Exodus has entered into a partnership with Friends of Conservation to support and run several projects worldwide. For the past few years this has included our own Responsible Tourism projects in the Himalayan region. We have now divided our projects in to two categories – The Himalayan Social and Education Fund, which includes the Nava Kiran Orphanage, Thulopatel School, Kalika School, Markha Valley housing project, children’s educational sponsorship and various other social projects. Our Himalayan Environment Projects include solar cooker and solar light projects and the tree nursery in Braga.
This orphanage, known as Nava Kiran is situated in Patan, in the Kathmandu Valley. The founder, Savitri Pokrel, looks after approximately 40 orphaned children between the ages of three months and 16 years, with the help of the local community. The old orphanage was run entirely on donations and struggled to look after, clothe, feed and educate all the children. The house was dilapidated with the children living in two bedrooms and a common room. Exodus has supported the orphanage since 2002 in various ways, with our staff helping with renovations and taking the children out for picnics in our own expedition vehicles.
In March 2006 we opened a new home which we built for the children. In summer 2008 Keshar Khadka, one of our Nepali leaders supervised a repaint and renovation of the building. The bio-gas unit is still under construction having had some teething problems. We pay for the education and schooling for all the children. In 2008 four children – Raj, Pradeep, Mina and Sangeeta passed their 10th class exams – well done to you all. The two girls Mina and Sangeeta are now at nursing college which we are sponsoring and the two boys Raj and Pradeep are at music college.
We will continue to support all the children through their schooling and college in the hope they can find a job and become independent in the future. We also welcome five new children to the home – three are brothers and the other two are brother and sister. They are all between 3-6 years old and have lost one or both parents. They are slowly adjusting to their new home and will be starting school shortly. In February 2009 Keshar and Chandra took the children out for the day on their annual picnic.
This year we took the children to the Manakamana Temple. Most of the children went along with the house mothers and several other helpers. 58 children and adults set off in our bus at 6.30am and drove three hours out of the Kathmandu Valley to Manakamana. Here, all went in Nepal’s only gondola up to the temple. After a tour of the temple the children came back down to the Riverside Spring Resort for a well deserved special lunch – they were so hungry after all the activities they ate all the food the restaurant had!!! They then drove back to Kathmandu arriving at 7.30pm. A long but exciting day for the children, many of whom had never been out of the Kathmandu Valley. The gondola was a first for everyone and the children asked lots of questions about the temple and the countryside they saw. Thanks to both Keshar and Chandra for organising a great day out for everyone.
Our next outing will be to the Chitwan National Park for a couple of days to see the elephants and wildlife. The local community has always supported the home but as the new home is more expensive to run than the old building we now pay for all the children’s educational needs. The education costs around £120 per child per year. This includes school fees, uniforms, books, exam fees and transport to and from school if necessary. Unfortunately we don’t have individual sponsorship, but all the children’s educational needs are paid through our Himalayan Social and Education Fund.
Valerie Parkinson and Keshar Khadka of our Nepal office will continue to monitor the children’s educational needs and between them and the children we will have a yearly update on the progress of all the children. If you are travelling with Exodus to Nepal and would like to see the orphanage, please ask your leader who will be delighted to organise a visit. Any children's clothing, toys, books or school equipment is always gratefully appreciated (please take these to Nepal with you and not send them to the Exodus UK office).
We will naturally keep you updated on the progress of this project and if you would like to help financially to sponsor the education of a child, you can donate through Friends of Conservation, either as a one off donation or as a standing order. As well as sponsoring the education for the Nava Kiran children we are sponsoring several children in Nepal and India who either come from very poor families or have lost one or both parents. These children are now all in school either in Kathmandu or in their village. We are updated on their progress regularly.
Himalayan Environmental Projects
Tree Planting
Deforestation is a problem in parts of Nepal. Although a small part of this is caused by the influx of trekkers, most is down to the growing population's need for fuel and building materials. As well as ensuring that our practices on trek do not add to this problem, we have for several years provided financial and practical support for a small scale tree nursery in Braga in the Annapurna region.
This small resource replacement project, high in the Annapurna region, is visited on Exodus’ Annapurna Circuit trek. This project is now well established due to a local man, Karma Gurung, and his wife looking after the nursery. Every year they collect seeds from local indigenous species, plant, protect and grow them before planting out the saplings.
Due to dryness, high altitude and harsh climate, the survival rate of seeds and cuttings is very low. However, Karma and his wife have persevered and experimented and now get around one hundred small trees planted out onto the hillsides every year. Some are planted on communal land to provide a sustainable resource for the community, whilst the local school children in Braga plant and look after some saplings as part of their education. Our groups trekking the Annapurna Circuit regularly visit Karma and the small nursery to monitor its progress.
This project is appreciated by the villagers and will hopefully provide a sustainable source of wood for the foreseeable future.
