Archive for the ‘Projects’ Category

About 18 months ago, I was approached by the Mountain Company with a proposal to run a charity trek in Sikkim under their auspices for the benefit of HELP’s various projects in the Himalayas. This seemed like a good idea at the time, providing tourists with a chance to stay in a Sikkimese village and to visit a school we are helping (en route to the start of their trek), in return for a donation to boost HELP’s funds.

Disappointingly, we have had no takers. My guess is that many of our contacts, especially our ex-volunteers, know the Himalayas already, and don’t need to use a UK-based company to arrange their treks. As for people who don’t know us, it seems likely that they would be more inclined to choose a charity trek that raises money for a cause they can relate to, such as cancer research or disaster relief. Raising money to participate in a charity trek is extra work, and, for those who have not visited the Himalayas, the state of education in the region may not seem like a cause that is worth the effort.

Whatever the reason for the lack of interest, my son, Alan, and I are going ahead with the trek which will take us close to Mount Kanchenjunga, the third highest mountain in the world. We fly out to India on 10th October, and, after visiting schools in Sikkim, we will start the eight-day trek, which will take us up to an altitude of 5000 metres (16,000 feet), on 16th.

I don’t want to throw in the towel at this stage and give up trying to use the trek to raise funds for HELP. I hope to send Barbara Porter to Ladakh next September to run a teacher training seminar for local teachers in Leh, which I am sure most of you will agree is a worthy cause. Barbara, a free-lance teacher trainer,  volunteered with us as a teacher at St. Paul’s primary school in South Sikkim three years ago, and went back last February to run a couple of  successful one-week seminars for local teachers in Kalimpong and Gangtok respectively. You can see extracts from her report in this blog .  The total cost of the trip, including Barbara’s fees, was £2000, and we need to raise a similar amount for her next trip.

If you agree with us that  training local teachers is an excellent way of improving the quality of teaching in village schools, and would like to sponsor us, the thing to do is to go to the donations page of our website (http://www.help-education.org/donations.html ) and complete the online form, noting in the comments box that you are sponsoring our trek.

Wish us luck!

Jim Coleman

Director, Himalayan Education Lifeline Programme

With the help of family and friends (including parents and children of the  Hilmarton Primary school) of one of our volunteers, Rebecca Scott, who taught at this school in 2006, a new robust reinforced two-storey concrete structure has already been built at a cost of about £4,300, to replace the wooden structure that was slowly sliding down the mountainside. The children moved in on 28th July, straight after the summer break. This project came in under budget and was completed ahead of time.

I have just sent the final instalment of £1,300 to complete the new school building. This money will be spent on wiring, painting, plumbing, including the installation of a toilet and bathroom for the boarders. This was our very first project. We began it from scratch in 2003 and , with the invaluable support of our first volunteer, Simon Forwood, we have, between us, raised £19,000 over the five years. Without Simon’s help, it would have taken us double the time to reach our target; but thanks are owed to all of you who, knowingly or unknowingly, contributed to this project. The school now has a brand-new two storey building, which replaces the old rented building down the hill which was literally falling apart.

We have a recruit for the Annapurna High School in Manang, our new project in an important village on the route of the Annapurna Circuit trek! A young American will be trekking there in the second half of March. It will take him up to seven days to get there from Kathmandu. Quite an adventure.

We have added a new school to our list of projects in Nepal, called the Annapurna High School. I came across it on the Annapurna Circuit trek in October 2006, and they asked me if we could provide them with a volunteer teacher. The details are in the Nepal projects section of the website. Let’s see whether we get any applications! Whoever goes will need to trek there, so they will have to be fit!

A new venture scheduled for next February is the provision of a teacher trainer to run two week-long seminars in Kalimpong and Gangtok respectively. The aim is to develop the teaching skills of local teachers who have not had any formal training in teaching methodologies. In this way, we hope to avoid over-dependence on our volunteer teachers, who can do no more than provide temporary support to the local staff.

Barbara Porter is a free-lance teacher trainer who volunteered with us as an English teacher in Sikkim two years ago, so she is ideally suited to run these seminars for us. If these seminars are successful, then we will extend the programme to other regions in future years.