The LIVE-Nepal Team
Our Nepal team
Om with his two eldest children, Sristi and Sushant
Om moved to Kathmandu from his childhood home of Parsa in mid-Nepal after completing his School Certificate exam. In Kathmandu Om discovered a social organization called Matribhoomi Sevak Sangh (MSS), which works in the field of education, moral values and spirituality. Om was so inspired by the work of MSS that he became a volunteer for MSS instead of taking a paid part-time job while studying for his degree.
Upon completing his bachelor degree in arts in 1992, Om started working as the country representative for a gap year organization called GAP Activity Projects. In this role Om was responsible
Still a member of the executive board of MSS, Om is a trustee of the Hindu Vidya Peeth schools, a member of the Shanti Sewa Ashram (a Centre for Peace and Service), and director of Goodwill Nepal, a family initiative supporting the poorer members of community financially.
Priti Yogi
Priti worked as a Primary school teacher from 1994-1995 and worked at Press Council from 1995-1997. She married Om Bhakta Yogi in 1996. She worked as the Nepal representative for Gap Challenge from 1997-2002, until they suspended their Nepal programme.
Priti is a mother of three children; one son and two daughters. She has passion for music and loves cooking. She is also member of Shanti Sewa Ashram (a Centre for Peace and Service) and is actively involved in social work.
Our UK team
Matt Daw
Matt first travelled to Nepal to teach English as a volunteer in October 2001, and fell in love with the country and its people at once. He returned in 2002 to take photos for an exhibition on the education system in Nepal, which was held in London in 2003, and continues to retain strong links with friends and charitable organisations in Kathmandu and Dang.
Matt is trustee and vice chairperson of HVP UK, the UK support charity for the educational charity Hindu VidyaPeeth Nepal, based in Kathmandu. His full time job is working for the charity PhotoVoice, which works internationally to provide marginalised groups with photojournalistic skills with which to transform their lives and those of others in their situation.
Matt has extensive experience of supporting volunteers, project management and teaching in Nepal, and is happy to answer any question from those thinking of following the same path.
Sarah Reason
Since travelling in Nepal, Sarah has spent the best part of 4 years working for a media company in London. She left in November 2005 to pursue a more alternative and peaceful lifestyle, and to try and get back to Nepal. Although she has not yet managed to return, when the opportunity to work with Om and Priti arose it is with great excitement that Sarah became closely involved with LIVE Nepal.
Claire first visited Nepal in 2001, spending her university summer holidays teaching in Kathmandu. She loved it so much that she returned to do the same thing next year! After graduating, Claire felt she wanted a longer period in the country, and spent a year doing voluntary work with a development charity called Community Action Nepal (CAN). This involved teaching, field research, and supporting the health awareness programme in villages across the middle hill regions.
Whilst working with CAN Claire developed an interest in development education, and on returning to the UK in the Summer of 2004 she started working with the youth development education charity Development in Action (DiA). One of DiA's programmes involved recruiting, training and supporting volunteers to work with development NGOs in India.
Since March 2005 Claire has also been working at the Harambee Centre for Development and Environment Education, which works for global justice and equality by raising awareness about and inspiring action on global issues. As someone with a lot of experience in Nepal and a real passion for increasing global understanding, Claire is proud to be a part of LIVE Nepal and looks forward to hearing from, and supporting, any potential volunteers!