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Mahabir spoke at the Software Freedom Day Celebration in Kathmandu on September 15th, where he was met with great enthusiasm from the audience. The event was well managed and very informative.

Here are some excerpts from his speech, translated from the original Nepali.

. . . .

Thank you for inviting me to Software Freedom Day. I think it is a very
important day to celebrate. Let me know tell you what Free Software
means to me.

First, free software means powerful tools that can always be changed and be improved
by
anyone, any where. Secondly and more importantly, I believe that Free
Software and Free Content can help FREE people, specifically we
Nepalis, from poverty, ignorance, and violence. Can software and
content really do all of this? Software isn’t just 1′s and 0′s. It is
the combined intelligence from some the most clever and dedicated
people in the world.

When I started the Nepal Wireless project I wasn’t trying to
provide villagers with routers, radio repeaters, and microprocessors. I
was trying to provide the villagers with access to software and
educational content. Computer hardware and Internet connectivity are
just a means to this end. I am not an engineer. I started as an
educator, I still am an educator, and I will always be an educator. To
take education to the remotest and poorest parts of Nepal we need to
leverage ICT.

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As you all know, received the Magsaysay award recently. I do
not intend to relax and enjoy this success. Nepal Wireless is moving
aggressively to expand Internet access to rural areas in Nepal. But as
we work on rural connectivity, much needs to be done to develop good
educational software and content in Nepali.

I have come today to join you in celebrating Software Freedom and to ask for your help.

I
am very happy that you chose to focus this event on Linux for the
Desktop. If you don’t mind, I prefer to use the Nepali word "e-paati"
instead of desktop computer or even laptop computer. I think e-paati
is better because although computers are relatively new, they are much
like the paati’s I used when I was in school. We need to show that the
e-paati along with free software and free content is as essential to
education today as the old ‘paati’ was in when I was young.

As
you all know, e-paatis keep getting cheaper and more powerful. There is
the thin client project that MPP is working on, the $100 laptop, and
others. To me these projects are great examples of how to use e-paatis
to educate our people. The only problem is that there isn’t enough Free
Software and free content for us to realize the full potential of the
e-paati.

We need a lot more free educational software and free content
if we are ever going to "free" our people of poverty, ignorance, and
violence. I have started a new organization Sajha Sikcha e-Paati to
address this need. While Nepal Wireless will continue to work on rural
Internet connectivity, Sajha Sikcha e-Paati will work on developing
free educational software. But this is a huge job and Sajha Shikcha
e-Paati can only facilitate the process. We need the help of the FOSS
community here in Nepal and abroad to build the free software that can
free Nepal.

Let me quickly tell you a little more Sajha Shikcha e-Paati.
In English, the name is Open Learning Exchange Nepal or OLE Nepal. We
will work with the government to pilot using e-paatis in classrooms
next spring. We will work closely with the FOSS Nepal community to
develop software. I am in charge of community relations for OLE Nepal.
Let me introduce Rabi Karmacharya, the Executive Director of OLE Nepal.
Saurav Dev Bhatta, Education Director. Bryan Berry, External Relations
Director. Let me also introduce Rajendra from Nepal Wireless.

We may have nice position titles but it is really you, the community that is in charge.

If you are interested in contributing to Sajha Shikcha e-Paati please visit our website at
nepal.ole.org to learn more.

Thank you for your time.