free of charge for the children in the public schools of Pokhara. For children of very poor families where both parents must work each day, he also provides a day care centre at Simal Chaur, with a staff of eighteen teachers under the direction of Sister Elizabeth from Japan.

A simple list of activities like this does not do justice to the care Fr. Ooki lavishes on the children, especially the very poor. As was Fr. Gafney, Fr. Ooki is a constant reminder that these little ones are precious to God.

Fr. Eugene Watrin, still endlessly active despite his eighty-one years, has served the people of Nepal for forty-six years. A Jesuit with the gift of inspiring youths with a strong social awareness, Fr. Watrin has added to his duties as the director of the GAA, a whole series of social service activities. With the strong support of Shankar Pandey, he has organized the Social Service Volunteers, literacy and skill development programmes for women, started the “Habitat for Humanity” programme in Nepal to assist the poor in building their own homes, built and staffed a health post in Shivapuri, serves as the resident advisor for Cheshire Homes Program in Nepal, and provides 263 scholarships in nine village schools.

The Social Service Volunteers conduct a mobile clinic five days a week, treating an average of 250 patients each week and a general clinic once a week treating some seventy to one hundred patients each visit. These young volunteers, some forty in all, also help out as aides on a daily basis at the Kanti Children’s Hospital.

The starting point for all these activities was St. Xavier School, and despite involvement in other activities, St. Xavier’s continued to be the focal point of Jesuit activities in Nepal. Over the years since 1951, St. Xavier’s has developed year by year into an outstanding example of Jesuit education. It has not been easy. Starting with the makeshift arrangements of that first year in Nepal, the Jesuits and the school have had to adjust to many challenges.

The first challenge was space. Even with the opening of St. Xavier’s primary division at Jawalakhel, space remained a problem. There was simply not enough room to accommodate the number of applicants each year. A first to resolve this problem was a massive shift of the schools themselves.

In January 1969, the junior school was shifted to Jawalakhel, and boarders of the primary school at Jawalakhel were moved to Godavari. With this new arrangement day scholars could be admitted to the senior school, and more boys could be admitted. At the same time St. Xavier’s continued to follow the Senior Cambridge syllabus.

This changed in 1971. On March 26 that year, the Education Minister informed the Rector of St. Xavier’s that the Jesuit schools at Jawalakhel and Godavari were obliged to follow the syllabus established by Nepal’s New Education System. St. Xavier’s would become a Nepali medium matric school. For the staff, this was a traumatic change, but suprisingly it did not diminish the demand for admissions. St. Xavier’s continued to grow. In 1980, the hostel at St. Xavier’s Jawalakhel, which housed relatively few students, was closed permanently.

In June of 1988, St. Xavier’s College opened its doors with classes until 1992 conducted at St. Xavier’s Jawalakhel School. Initially, the college offered only a science curriculum. The original objective was to train science teachers for Nepal’s schools.

Fr. Charlie Law, one of the key members of the original college team, had spent several years teaching in high schools outside Kathmandu Valley. He learned from his experience the eagerness of students had for solid training in science and the dearth of qualified science teachers. As the years passed, Fr. Law became convinced that Nepal had an equally pressing need for qualified social workers. As a direct result, in 1996 the college began to offer courses leading to a Bachelors Degree in Social Work.

A few years later, St. Xavier’s began to offer a B.Sc (Environment) programme to train students who were conscious of the environmental aspects of almost all forms of development in Nepal. Over the years since its founding, St. Xavier’s has grown both in enrollment and in staff. The skeleton staff of 1988 now numbers seventy-two lay faculty members, five Jesuits and two Sisters, with a total enrolment of 633 students. The college is co-educational.

The same year, 1996, St. Xavier’s at Godavari began the shift from a boarding school for boys to a co-educational school for day scholars. The change took place without serious disruption of the school’s program. New admissions entered as day scholars. Those already admitted as boarders continued until over a six-year period the hostel was totally phased out. With the beginning of the new academic year 2002 one class will then be added to the school each year until the full high school curriculum is taught.

In 2000 St. Xavier’s Jawalakhel responded to the need of the time by a decision to introduce co-education at Jawalakhel. This would also be achieved beginning at Class One and adding one co-ed class a year until the change was complete.

Both schools engaged in building programmes. Expert advice suggested that the original building at Jawalakhel was no longer safe. New classroom blocks were built, and at the present library, eight classrooms, and an auditorium are being added. The initial needs at Godavari were met by the construction of bungalows for some of the teachers on the staff and a small but excellent auditorium was built. As Godavari grows to the high school level, new classrooms will be required, and these are on the drawing board.

Suprisingly, it might seem, the change in syllabus determined by His Majesty’s Government has in no way diminished the prestige of St. Xavier’s nor reduced the demand for admissions. From an original enrollment of 65 students at Godavari, St. Xavier’s at Jawalakhel now has an enrollment of 514 students in the primary division and 323 students in the high school division (Classes Seven to Ten). In addition, St. Xavier’s Jawalakhel has begun the Plus-2 Program with sixty-nine students enrolled in Class Eleven.

Looking back over the growth and adjustments that have been made over the years, there are several very clear lessons:

• The primary apostolate of the Jesuits in Nepal is education, but in the Jesuit vocabulary, education means education for a meaningful role in a just society.
• The examples of men like Frs. Gafney, Ooki and Watrin has made all Nepal Jesuits more aware of their obligation to society and to our students.
• Jesuit activities in Nepal cannot be sustained without a solid foundation in the culture of the Nepalese people. This is our vocation. This is our goal. AMDG.

Note: One of the most important social apostolates of the NJS, which was very “carefully omitted” by Fr. Stiller, is the area in which Fr. Stiller himself was the helmsman.

The most remarkable out-reach programme from HRDC was started off when Fr. Stiller ventured into the Dhading District Development Project (DDP). It was a GTZ funded project framed for the progress of poor farmers of the remote villages of Nepal such as Dhading and surrounding areas.

Along with finance, education (including adult literacy programmes), various agricultural programmes (such as land use, irrigation, food grain production, etc.), and livestock development, the main goal of the project was to raise the local people to the level of self-sufficient farmers who will work together as a cooperative society and monitor their own development.

So, the Small Farmers Development Programme (SFDP) became active through the Village Development Committee (VDC). Fr. Stiller and his field staff monitored the progress of the people while instructing and financing them, and the report of the progress was submitted to GTZ at various intervals.

The 1991 report on the SFDP-monitored families of the project showed a remarkable development in all the aspects of the village life and proved the trial to be successful. This was the initiation of a major development project in Nepal, and one can be sure that if it continues to spread to other villages, sooner or later Nepal will produce sufficient food for her requirements.