LEAD — The fastest growing Kiwanis district in the world is in Nepal — a country where 30 million people are packed into an area that is two-thirds the size of South Dakota. But with about 1,500 new Kiwanians since the first club formed in 2017, the country is filled with young men and women who are eager to follow the Kiwanis mission and “Serve the Children of the World.”
That’s why Lead resident Dr. Dan Leikvold recently traveled to the country in his role as a member of the Kiwanis International Board of Trustees. Kiwanis International is organized into 49 different districts across the world, with 19 of those in other countries outside of North America. In his role as a trustee, Leikvold said he has been assigned to three different Kiwanis districts to counsel — Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Nepal. After he spent a year counseling the Kiwanis groups in Nepal through virtual meetings, he decided to travel last August to their Nepal District Convention to meet them in person.
“The district convention was on Friday and Saturday, and to them it was about celebration,” Leikvold said of the people who gave him a warm welcome when he landed in Kathmandu, and then again when he landed in Pokhara where the convention was held. “There were some educational aspects to it. I delivered a session to them about club strengthening and adding more members. But for them it was a celebration. It was great. They had a huge parade down a main street of Pokhara. There were 400-500 people screaming and hollering and making noise.”
While he was in Nepal, Leikvold said he did quite a bit of intentional touring, and some unintentional touring of the countryside. When he traveled from Katmandu to Pokhara, Leikvold said he was given the option to take a 25-minute plane ride, or to spend between six and 10 hours driving 120 miles. He chose the plane ride to the convention, but after the convention, when it was time to travel back to Kathmandu, Leikvold said the weather canceled his flight.
“So, I ended up with 30 people in three vans, and I did get to ride back on the eight-hour trip on the mountain passes, roads, rain, mud and potholes,” he said. “So I did get to see both sides. That was good and fine.”
Leikvold’s trip was right in the thick of Nepal’s monsoon season, and because of that he said the rains and fog made it difficult to see many of the sights. He was able to catch a rare glimpse of Mount Everest for that time of year, when he took a helicopter up to 18,000 feet and got out to view Mount Everest.
“It was fascinating,” he said. “I took a helicopter ride over this huge mountain, and you can see where these people live on these hillsides and cliffs. To me, the best part was the people were great. The second was the landscape was just amazing. Hopefully we helped them promote Kiwanis while we were there.
“They tried to take us up to a mountain that is called the Fishtail,” he continued. “It’s epic and awesome. But we couldn’t see it because of the monsoon. We drove up there and had coffee, and it was still cool. Then when we went back we went to another Hindu temple.”
While staying in the metropolitan areas of Nepal, Leikvold said he was struck by the dense population. Nepal has a population of about 30 million people, with most of them residing in major cities such as Katmandu and Pokhara. The entire country is about the size of Arkansas. A third-world country, Nepal does not have very much industry, the people are very poor, and the society is very egrarian. He said 80% of the population is Hindu and 10% is Buddhist, and there are many beautiful and colorful temples and sacred places in the country. The people were very hospitable and treated him like an honored guest.
“When I got there I was greeted by the Kiwanians I had met,” he said. “I had counseled them for a year, so I knew them from Zoom and I had met a handful of them in Indianapolis at the International Convention last summer. It’s a fascinating place. I always got up in the morning and walked, so I got to see the city bustling in the morning.”
During one of his visits to a Hindu temple, Leikvold said a gentleman pulled the visitors aside to invite them to light a candle. “He said a prayer over us for goodness,” Leikvold said.
While in Nepal, Leikvold said he was particularly struck by the young enthusiasm for Kiwanis in the area. In the United States, he said Kiwanis has been around for more than 100 years, and many club memberships are aging. But in Nepal, where Kiwanis didn’t get started until 2017 and there are now at least 150 clubs in the country, there are many young adults who are excited about the mission to serve the children.
“They’re still in the early stages of trying to build their membership and get their strength,” he said. “It’s not really centralized. There are clubs that are doing things for children, medical services things and schools. Literacy rate is really low there and the schools are not really progressive.”
Overall, Leikvold said he left with an appreciation and great understanding of the Nepali people and culture, and he looks forward to learning more and continuing to help them carry out the Kiwanis mission, “Serving the Children of the World.”
“The people were great and fabulous,” he said. “I didn’t meet anyone who wasn’t gracious, accepting and happy to have us there. That was the best part.”
The Kiwanis Club International was started in 1915 by a group of businessmen in Detroit, Mich. Currently it is headquartered in Indianapolis, Ind., with a primary mission to serve the children of the world through local, national and international service projects. There are clubs in more than 80 nations and geographic locations across the world.
Leikvold is a member of the Lead-Deadwood Kiwanis Club. The Lead club meets every Monday at 5:30 p.m. at the Christian Ministry Center in Lead.
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