Himalayan News Service

Kathmandu:

During a span of almost 50 years Fr Eugene L Watrin gave of himself freely to all those who were in need. His greatest contribution to Nepal was providing an educational opportunity to those who were not so fortunate. It was for this noble purpose that the Fr Eugene Watrin Scholarship Endowment Fund was initiated.

The fund was introduced with an initial amount of Rs 1.5 million on Fr Watrin’s 80th Birthday in 2000. The fund provides different scholarships such as The Scholarship for Excellence Programme, which supports capable students who have excellent abilities to overcome economic disadvantages. The Deprived Scholarship Programme, assists underprivileged children in rural areas while the FR Watrin ‘Children of Conflict’ Special scholarship Award is a special category created for conflict-affected children.

The donations for this fund are based on individual contributions made by Fr Watrin’s family members, friends and admirers. But the challenge today is to ensure that the fund is worth Rs 30 million to generate sufficient interest and income, which will be used to provide these scholarships. As of February 2004, Rs 10 million has already been raised and efforts and initiatives to raise the remaining continue.

The Nepal Jesuit Society (NJS), Social Action Volunteers (SAV) and Godavari Alumni Association (GAA) are working together to carry on the tradition and make Fr Watrin’s dreams come true.

“We would like to continue with the scholarship fund,” says Tej Prasad Giri, programme manager, SAV. “At present, almost 200 hundred children are still being assisted with the existing fund,” says Giri.

Together for a cause A fund raising dinner is being organised on April 25 for this noble cause. The Fr Eugene L Watrin Scholarship Endowment Fund Raising Dinner will be hosted at Hotel Yak and Yeti, Durbar Marg.

According to Fr Donnelly of the Nepal Jesuit Society, the event is being organised to raise funds from former students, friends and people associated with Fr

Watrin. Around Rs five million is expected to be raised through this event. The contributions would help generate interest-income to support the education of needy students.

To learn more about the Fr Eugene Watrin Scholarship Fund and how you can contribute, contact: Tej Prasad Giri, at phone no 4420597.