News

Nepal due to re-emerge from lockdown in time for the trekking season.

Nepal will be reopening its borders for international tourism on August 17th as the blanket ban ends and international flights resume.
 
The following businesses will resume operations
• Hotels and accommodation facilities
• Tourism related activities
• Restaurants
• Trekking and climbing permits
 
Flights will initially only be accepted from selected countries, but the government has not elaborated on which countries would be first, Supposedly, visitors arriving from abroad will be expected to self-quarantine on arrival, but whether that will apply to trekkers remains to be seen.
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A new playground for the Vidya Sagar Gyanpeeth school

Thanks to our supporters for raising the funds needed to construct a playground for a small village school in Sikkim! Land below the school had to be bought from the local farmer, and then built up to raise it to the level of the school building.

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NEWSLETTER No. 17: December 2018 – November 2019

2019 has been a much better year for volunteer recruitment. It has also been good for fund-raising, thanks to the generosity of our friends who responded generously to our playground appeal. Find out what we’ve been up to this year!

INSPECTION VISITS

My indefatigable and estimable colleague, Barbara Porter, who runs our volunteer programme, and doubles up as our teacher trainer, has just returned to the UK from an arduous five week visit to the Himalayas, including Ladakh, Nepal and Uttarakhand.…

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Teacher training in Uttarakhand

HELP‘s teacher trainer, Barbara Porter, has just completed a three day teacher training seminar for nearly 30 rural teachers from 14 schools and 4 interior districts of Kumaon in Uttrakhand in North India. This training is likely to improve the learning skills of nearly 7000 children.

These photos have been taken by the Serve and Share Association (SASA) with whom we collaborate to run these seminars. SASA organised the event and recruited the participants, while we covered their expenses, and provided Barbara Porter’s professional services.…

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New playground needed!

A small village school in western Sikkim needed to enlarge its tiny playground to accommodate a rising school population, and to comply with new regulations issued by the Sikkim government’s Ministry of Education. As you can see in this video clip, the area they have available at present is barely big enough to hold morning assembly. Friends of HELP donated £3200 in response to our fund-raising appeal, and this, combined with money raised by the school children’s  parents, should be enough for the school to buy the extra land needed from the local farmer, and to raise it up to the level of the existing land (the school is built on a steep mountainside), and level it.…

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Volunteer opportunities for mature people!

HELP volunteer,Kathleen Kressly, with her school children in West Bengal (Kalimpong). We are looking for more volunteers like her to join our programme and make a difference to the education of children in the Indian and Nepalese Himalayas! If you want to know more, please go to the volunteer page of our website.

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HELP is rare for an organisation offering volunteer teaching in that it puts the needs of the local people before the desires of the western person wanting ‘the experience’.
Alastair SkeffingtonSaraswatimata Yumahangma English School
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