When Jane O’Mahoney decided the school and medical facility she helped found in the Nepalese village of Kharpa should stick to using local resources, she wasn’t thinking “slow food” or “international economic politics.” She simply found it a bit horrible when the complex’s head porter nearly got his feet sheared off by a sheet of roofing tin he was trucking in. “There are no motorable roads to the village,” O’Mahoney says; the tin had been imported most of the way on foot, but near the village the road got a little better and the porter hired a truck driver. When they had to make a quick stop, the metal went flying. “Fortunately he was with a teacher,” she says, “so the driver didn’t just dump him.” A similar attempt to ship in powdered milk wasn’t gory, but half of the milk, when it arrived, was covered in mold.
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“Originally, we wanted it to be free tuition,” says O’Mahoney, who currently paints houses in Chicago for a living and goes to Kharpa only occasionally as a consultant. “Now I’m beginning to think being totally free sort of devalues it. Nepal has been done a lot of harm by reliance on outside support.” But O’Mahoney and Dhital want to keep the place going, so she’s given “whoever steps up” in Chicago the go-ahead to put on benefits. The first, an auction of Tibetan wall hangings, fetched the school five water buffalo. Now O’Mahoney’s going after the theater crowd: Saturday, April 6, the Neo-Futurists will mount a 20-sketch, 40-minute rendition of their signature 60-sketch, 60-minute Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind and fork over the proceeds to the school. Tickets are $20 in advance, $22 at the door; a reception begins at 7 and the show starts around 8. The Neo-Futurarium is at 5153 N. Ashland; call O’Mahoney at 773-248-1874 for information or reservations.
