News

The joys of volunteering

In addition to the contribution they make to their schools, most of our volunteers have a really rewarding personal experience. This is what Lewis Strong has said about his time in Nepal this year:

“My time in Nepal was a real personal journey; I met some fantastic people and saw some amazing sights – what more can you ask for really? It was a challenging, but ultimately rewarding teaching experience that has given me more belief in myself and what I can achieve.…

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Still no constitution…

The Constituent Assembly (CA) of Nepal was dissolved on May 27, 2012 after it failed to draft a Constitution within the stipulated time, even after four extensions. The main problem is the demand by ethnic groups, such as the Tharus in the south, to have ethically defined regions with autonomous powers. Amid protests and disagreements among the political parties, the former Prime Minister (presently the caretaker Prime Minister) Baburam Bhattarai announced fresh polls to be held on November 22, 2012 to allow the process of finalising the Constitution to continue.…

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HELP’s 10th anniversary coming up!

It’s hard to believe that HELP will have opened up shop 10 years ago this coming September, starting with one school, St Paul’s primary school in Sikkim. Come September I will reveal how much we have achieved in that time. One statistic I can reveal now is that we have built three village schools from scratch.…

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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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The World’s Shortest Man

So now it’s official! Chandra Bahadur Dangi is the world’s shortest man! The following report appears in The Province:

“A Guinness World Records team measured Chandra Bahadur Dangi at 54.60 centimetres, declaring the 72-year-old even shorter the previous titleholder, Junrey Balawing, from the Philippines, who stood at 23.5 inches at the age of 18 last year.

“The good news is that Chandra Bahadur Dangi is the world’s shortest living man,” Guinness Records editor-in-chief Craig Glenday told reporters after measurements were taken.…

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World’s smallest man?

Associated Press has reported the following story:

“Guinness World Records officials will arrive in Nepal this weekend to measure a 72-year-old man who says he’s only 22 inches (56 centimeters) tall and hopes to be declared the world’s shortest man.

Chandra Bahadur Dangi is hoping to snatch the title of world’s shortest man from Junrey Balawing of the Philippines, who is 23.5 inches (60 centimeters) tall.

Guinness World Records said in an email Wednesday that the officials would arrive in Nepal’s capital, Katmandu, on Sunday to measure Dangi.…

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Cold Ladakh

To give you an idea of how cold it can get in Ladakh in the winter: recently Leh recorded the lowest temperature of the season at minus 22.2 degrees Celsius. That’s bearable if you have central heating, and good insulation, but if you don’t, as you wouldn’t if you lived in Ladakh, then life gets very difficult. You have to wrap up indoors as if you were outdoors! Those that can leave and go south in the winter do. …

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Newsletter 2011 (No. 9)

December 2010-November 2011

Welcome to our new logo! I think it does a better job at encapsulating what we are about than our old text-only version. I hope you agree.

IN MEMORIAM

This newsletter is dedicated to Tony Abrahams, who died this April. My first overseas teaching job took place in Morocco from 1976 to1978, under the auspices of the Centre for British Teachers (now shortened to CfBT). I lost touch with “The Centre” for many years after that, so was very surprised when an email plopped into my in-tray three years ago from Tony Abrahams, The Centre’s larger-than-life founder with a  soft spot for the Gurkhas.…

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Life as a HELP volunteer in Nepal

The sound of the loud TV that only plays Bollywood productions suddenly went quiet. The busy Lodge Owner laughed, looked for the dim LED-lamp, and admitted that such power outs were extremely common. The solar battery that illuminates the most important corner of the room had forgotten its responsibility, and so now it was time for bed when the sun went down in wait of nature’s amazing performance when it would break again over the breathtaking Himalayas the next morning.

Chitre, the town in which I lived, was not so easy to define.…

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I want to let you know that I have looked at a lot of volunteer organizations since I did your program and you have (as far as I can tell) one of the best. I really like how much you personally care about each volunteer and each school.
Anne GillilandDenjong Pema Choling Academy
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