We were able to have a small team of three make a follow-up visit to James Luitel, founder of Beam Life Foundation in Nepal, which manages a range of education projects benefiting disadvantaged children. Our first trip in 2010 was with a team of students from Baptist University in Hong Kong.
James is the primary care-giver for 6 children, runs a "student to student" program where university students tutor primary school children, and so far has set up one library in a village area. Almost 100 children benefit from these programs, as do the volunteers who visit from abroad to contribute to the project.
(Click on any photo and then use left / right arrow to view a slide show)
Ada from China with Chris & some of the children James provides foster care to
When visiting the library, we were impressed by the selection of books there, which were colourful and well-suited to the children’s needs. There was work to be done on laying linoleum and managing recently donated books, so we helped to finish the floor and work on book indexing, while a crowd of children gathered around to read the books. From the children’s faces it was obvious the books were a treasure to them and such a worthwhile investment.
Some books were donated by Room to Read, while many were purchased with donated funds. More books of the type shown below are needed – can you help?
And during our trip we were fortunate to be introduced by James to the Adhikari family, who provide accommodation and meals in at their hill-top farm, “Eco-Village”, which is situated directly in front of the magnificent Annapurna Range (see top photo). One initiative they run is helping to improve the village water supply, using rainwater collection and concrete storage tanks, with which we are familiar in our Yunnan project. In the field of education, they have set up a village school which greatly benefits from a “sister school” arrangement with a school in Australia, and they spread the message of environmental awareness through their example, which is being followed at nearby government schools. These schools now recycle as much as possible, and have a source of filtered water available from which students refill their water-bottles.
We spent a night at this idyllic village atop a mountain, and were rewarded with spectacular views of sunset, sunrise and the Annapura range, with the never-climbed Fishtail Mountain as its centrepiece. More than anything, we enjoyed the warm hospitality of our hosts, and highly recommend that volunteers in Nepal spend a few days at this beautiful location.
Are you touched by the need in Nepal? We look forward to working with you in the future, whether in setting up support chapters, or helping to arrange your volunteer trip. To put your name down for a future trip and connect with other prospective volunteers, please contact us at info@gobeyondnow.netl. And for Nepal, do try to plan your trip for sometime between October and April, to avoid the monsoon season.
Here are a few of the many photos we took:
Above three photos – early morning view in Annapurna Eco-Village, where we stayed for 2 days
Dining room with spectacular view
Lake Pokhara where spent a night on our return trip to Kathmandu
A fond farewell photo taken with the father and mother of the founder of the Eco-village - Nepal welcomes you!