Himalayan Community Support

View latest update: July 2009

Nava Kiran
• The children’s school and college fees are all paid up to April 2010. Four of the children are now at college – two at music college and two at nursing college.
• In January 2009 two of our Nepali leaders took the children on their annual picnic. See our newsletter for more details.
• The housemothers wages have been paid now till July 2009.

Kaliaka School
• Two clients from one of our Annapurna In Luxury (TNX) treks have sponsored a teacher at the Kalika School for a year

Thulopatel School
• A teachers salary has been paid from April 2009-September 2009.
• 70 chairs have been ordered at a cost of £7.50 per chair. A local carpenter has started making the chairs from locally sourced wood. We have paid a deposit for the work.

Gairimudi School
• 120 chairs have been ordered at a cost of £7.50 per chair. A local carpenter has started making the chairs from locally sourced wood. We have paid a deposit for the work.

School sponsorship
• We are paying for the education of nine disadvantaged children this year.

Solar Cookers
• Thirty solar cookers have been installed in the Everest trekking region and one solar cooker at Annapurna Base Camp. Please read the Exodus Extracts article from December 2008 edition.

Braga Tree Nursery
• Karma and his wife (who run the nursery for us) have been paid until December 2009.

Water Pipes
• In December 2008 Valerie Parkinson visited Sailung village to see what was needed in terms of water pipe and water tank repairs.

Solar lights
• In summer and autumn 2009 the Exodus camping groups in Ladakh and Nepal will be trying out solar lights on trek. If these are successful we will be using them on all our camping treks and will then expand the project into villages.

Dandakharka
• Angus Dawson has just completed a sponsored triathlon and raised £200 for Dandakharka Village. The villagers will be meeting this summer to discuss what the community needs.
• Solar lights have been installed in all the Sherpa houses in the village.

Markha Valley
• Two houses have already been finished
• Wire has been given to Hankar School to build a flood barrier.

Emergency Relief
• An elderly man who was found living in a cave has been sponsored by Exodus. One of our guides visits him regularly and takes food and clothing for him. We are trying to find a mobile eye clinic in Nepal who may be able to help him as we cannot persuade him to come to Kathmandu to an eye hospital there.

Nepal Projects Newsletter

We have issued an updated Newsletter concerning our current projects in Nepal, for your copy please download the PDF document:

Nepal Responsible Tourism Projects Newsletter - 31/03/09

Where in the world?

The Himalaya is by many measurements the greatest of all mountain chains. Separating the Indian sub-continent from the great plateau of Tibet it runs in a great arc from Pakistan in the west, through India, Nepal, Bhutan and China. But like many other areas of the world the differing communities and environments that make up this mountain wonderland are under constant stress and strain

What are we trying to do?

Exodus have been organising tours and treks to this region for 35 years and have developed many long lasting partnerships and friendships with our operators and leaders as well as some of the local communities we visit. It therefore has been only natural for us to seek out ways to give something back; but with such a large and diverse area to cover how do we decide what to do? Well we look for small-scale practical projects that can help local communities and preserve or improve the environment, whilst giving the maximum possible long-term economic benefit. This means we have focused on supporting children and their educational needs, supplying basic resources to communities, such as fresh water and sustainable wood supplies, as well as introducing some alternative technologies to help the environment. We also believe in being responsible and fair to our staff by training, equipping and paying them properly for the amazing work they do.

How did we set it up?

In essence we have just built on foundations laid down 35 years ago, but perhaps a major turning point came in 2002 when we started supporting the Nava Kiran Orphanage in Kathmandu. Over the next few years we raised the money to build an entirely new home for the orphans and are now involved in funding their education as well as supplying solar cookers and a bio-gas unit to help with their energy needs. In addition we also support several other schools, have put water pipes and solar lights into villages, provide long term support to a tree nursery and have been installing solar cookers in several areas to help the environment. Of course natural disasters can, and do, occur in this region and we have responded recently by helping villagers in Ladakh rebuild homes after freak flash floods.

What do we want to achieve this year and into 2010?

Obviously as much as possible, but our key aims are:

Sponsor one teacher each at the schools in Gairimudi, Thulopatel and Kalika, supply locally sourced furniture to the schools in Thulopatel and Gairimudi, and supply all three schools with text books for their libraries: approx cost £5,500
Provide a proper education for all the orphans at Nava Kiran in Kathmandu, plus housemother’s wages: approx cost £6,000
To give the orphans one special day out with a picnic and games: approx cost £300
Provide clothes, shoes and school bags for the orphans: approx cost £1,500
Sponsor the education of children who have lost their fathers in climbing expeditions: approx cost £500
Buy and install a further 25 solar cookers across different regions of Nepal; cost £6,250
Lay fresh water pipes into two villages in some of the less visited regions of Nepal: cost £4,000
Maintain ongoing support for the Tree Nursery in Braga £600
Continue to support villagers affected by the floods in the Markha Valley; India
Continue to train, equip and pay our staff fairly and responsibly

Total needed: £24,650

What can you do to help?

Although Exodus staff and our local partners and leaders put in a huge amount of time and effort, we do rely on raising the majority of the vital funds from our clients and other well-wishers around the world. These are vital and very welcomed by the communities we support. Over the years Exodus trekkers and travellers to this region have been sponsored for their treks or have run marathons at home, others held cake fairs at schools, sold souvenirs obtained in the Himalaya, or even donated money in lieu of wedding gifts. However the funds are raised, a few pounds, dollars, euros or rupees can and do make a real difference to the lives of many and help maintain the amazing mountain environment that we go so far to see. On certain trips to the Himalaya you may be able to donate locally (especially in Kathmandu), or on your return through Friends of Conservation in the UK.