Ibasho team has visited to Nepal in February, 2016, to launch our project with a social venture company, Bihani, founded by Santoshi Rana.

It all started with an email from Santoshi, asking us “Nepal needs the Ibasho concept. How can we adapt it here?” Since we did not have resources to kick started at that time, we have kept in touch to explore the possibility for almost one year. During this time, our passion did not disappeared, and we were finally able to visit Kathmandu to plan the Ibasho project together. What I have realized was that there were so much for us (from so called “developed parts of the world”) to learn from how Nepali communities were caring for elders. I felt that “Although we have a well established support system for elders, Nepali culture embraced so much more GENUINE LOVE, RESPECT and EMPATHY for elders.” Of course, we should not romanticize the lives of people in Nepal because they still face economical hardships, however, I felt as if we were trapped by the rigid regulations and policies we developed which is supposed to make our life safer and more comfortable. Because of our paternalistic approach of care system, we might have stripped sense of community and meaningful life from our everyday lives.

During this Nepal trip, a Nepali magazine interviewed us about our experience of the visit. The article was published in a magazine called “WOW.” You can read the article in the attached PDF document below. We are so delighted and grateful that our message was shared by the people in Nepal, and so look forward to developing Ibasho project with elders in Nepal!

Click here to read the article (PDF file).