A Day (September 27) is dedicated to Nepali social worker Dr. Bishnu Maya Pariyar by U.S. City
- Nepalism.com
- Sep 27, 2015
- 3 min read
Updated: Sep 27, 2020
अमेरिकी शहरद्वारा नेपाली समाजसेवी डा. विष्णुमाया परियारको सम्मानमा प्रोकेलेमेसन र सेप्टेम्बर २७ तारिख “Dr. Bishnu Maya Pariyar Day” समर्पित
Exclusive: City of Louisville, KY, USA honored Nepali social activist and reformer Dr. Bishnu Maya Pariyar was honored with
City Proclamation and dedicated September 27 Day as "Dr. Bishnu Maya Pariyar Day" by City of Louisville, Kentucky, USA and its Mayor Greg E. Fischer for her social work towards Dalit and marginalized people, women and children of Nepal. Dr. Pariyar is a prolific social entrepreneur and one of the most admired personalities among Nepali diaspora.
The City Proclamation citation read:
"Louisville
Office of The Mayor
Proclamation
Greetings to whom all these presents shall come, know ye that
September 27, 2015
is hereby proclaimed
in Louisville, Kentucky to be
Dr. Bishnu Maya Pariyar Day
and I urge all citizens to observe this special recognition.
Done in Louisville, Commonwealth
of Kentucky, this the Twenty-Seventh
day of September, 2015
Greg E. Fischer, Mayor"
Who is Dr. Bishnu Maya Pariyar?
Dr. Bishnu Maya Pariyar is founder and Chief Patron of ADWAN.ORG, a rights-based Nepali organization which has supported tenth of thousands of Dalit and marginalized women, children and their family members in Nepal since 1998.
She is also co-founder of NRN Women Fund, a collective investment company of Non-Resident Nepali women from around the world. She previously served as first Chair of Women Empowerment Task Force of NRNA ICC between 2013-2015. She is also founding President of Jersey City-based Women For Cause (WFC).
Education
Having earned a Bachelor’s degree in Social and Political Systems from Nepal and the USA and a Master’s degree in International Development and Social Change from Clark University, she also received honorary Doctor of Letters (D. Litt.) from Pine Manor College for her outstanding social contribution in 2013.
Life's Journey
Dr. Pariyar was born in 1973 to a poor Dalit family of ten children in a remote village in Gorkha District in Western Nepal. She grew up without access to electricity, sanitation, health care and vehicular roads. Her family lived as subsistence farmers, where the children’s labor was essential for the family’s survival. Going to school met with many obstacles; as a Dalit girl, Ms. Pariyar was considered “untouchable” and teased and excluded by other children. She was even disparaged and humiliated for her status by teachers. Yet, even though she had to walk four hours daily, she insisted on attending high school. Despite such hardships, she became the first girl from her community to graduate and obtain the National School Leaving Certificate (SLC), the gate to higher education. One of her teachers, John Brookman, a Peace Corps volunteer, helped her to a small scholarship, which enabled her to study social work in Kathmandu.
Through her dedication and passion for the marginalized and Dalit community, the so called low-caste or untouchable people, Dr. Pariyar has overcome tremendous obstacles of gender, caste discrimination and poverty in Nepal as well as challenges that emerged because of socio-economic inequality and exclusion.
Having realized that low caste women have no advocates and are not served well by established aid organizations, Dr. Pariyar co-founded ADWAN.ORG in Nepal with an exclusive objective of serving Dalit women and children of Nepal. She was only 20 at the time she founded ADWAN, which today has made significant impact in the fields of women’s rights and Dalit’s human rights. The organization has also pioneered social change through grassroots development.
Awards/Honors
Today, Dr. Pariyar has made significant impact in the fields of human rights of women and minorities as well as in bringing social change through right-based development approaches. And her contributions have not gone unnoticed, Dr. Pariyar has received a number of accolades including Margaret McNamara Memorial Award by World Bank Family Network, The Bridge Builder Award from the Harvard University, Perdita Hudson Human Rights Award by United Nations Association of USA, Dr. Ambedkar Award by Association of International Dalit Organization, Pauline Tompkins Award, Women's Leadership Award and President Cup Award from Pine Manor College, and Social Change Fellow from Clark University. She was also awarded Nepal Samman (Jewel of Nation) Award by Sagarmatha Pratisthan, Kathmandu, Nepal in 2011, Solute to the Heroes Award (2010) by Association of Nepali in America (ANA), and numerous national and international awards for her social contributions.
For more info about Dr. Pariyar and her work, please visit:
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