Denton Record-Chronicle, Denton, TX July 6, 2008Tennis: Helping in his homelandUNT coach aims to aid orphans in Nepal By Brett Vito / Staff Writer
Sujay Lama was out for his morning walk on the dusty roads of Katmandu six years ago when he passed five orphan children on their way to the school his sister runs out of their childhood home.
DRC/Gary Payne North Texas tennis coach Sujay Lama, shown at the Waranch Tennis Pavilion last week, helps raise money for the Nabha Deepti School, which his family runs out of his childhood home in Katmandu, Nepal. The school serves children who live in Nepal’s orphanages.
“They were all holding hands,” Lama said. “When they saw me, they recognized me and said, ‘Good morning, sir.’ That was a powerful moment because it made me think.”
It made Lama think about the privileges he enjoyed growing up a member of a wealthy family in Nepal, those he gained later by becoming a U.S. citizen and the challenges the poor children of his homeland face every day. The encounter with those children was a life-changing experience for the North Texas tennis coach, who made it his mission that day to raise funds for the Nabha Deepti School and its students. The school began as a preschool for area children but now caters to the hundreds of youngsters who live in Katmandu's orphanages, including the five Lama ran into that morning.
“When brother drove me back to the airport after that trip, I was crying," Lama said. "I was thinking about how fortunate I am to have a car, a great job and a house. I thought about what I had given back. I really hadn’t done anything to give back. That trip was a big moment in my life. When I got back I started to brainstorm ways that I could give back.”
Lama found his way: he raises funds for his sister’s school, located in one of the poorest countries in the world.
Courtesy photo An instructor at the Nabha Deepti School oversees a group of children at the school that caters to orphans.
Lama’s sister, Poonam Lama, who has a master’s degree in English Literature from Triphu Van University in Katmandu, is the principal. His father, Hem Lama, helps out, and a handful of teachers from the area serve as instructors. When Lama isn’t busy with his duties at UNT, he is often giving tennis clinics and talking to community groups in an effort to raise money for the Nabha Deepti School.
The challenge he now faces is establishing a group of benefactors in the Denton area after taking over UNT’s tennis program. Lama, who is entering his third season at UNT, was the head women’s tennis coach at Illinois when he began raising funds for the school.
Mike and Evelyn McMillen of Denton met Lama after he moved to the area and visited the school that they are now helping to support in October.
“The children are desperately poor there, but the smiles on their faces are great,” Mike McMillen said. “Sometimes kids just need a little attention. What they are doing with those kids is making a tremendous difference.”
A privileged start for Lama Lama never had to worry about the basic necessities of life when he was growing up in Katmandu.
His parents owned the first tennis club in Nepal, a set of five clay courts that would be considered substandard in the rest of the world but were a luxury in Nepal. Of the 27.7 million people in Nepal, 40 percent live below the poverty line, according to 2005 United Nations figures.
Lama trained in Germany and was ranked among the top 50 junior players in the world. A pro tennis career seemed like a possibility when Lama qualified for the juniors division at Wimbledon in 1986.
That dream came to an end when Lama tore the meniscus in his left knee three days before the tournament. “That injury changed my whole life,” Lama said. “I had to think about what I would do if I couldn’t play. That is when I decided to concentrate on education and play in the United States.”
Lama completed his playing career at Luther College in Decorah, Iowa, where he was a two-time Volvo Collegiate All-American in singles (1991-92), and then went into coaching.
Lama spent time working at country clubs and coaching players on the WTA Tour before stints as an assistant at Florida and as the head coach at Illinois. He took over UNT's program in the summer of 2006.
Building a school from scratch While Lama was pursuing his coaching career in the U.S., his sister was staring at what was quickly becoming an empty home back in Katmandu.
Lama’s mother died and the rest of the family members moved away.
The Lama family decided to open a school in their former home. It was originally for area children who paid to study there and a handful of others from nearby orphanages.
Those underprivileged students touched Lama, who visits his homeland every few years and is making his latest trip this month.
“I decided to raise money to get more orphanage kids out there,” Lama said. “We eventually had 20-25. The other kids who were paying to go to school dropped out because they didn’t want to go to school with orphanage kids. We had a decision to make. We could shut down or continue. I decided to see what I could do on my end.”
Courtesy photo Children at the Nabha Deepti School stand outside one of their classroom buildings in Katmandu, Nepal. The students who live at local orphanages receive uniforms to wear to school each day, one of the luxuries they would otherwise not receive.
Lama turned to his friends in the tennis community to start raising money, including JoAnne Russell, his assistant coach at Illinois who now works at a private tennis club in Florida.
“When he came home he called me and we talked about it,” Russell said of the school. “I asked how much it cost to send two kids to school. When he told me it was only $200 for a year, I told him I would sponsor two. Then another friend sponsored five. Now everyone in my family sponsors a kid.”
Ed Kellerman, a professor at Florida who became friends with Lama during his time as a coach at the school, also became involved with the Deepti school in an administrative capacity. He serves on the board of directors and is the Webmaster for supportprojectnepal.com, the school’s Web site.
The United Way of Champaign, Ill., handles all donations to the school, but Kellerman is trying to set the school up as a not-for-profit organization. He is also working on an exchange program that would allow students from the University of Florida and UNT to earn college credit for working at the school, which is certified by Nepal's government.
“I talk to Sujay’s father every week to see what they need,” Kellerman said.
Courtesy photo Students perform a dance at the Nabha Deepti School.
The school's enrollment has grown to 73 students this year from three local orphanages. That growth has strained the staff of five teachers and has made purchasing a new school bus to replace an antiquated one a priority. Lama's efforts to raise funds for the school have made several improvements possible, including giving each student his or her own tennis racket to play on the one clay court the family has left at the school. Hem Lama sold the family's tennis club after his children left home.
Russell went with the McMillens to visit the school and was struck by how much the students appreciated even the smallest of gifts, like shoes, school supplies or a tennis racket.
"They would thank me, but it was not like it was charity," Russell said. "It was like they were accepting a wonderful gift. There are times when you do something for someone and they look at you and you can tell that they don't think it's enough. When you look at those children, you can tell that they appreciate anything you do for them."
Dreaming of a bright future Lama would like to do even more for the students at the Deepti school and the people of Nepal.
Lama's long-term plans include building a hospital, expanding the school and adding an athletic facility. Reaching those goals will require Lama to expand his fundraising efforts exponentially. But it wasn't too long ago that the Nabha Deepti Preprimary School was in the formative stages of catering to orphaned children. Since then, the school has grown to include a primary school with more than nine times the number of students it had in 1991.
"If the people of Denton know about it and can see some of the pictures, it's very touching and shows they are doing something special there," Mike McMillen said. "It's nice that Denton has a connection with Nepal now." Lama is determined to strengthen that bond while giving back to his homeland, the goal he set after his chance encounter with the five orphans outside his sister's school.
"Tennis and coaching are my passion, but as human beings, we have to have a mission in life or else we will go through life empty," Lama said. "I plan to keep coaching another 10-15 years, but once I retire I want to focus on the school."
BRETT VITO can be reached at 940-566-6870. His e-mail address is bvito@dentonrc.com.
Support Project Nepal North Texas tennis coach Sujay Lama raises funds for a school that caters to orphans in his hometown of Katmandu in Nepal. The organization's Web site is www.supportprojectnepal.com. Those who are interested in the project can e-mail Lama for more information at slama@unt.edu.
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Project Nepal |
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Nepal Will Lead You |
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To make a tax deductible contribution, please make checks payable to: United Way of Champaign And send to: 404 W Church St (write “Project Nepal” in the memo line) For online donations, speak to Pam Hulton, Director of Resource Development: (217) 352-5151 or email Pam@uwayhelps.org
To make a non tax deductible contribution, please make your check out to Project Nepal and send to: c/o Ed Kellerman 5529 NW 52nd Terrace, Gainesville, FL 32653. Checks will be deposited to Campus USA account #801006. The records are always open to you. |