HELP inspection visit: Ladakh, September 2018

I had the welcome opportunity to undertake an inspection visit to Ladakh in the first couple of weeks of September. It was great to renew my friendships and re-visit the schools we have been supporting for the last twelve years. Ladakh is a beautiful place, with very friendly people, in spite of the rapid growth in tourism since our programme began. The tourism it is receiving at present is relatively benign giving Ladakhis a way to improve their standard of living.…

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Kalimpong, February 2017

We recently visited Kalimpong and met three of our volunteers, and I was pleased to have a chance of meeting the student that I personally sponsor at his family home. Here are some pictures:

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Barbara Porter’s inspection visit, October-November 2013

Several long bone-shaking jeep journeys over snowy passes, hanging over the edge of airy drops and  rolling and crunching over roads half destroyed by monsoon rains took me to see a range of small rural schools: in Ladakh, two Buddhist monastery schools and two small community schools and in East Nepal a government school perched high on a ridge. Though the facilities were sparse, the enthusiasm and welcome from staff and students alike was fantastic. People in this part of the world have the way of making visitors feel like royalty!…

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Inspection visit to Bhutan, West Bengal, Sikkim, and Nepal: March-April 2012

There is nothing easy about travelling in the Himalayas. Poorly maintained roads in the mountains mean that every journey is a protracted and uncomfortable, and therefore memorable, experience!

We’ve recently returned from a month’s inspection visit that included a memorable 12 hour jeep drive in Sikkim to visit one school and two sponsored children, which was not exactly a very productive use of our time! But the school (the Vidya Sagar Gyanpeeth school) had to be visited since a new building is being constructed there with money donated to us, and there was also a volunteer teacher in residence at the time.…

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HELP in Bhutan

Here I am in Timphu, the capital of Bhutan, for just a day and a half to talk about our forthcoming teacher training seminar at the end of June, and to establish our volunteer teacher programme in Bhutan. I was here three years ago as a tourist and had a much more relaxing time! It is well worth a visit, but expensive to come as a tourist.…

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A visit to Ladakh

This blog is aimed at informing visitors to our website of the latest news about our activities.

I have just returned from an inspection visit to Ladakh where I visited the schools we have been helping. Fortunately we had two volunteers in place while I was there, and so I was able to meet them in situ before they ended their assignments. They were absolutely in love with Ladakh and with their schools, in spite of the fact that the conditions were less than luxurious!…

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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