Anshu Adhikari

Adventurous 1st-Year Student at UMW

Navigating a new academic and social terrain of a university is typically a challenge for most first-year students. For Anshu Adhikari who has come to Fredericksburg from a country and culture half the world away, Nepal, this challenge has an additional dimension. "My mother told me that, when he was in the hospital, my father had told the doctor that he wanted to come back home because he wanted to take me to my final exam. I thought of this as his last wish for me, and I was determined to pass my exam," Anshu said.

Anshu's dream of achieving higher education was facilitated by the support of a generous partial scholarship

from UMW and donations from family members and friends.

Anshu is majoring in Computational and Data Science, acquiring the skills that she hopes she can use to provide the information for programs to target societal problems. Both her educational experience and involvement with non-profits have already equipped Anshu to thrive and succeed in her chosen field. She served as a project assistant for Code for Nepal, a non-profit organization that was created to increase digital and data literacy in Nepal. She was selected as the recipient of a fellowship with DataCamp, which provided an opportunity to learn data skills on-line and to become proficient in a number of programs in which she helped many Nepali youths to learn and advance their own digital acumen.

Yet Anshu has embraced this educational opportunity with a depth of gratitude and enthusiasm that has made her experience as a freshman at the University of Mary Washington especially enriching and exciting. Even now, she talks of her hope to uplift others through the education and skills she will acquire. "I am passionate about helping people in Nepal throughout the world from marginalized backgrounds. My dad always inspired me to study and learn wherever I can, as well as to use the resources I have to benefit others."

Tragically, her role model, coach, and mentor is no longer physically present physically in Anshu's life. In 2020, her father who was an engineer engaged in a career of service contracted Covid and within a short time succumbed to the virus. At the time, Anshu was completing her high-school education and was preparing to take the comprehensive final exam that was required to graduate. Her father passed away the day before her test was scheduled but she gathered the strength and determination to take the exam before travelling to her village to assist with his traditional last rites.

by Collette cAPRARA

"In Nepal, education is highly valued and taken very seriously," she said. "It can determine the course of your future. Even small kids believe that your life can be changed if you study well and they are so proud to wear their school uniforms."

To support the educational aspirations of young students, Anshu and a group of her friends engaged in a service project last year, in which they distributed backpacks to boys and girls in one village in Nepal. The children were clearly grateful and excited about their Backpack and Supplies Distribution project in Nepal backpacks, and their appreciation soared even higher when they discovered they were equipped with school supplies to boost them during the serious pandemic lockdown Nepal was facing at the time. Anshu says that her transition to life in America was made even easier by the community of camaraderie and care that embraced her at UMW. "Everyone, from fellow students to the faculty and staff, has been so willing to help me. I never feel alone or lonely," she said. She was also warmly welcomed by Fredericksburg Mayor Mary Katherine Greenlaw and local business and community leaders including members of the Fredericksburg-K Kathmandu Sister City.

Anshu wearing

“Kurta ” , a traditional Nepal Wear To date, one of her favorite experiences has been kayaking at the city dock. "I loved it! It was so much fun, and I think that we as students should explore more of the nature that is surrounding us. Fredericksburg is a beautiful city."

Collette is a local writer and artist with Brush Strokes gallery.

Brad Smith

Guest Porch Editorial

Contributing Writers & Artists

Rita Allan Audra Bielke Sally Cooney Anderson Anna Billingsley Sean Bonney Amy Bayne Laurie Black Dianne Bachman Sonja Cantu Collette Caprara Alejandro Calixto D. Clearview Janet Douberly Christina Ferber Frank Fratoe Bill Freehling Jon Gerlach Lisa Gillen Ann Glave Alexis Grogan Ralph “Tuffy” Hicks David C. Kennedy Kai Kuang Nancy Moore Ray Mikula Vanessa Moncure Pete Morelewicz Patrick Neustatter David Pisenti Gerri Reid Penny A Parrish ML Powers Paula Raudenbush Rob Rudick Brad Smith Mandy Smith Tina Will Norma Woodward

Front Porch Fredericksburg is a free circulation magazine published monthly by Olde Towne Publishing Co. Virginia Bigenwald Grogan, Publisher.

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ON THE PORCH

thankfulness

by brad smith

The Fall is often a time where we collectively reorient ourselves to be thankful. We do this through individual rituals, collective worship, silent reflections, and joyous song. Though they can be fleeting, the brief moments of respite between the maddening pace of summer and the approach of the holiday season rush can allow space for reflection.

Like many, this year has held intense valleys of grief for me. With the passing of loved ones who gave me so many reasons to be thankful and who taught me to put intentionality behind gratitude, the year felt especially heavy. One of the departed--related not by blood, but by a mutual adoption--was a constant reminder of that intentional gratitude. Because he would say there was nothing extraordinary about him, and because he deserves more space than this to be properly eulogized, I will refrain from sharing too much. But I will share a brief account of the gift he shared with me whenever we were together.

My friend was born in Cairo, Egypt. It is a place where--regardless of sect, denomination, or belief in a higher power--the phrase "alhamdulillah," or thank God, is common. It is said with various degrees of intentionally--as much to reflexively respond to a stranger's "how are you" as it is to rejoice in the safe culmination of a friend's difficult pregnancy. But, strangely to someone who did not grow up with the word, it is often said when one's car breaks down. When there are severe storms. When explosions rip through the night's sky.

It was in this reflexive thankfulness that he lived his life. My friend's spirit of thankfulness was not born of naivety or apathy--he was well aware of how broken the world could be and he cared very much about trying to heal the cracks. He experienced intense heartbreak, loneliness, and disappointment. He sometimes missed the nosey neighbors and close knit neighborhoods common in Mediterranean cultures but harder to find in the booming, transient, suburbs of Northern Virginia.

In the absence of the tightly knit community of his childhood, he was immensely grateful for the relationships he did have. He was thankful for the few words of Spanish he knew, the few words of English his next door neighbor knew, that allowed them to break bread together. Even when he worried about them dodging fast cars speeding down the road, even when he couldn't understand the chorus of languages they laughed in, he was thankful children laughed in the streets.

I often joked that he missed his calling as a monk. Though he eventually had a very successful career, he owned few material possessions. To his name was a shelf full of books, some stacks of saved letters, a few pairs of clothes, some sentimental nicknacks, a small analog television, and--perhaps a remnant of growing up in a place with fruit stands and bakeries on every corner-never more than a week's worth of food. Though he would happily eat anything prepared for him, when he cooked for himself, he cooked simply. His usual meal was steamed vegetables with a little salt-"but not too much Bradley," he would say. If you saw the look of contentment on his face after finishing a bowl of peas, you would've thought he just had a five course meal at Foode.

His thankfulness was a symphony of resistance to unbridled greed, a balm against despair, a call to community, and an active awareness and appreciation of all the things that sustained him and his place in it all.

Out of his thankfulness for what he had--far more than he could ever need, according to him--he gave of his resources generously. When he made donations to the local firefighters it wasn't to impress anyone or ease some sense of guilt or obligation. It was because, though his house had never burned down--alhamdulillah--he was thankful that they had helped others, and that they were there if he needed them. He had no children of his own, but when he gave to St. Jude's, he gave with a deep gratitude for the nurses, janitors, doctors, administrators, therapists, and cooks that care for the kids there.

Over the past year there have been so many reasons to be afraid, frustrated, angry; these feelings need to be felt, confronted, and engaged with. But as I remember my friend, as I look at this city in all its darkness and all its beauty, I remember also to be grateful.

For a cornucopia of reasons to be inspired, challenged, and thankful in our community, be sure to read the Front Porch from cover to cover.

Brad Smith has lived all over the world but now calls downtown Fredericksburg home. He is the Board President of Downtown Greens