Hey, everyone. This is Ben Honeycutt.

I was 17 on the day that Open World Cause started, and I never could have predicted that my life was about to change forever. Because that day I met Govinda Panthy on an educational website called ArtSnacks, and he told me about how he ran the SAV School, an elementary school with his wife, Sudha. Together, they shared their dream to bring a library to their students, and I knew I wanted to be a part of making that dream a reality.

The Panthy’s

(Left to Right) Sudha, Swachalika, and Govinda Panthy in 2010.

At the time, my Dad helped run an education conference in Wichita, Kansas called Podstock. I didn’t have an interest in being a part of that, and the only benefit I saw was that my parents were gone for 4 days in the summer, and in those 4 days I could do whatever I wanted. Unfortunately, right before he was about to speak at Podstock that year, I had to call and tell him I was detained by two police officers who were considering charging me with Disorderly Conduct after a prank resembling an idea by Johnny Knoxville and Steve-O gone horribly wrong. It was one of the most humiliating moments of my life.

The universe gave me another chance that day. I was never motivated by getting straight A’s, but after meeting Govinda and Sudha Panthy, I knew I had a chance to be a part of something that was larger than myself. It made me realize that my reckless decisions could hurt people who dreamed of bringing a library to children. For the first time in my life, I had a direction that went beyond myself.

As a senior in high school, I started the Open World Project with classmate Jane Waters to help make Govinda’s dream a reality. Connor Janzen, another senior, joined our effort in April 2011 and together we raised $5,700 to bring two computers, internet access, and a library to the SAV School. After monsoon season in Nepal wiped out two classrooms in June 2011, Connor and I brought Open World Project to the University of Kansas. There, we met Shelby Todd, who helped us transform our efforts into a non-profit called Open World Cause (OWC).

As a non-profit since 2015, Myself, Connor, Shelby, and a student we met at KU named Abigail Schletzbaum have served as executives to OWC. With the four of us leading OWC as we started our professional careers, it allowed us to expand the scope of our efforts. In 2016, Livingstone Kegode and Fredrick Manzugu, leaders of the HIPAfrica school in Kenya, reached out to OWC and asked if we could help them save their school. As we had done before, we extended this challenge out to students throughout the U.S. In 2017, middle school students in Colorado named Amelia and Christina partnered with OWC to save HIPAfrica. Amelia and Christina’s work got the attention of Microsoft Education, and the students led an effort through Microsoft that partnered 50 schools to raise over $16,000 to save the HIPAfrica School in Kenya.

Meanwhile, we continued our efforts providing structural change for students in the Narayanpur community in Nepal. From 2015-2019, OWC was able to provide Sawyer water filters to families at SAV, Tri Ka, and HIPAfrica, facilitate educational professional development requested by the teachers at Tri Ka, and helped run a Days for Girls event providing women’s health education to women in the Narayanpur community. OWC’s efforts in Nepal culminated in a five year effort to fund the construction of a school serving indigenous students known as the Tharu alongside Belgian organizations Nanri and Edukado, and is open to all young elementary aged students in Narayanpur, Nepal.

I’m now 31 years old, and in the 14 years since I got that initial challenge from Govinda, OWC has become a life defining journey for me. Working with OWC inspired me to enter the classroom as a teacher, it led me to meet my wife, allowed me to travel to Nepal and Kenya, and find friendships that have come to define my life. OWC has also led to opportunities that have gone beyond myself, helping provide scholarships for K-12 students and award opportunities for educators all around the world.

So where is OWC now?

Open World Cause is going back to the beginning. I’ve now been a classroom teacher for 9 years, and in August 2022, one of my students named Paige learned about how Amelia and Christina helped save a school in Kenya in 2018 and asked if she could start an initiative through OWC. Paige started the Kenya Read Project, a Project to fund the construction of a library for students at the Twins Bright school in Eldoret, Kenya. Paige aims to raise $14,000 for this mission, and has already raised close to $2,000 for her project.

Paige’s initiative has inspired OWC to take the next step in our organization — to a non-profit that challenges K-12 students everywhere to find their purpose and make transformative, global partnerships that can make impacts in communities in Eldoret, Kenya, Narayanpur, Nepal, and for students all across the United States echoing the challenge Govinda originally made to me.

Open World Cause has given my life direction, and now, OWC aims to give students similar opportunities around the world. We aim to help facilitate as students create life changing, positive partnerships that make generational impacts for students in Kenya and Nepal. I am excited for OWC to take the next step in our mission, and we would be honored if you joined Paige’s Kenya Read Project. On December 28th, 2025, Open World Cause will be 15 years old, and on that date, we will have raised $14,000 alongside Paige to make Twinsbright’s dream a reality.

The Kenya Read Project: Bringing a Library to the Students of Twinsbright

By Deanna Ambrose and the Open World Cause Staff

Open World Cause started as a high school service project to bring a library to the SAV School in Napal and it’s fitting that student Paige Bissue is now leading the Kenya Read Project to bring a library to the Twinsbright school in Eldoret, Kenya.

Paige Bissue, a student-leader for the Kenya Read Project, said she joined the initiative because she believes everyone should have the opportunity to advance education and have the tools to succeed in life. She heard about Open World Cause from Mr. Honeycutt, her forensics coach, who inspired her with his story about starting the organization when he was in high school. Once Paige found how Amelia and Christina campaigned to get classrooms constructed in Eldoret, Kenya, she had an idea for her project.

Paige is trying to raise $14,000 to go toward building the library. In 2023, the students raised $2,000 from a coffee cart selling drinks and snacks over the course of the school year. They are also designing T-Shirts, pencils, keychains and posters to advertise their fundraising campaign.

Paige is hopeful to get community involvement. Open World Cause has joined this initiative and has partnered with Twinsbright to reward monthly donors to the initiative. Members who join our campaign through monthly donations will receive an ornament, letters from the students at Twins Bright, and updates from the Open World Cause

Paige was kind enough to sit down for an interview with OWC about the project.

OWC: What drew you to starting the Kenya Read project?

Paige: I’ve always cared deeply about education because I believe that everyone should have the opportunity to grow their knowledge, whether it’s through attending school or simply having access to a book. I joined the Kenya Read project because I believe it’s incredibly important that everyone has an opportunity to access educational resources.

OWC: Why should someone donate to this campaign? What impact will it have for the students in Eldoret and Twins Bright?

Paige: Donating to this campaign does more than just help my project, it gives the students at Twins Bright and in Eldoret access to books and education. Here in the U.S. we have public schools and libraries available, but in Eldoret, access to educational resources isn’t the same. By contributing you’ll be able to help provide a community with a library to further their education, and help them accomplish more things!

Donations to Paige's Kenya Read campaign will go towards constructing a library for the students of Twinsbright.

OWC: What would you tell students today who have a dream to work on a project like this but might be nervous to get started?

Paige: I say: just go for it. The experience of creating something meaningful is incredibly rewarding. Sure there are definitely moments that will be overwhelming , and you might doubt whether you can finish what you started but if you’re truly passionate about it, you’ll find ways to finish. I’ve realized that the biggest thing that helps me continue to be motivated is the smile on peoples faces when I told them what I was doing, especially the [students] receiving the library. It’s more than words can describe, and it makes the whole project worth it.

Join the Kenya Read Project Today

Click here to partner with OWC and help Paige and Quinn bring a library to the Twins Bright school.

Checking in on the Panthy’s (15 years later)

By Deanna Ambrose & Open World Cause Staff

Govinda, his sister, Goma, Swachalika, and Sudha in 2023

Govinda Panthy is the Executive Director of the Tri Ka school while his wife, Sudha, is the headmistress who oversees the day to day operation in the school. Tri Ka provides pre primary education to around 90 children ranging in age from 3 to 7 years old in Narayanpur who otherwise would not receive it. The school started in 2015 and the community has grown to appreciate the opportunity to send their kids to a school they truly enjoy, Panthy said. He said parents now have requested to expand the grade levels offered to grade 5. Due to size constraints, teacher availability and some difficulties with the government to establish more grade levels, Panthy said they would likely only provide pre primary level education at least for the near future.

Govinda at Tri Ka

Govinda founded the Tri Ka school in 2015 and has served as the Executive Director since that time.

Govinda feels that many schools in Nepal do not create a desirable learning environment. He said many schools lack the resources to devote individual attention to students considering the lecture format of the classes and the overcrowding of students in each class. Govinda and Sudha take the children’s experience seriously. They desire to create a real love of school and learning. As Govinda himself was born into a rural farming family, he said he was able to explore life with more options because of his education and he wants to provide the opportunity to pursue options to children growing up in similar circumstances.

The couple does this through creating a motivating learning environment from starting the day with yoga, dancing, and singing before the children continue to their lessons. On Fridays, he said they have a special activity in the arts to encourage their creativity. At break times, he said they and the other teachers stay engaged with the children through playing and conversing with them at their level.

Students of the Tri Ka school meditate before the school day in 2019.

Attracting educators can be a challenge living in a rural community. In 2021, Tri Ka added living quarters that would allow traveling teachers to live in while teaching at Tri Ka. In April 2023, educators Josh Davidson and Chloe Cassens volunteered at the school through Open World Cause. Josh, an art teacher, painted multiple murals at the school while Chloe provided professional development to the educators during her stay.

Govinda and Sudha’s next dream is to build an outdoor playground for the children with slides, monkey bars, see-saws, and bicycles. Thank you to our donors for supporting Open World Cause, and thus helping Govinda and Sudha Panthy, and most importantly their students, continue to give and receive the gift of a more holistic education.

For this article, Sudha was kind enough to sit down with OWC to talk about her education experience and philosophy that guides her teaching at the Tri Ka school.

OWC: Sudha, what are your main responsibilities as the school principal?

Sudha: Based on my work as a principal, I have the fulfilling task of working with the parents of our school families, while coordinating the management of the office and balancing the educational goals the parents have for their children.

Sudha in Narayanpur

Sudha led the home visits for the Tri Ka school to deliver parents information about sending their students back to school once the lockdowns were lifted after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Thanks to Sudha's exhaustive efforts, the student body of Tri Ka is back at the numbers they were at in 2018.

OWC: What is your favorite thing about teaching? What would you say to anyone thinking of becoming a teacher?

Sudha: Any person who is thinking of working in this field has the chance to help children. I’d like to tell anyone considering this field that there are few jobs that let you work to help others every day.

I think it’s important to help people who want to become new teachers realize that they have the chance to do something special every single day. It makes teaching a special career.

Sudha leading a classroom activity for students at Tri Ka in 2019.

OWC: Can you tell us something about the work you have done to improve the quality of life of young women in Nepal?

Sudha: Some of the things I have done is advocate to improve the living standards of Nepalese girls. When I was younger, I started a cooperative consisting of young, uneducated women who were not allowed to leave their homes. I wanted to empower the women to have a source of financial income. I worked both with the victims of domestic violence as well as men struggling with alcohol addiction and provided education about their recourse and options within Nepal’s legal framework.

OWC: That's amazing. Can you tell us a little bit more about your experience here?

Sudha: At the time when I was passing my 10th class exam, I got an opportunity to work in an NGO. From that time, I have worked for four to five years before getting married. One of the women in the group reported that she was in an abusive situation and it would be dangerous for her to return home. We the brothers and sisters of all the groups, and we found the man so intoxicated that he did not want to cooperate with us and saw how dangerous things were for the young woman in our group. Together we turned over the man to the police station. The next morning, we got back together and went to the station and the man signed a letter of agreement that he would not do wrong from now on. Since that time, in addition to reforms in the area where I worked, we have implemented rules fighting against alcohol abuse in that community. Our work led us to get attention from journalists who saw the effect we were having in the community.

OWC: With your experience educating young women, what was it like running the Days4Girls program at TriKa School?

Sudha: The Days4Girls program at TriKa School gave a very good education to the young women in Narayanpur. The girls were very happy to attend. We are hoping to be able to provide future programs so that more women have the chance to regularly attend the programs.

OWC: Thank you, Sudha! We love you!

Sudha: Thank you!

** This interview was conducted with the assistance of Swachalika Panthy and the use of a translator.

The Tri Ka school would love to have YOU as a volunteer. Reach out today about volunteer opportunities. Swachalika Panthy has started considering U.S. Universities for her Master’s Degree. We are looking for someone to help advise her on this journey!

Thank you for reading and for your continued support. We look forward to updating you on our new projects.