The greatest mental shift in the human race may have occurred when people adopted the approach of science for understanding the world.  They put aside superstition and mythology as the dominant modes of thought and replaced them with observation, theory, and measurement.  The difference was—and is—epochal. 

This past year, ODFL helped fund a science lab at the Bhanu Sanskrit School in Tanahum, Nepal.  The school has 240 students in grades 1-10 and 18 well-trained, dedicated teaching staff.  The national science curriculum is taught, but they had no facilities for practical work.  It was like teaching someone tennis, but without rackets, a ball, a net, or a court. 

Now they have a competently equipped lab in which they can do basic chemistry, physics, biology, and astronomy work.  They have simple but effective equipment, specimens, chemicals, and procedures for exercising the scientific method and understanding its power.  They can now take the national science exams, and apply to the best colleges in the nation to continue their work. 

This project is exemplary of what ODFL looks for in the projects it funds:  simple, direct, and with significant impact on the recipient population.