Create Change in Rural Nepal

In September and October 2018, I had the amazing opportunity to trek through the Himalayas in Northern Nepal. It is incredibly beautiful country, and the people are some of the kindest, most helpful individuals I have ever met. Unfortunately, despite the recent influx of tourism to the area, poverty is still rampant. I was deeply struck when I went to the village of a local friend and saw buildings that have still not been repaired since the 2015 earthquake struck the country. It was not a lack of determination that was the problem, they simply didn't have money to purchase the building materials.

The efforts of this fundraiser will be going towards the Himalayan Trust, the link for their page can be found at the bottom. They work primarily in the Solukhumbu region of Nepal, where I was trekking and where Everest is located. In this area the poverty rate is 26%, which is 10% higher than the Nepali average. A big goal of the Himalayan Trust is to build schools and improve education opportunities for youth, so they may give back to their communities. In Solukhumbu less than 10% of children graduate secondary school. They also work to provide access to clean drinking water, as well as continued rebuilding efforts from the 2015 Earthquake.

In support of these wonderful people, I will be living off of five dollars a day in the United States for three months stating January 21'st. While it is a somewhat arbitrary number, as many people in the Nepali mountains simply live by what they can generate off the land, it is roughly what people in this area of Nepal live off of everyday. I will slowly make my way from Port Angeles, Washington State, to the Grand Canyon, Arizona. I will also be donating 1000 dollars (CAD) of my own money to get the fundraising going. Any donation helps! Sixty dollars could buy a goat to feed a family, thirty could buy tools for a teacher, twenty a clean water kit to protect against disease.

Feel free to follow the blog listed below, and thank you for your support!

P.S. Himalayan Trust is a New Zealand based charity, founded by Sir Edmund Hillary, a Kiwi the first person to summit Everest. Because of this I am using Give a Little, the Kiwi version of Go Fund Me. The donations are hence in the New Zealand dollar. As well, because it is a Kiwi charity it can not be used for tax deductibles. However, they do amazing work in the poorer regions of Nepal which is why I picked them.

1 Cad$ = 1.10 Nzl$

1 US$ = 1.46 Nzl$

Helping your money go further!

Links:

https://grandcanyonnepal.home.blog/ (Blog)

http://himalayantrust.org/ (Charity page)

https://nepalmap.org/profiles/district-11-solukhumbu/ (2011 census)