The Nepal-based Gharana Music Foundation, started in 2015 by former Katonah resident Daniel Linden, is hosting a fund-raiser, Building a Better Nepal: Arts, Community, Sustainability, on Saturday, Feb. 6, at the Katonah Village Library.The fund-raiser begins at 3 p.m. in the library’s Garden Room, and it is suggested that patrons provide a $20 donation.
The goal of the event, which is being mounted in collaboration with City Museum Kathmandu, is to help develop public parks and also help provide classical guitar classes for children at Pushpa Basnet’s Early Childhood Development Centre in Kathmandu.
“In 2005, Ms. Basnet established the ECDC as a nonprofit organization to take care of five children of incarcerated parents during the day, and return them to their parents at night. Ten years later she runs a residential home and kindergarten for children age 0-20,” Linden said. “She was awarded the 2012 ‘CNN Hero’ award for her work and used the money to purchase land on which to build a better home for her children. This home was nearing completion at the time of the earthquake, which damaged it severely, and during the seemingly endless series of aftershocks Ms. Basnet and her children camped outdoors along with much of Kathmandu’s population”

Funds will be raised for the development of public parks in Kathmandu that will have solar power and rainwater harvesting so that during a disaster they can serve as community relief centers with water and energy access.