Langtang Valley

Dear friends,

On my last break from school I headed to a valley in north Nepal, close to the border with Tibet, called Langtang Valley. From the beginning I knew this trek was going to be different than all my other wanders in the mountains.

I won't say much about the breathtaking view in this valley, or about the peaceful, kind character of the people living in the high mountains. But I do want to tell you about the little kids living there.

While traveling there I noticed that many of the young kids of the villages stay at home throughout the day, something that forced their parents to divide their time between their demanding jobs and housework and the demands of child care. I wondered what the reason was that the kids stay at home all day, every day. After some talks with the local Tibetan people I found out that there is no school in the upper part of the valley. So the kids are facing three options: attend the closest school (which is two days walking distance, which makes this option nearly impossible), find a generous foreign donor who will assist them in getting to Kathmandu (a distance of two days walk and one day drive from their houses and their families) and to sponsor their studies there (for however long he/she can or will); or the third option--just stay at home.

This situation seemed so unjust to me that I organized a meeting with the former teacher of the village and this wonderful man revealed to me the plan the local Langtang Community has come up with...

The people of Langtang Valley established a foundation called "Langtang Lirung Foundation" in order to start to build their own school. The first step in their plan is to start teaching about ten of the poorest kids in the area, and then slowly, as long the funding is sufficient, increase this number until eventually all the kids will be able to attend the school and to receive a proper education.

In the beginning, studying will take place in an existing building, but as soon as enough money has been gathered, a new, more suitable school will be built. There is already a place to build it and a principal to run it.

The plan and vision already exist. 'All' we are missing is the means to start the project. We are talking about just $2,500 to actually start teaching kids (this includes the books, notebooks, classroom materials, school uniforms and teacher salary)!

In order to build the new school building we will need to raise $8,000. We believe that with your and your friends' generous help we can make it happen. Those kids deserve an education. We can help them build their future.

On the Langtang Lirung Foundation's Facebook page is a link to my project at fundrazr.com, where you can quickly and easily donate whatever amount you wish. Also, on the Facebook page I will keep you updated on the progress of the school and kids.

I would be deeply grateful if you could share this project and even more importantly, I would enormously appreciate it if you'll make aspirations for the bright future of the kids of Langtang Valley.

Thank you,

Amit (པད་མ་) from Israel