FROM NEPAL TO MONTREAL
Education fund is way to say thanks
Sitting at his desk in his Plateau-Mont-Royal office, a framed photo of Mount Everest looming behind, Bernard Voyer empties a large envelope and slides its contents across the table.
Revealed are a dozen report cards, progress reports and graduation certificates. They all come from a public school in Kathmandu, Nepal.
Each one shows a photo of a darkhaired boy, wearing a dress shirt and tie, his round face slimming with each passing year. Teacher comments are added: He’s a polite and sincere student. The effort is there; his focus could improve.
For the past 15 years, they’ve been concrete examples for Voyer of a promise he made becoming a reality.
Opening a separate envelope, Voyer, 64, then proudly shows more recent records: Concordia University admission documents.
“All I ever wanted was to give him a chance,” he says. “Now it’s no longer just an idea — it’s real.”
The first time Voyer tried to reach Everest’s summit, in 1997, a violent storm forced him to abort the expedition. Undeterred, he told his guide, Dorjee Sherpa, he would be back.
In the spring of 1999, Voyer returned — and this time, they made it to the top.
For 40 disorienting and blurry minutes — “the human body is not made to be there,” Voyer says — he could see the curve of the Earth and the pyramid-shaped shadows cast by the mountain’s peak.
For Voyer, it was the realization of a dream that started when he was as a child exploring the banks of the St. Lawrence River in Rimouski.
He knows he could not have done it without Dorjee.
“It was a month and a half of saving each other’s lives,” Voyer explains. “He could have died. I could have died, more likely. You don’t go through that with someone without creating a bond.”
They stayed in touch after Voyer returned to Quebec. Not long after, while speaking over the phone, Voyer could sense something was off.
The Maoist rebellion was moving into the valleys of Everest. One day, it reached Dorjee’s lodge in Phakding, near Lukla. His wife and young son Nima managed to flee into the mountains. But part of Dorjee’s home was destroyed — a monumental loss when the closest available materials to rebuild are a three-day trek away.
Voyer had already been thinking of a way to thank Dorjee for everything he had done. Now he knew what to do. He told him he would pay for his son’s education in Kathmandu, the nearest city. He would do so, he promised, for as long as Nima wanted to stay in school.
Voyer, a renowned Quebec adventurer and public speaker, and his wife Nathalie Tremblay started reaching out to friends. They opened a bank account and put together a list of 40 to 50 people who would donate when they could. Every year since then, Voyer transferred the funds to Nima’s school.
“Some gave once. Some have been giving for 15 years. Some started this year,” Voyer says. “It’s a team effort.”
On the evening of Sept. 6, Voyer paces nervously at Montreal’s Trudeau International Airport, waiting as one delayed flight after the other lands.
Then he spots him walking through the gates: Nima Nuru Sherpa, now 20, has arrived, carrying a small suitcase, one backpack and little else to his name. No computer or phone. “Not even a watch,” Voyer says.
It’s his first trip outside Nepal. Before leaving home in Phakding, Nima took a month of French classes to prepare for his studies in Montreal.
A week later, Nima stands outside Concordia University’s downtown campus, reading a free newspaper he grabbed on his métro ride in. He seems excited about the opportunities ahead, if a bit shy and overwhelmed by the changes.
He’s studying computer science and is glad to now be able to study the practical side of computer engineering. In Nepal, he could only study theory, he says.
He’s proud of his father’s accomplishments — Dorjee has reached Everest’s summit six times — but taking part in expeditions never interested him much. He hopes to one day complete a master’s degree and maybe develop video games.
“I’m very grateful,” he says — for Voyer’s help and for his father wanting him to pursue an education.
“At first I was nervous (about coming to Montreal), but now I’m fine.”
The question of where Nima would stay in Montreal was settled long before his arrival.
After reaching Everest’s summit in 1999, Voyer had invited his father to visit Quebec. They were greeted by media upon their arrival.
Voyer was on a local radio station talking about his experience when the owner of a downtown sushi restaurant called to offer the two a free meal.
At the sushi counter that night, noticing he didn’t look Japanese, Voyer asked the chef where he came from. A small village in the Himalayas, he answered. A little place with two or three houses, near Lukla.
Voyer was dumbfounded. As it turned out, the man — Ang Sarkey Sherpa — knew Dorjee’s father long before coming to Montreal; he had built a stone wall at his house.
Dorjee and Ang Sarkey embraced, shedding tears.
Nima now lives in Verdun, housed by the chef who knew his grandfather, finding comfort in speaking Nepali and eating Nepalese dishes while adapting to his new surroundings in the city.
Eventually, he says, he’ll look for an apartment of his own. For now, the familiarity is nice.
When asked about Nima’s future, Voyer pauses to reflect before answering.
“We wanted to help him get to this point, and we did,” Voyer says. “He seems happy and I know he’s aware of the chance in front of him.
“It’s up to him now to choose his destiny.”
It was a month and a half of saving each other’s lives … You don’t go through that with someone without creating a bond.