The beginning
Our story begins when our family decided to go trekking in Nepal in December 2016. I had not been to Nepal since 1997 and had no recent experience to help with planning the trip. My brother had recently summited Mt. Manaslu with his friend Mal Haskins as part of Mal’s attempt to Speedfly from the summit and set a world record (unfortunately the weather did not permit flying ). I called Ben who in turn contacted Mal. (Check out my brother's website The Red Rucksack)
A bit of background about Mal, Nepal is practically Mal’s second home after New Zealand. He has many amazing summits and climbing achievements to his name. Mal was one of the first responders after the earthquakes that devastated Nepal on 25th April 2015. Through he and his wife Sophie’s enormous grass-roots fund-raising efforts he was able to supply much needed medical aid and basic health care to remote areas in the Gorka region. He partnered with a small NGO called Karma Flights to walk into areas that became unreachable by road or air after the earthquakes. It was this company that he recommended we contact about trekking options in the Annapurna Region.
I contacted Karma flights and the office manager passed our queries onto Raju Das. This was the beginning of our partnership with Karma Flights.
Karma Flights was established in 2011, by a small group of adventure athletes. The purpose was to support education and development for the children in Nepal. Paraglider pilots affiliated with Karma Flights give a percentage of their earnings to support their projects. To date, the completed projects include disaster relief, scholarships, child nutrition, school building and much more. By choosing to hire a guide with Karma Flights, the profits taken from our trek would go straight back to the education of children in most need. (Check out Karma Flights)
After many emails and conversations with Raju, we decided to simply trust his vast experience and go with his outlined plan. Having such an experienced guide gave me a sense of relief as Ambieka was only seven and Ameer nine. Although I had been in Nepal before, going back as a mum with the responsibility of ensuring my children had an enjoyable and safe experience added pressure to the planning.
At this time, Ameer’s grade four class were undertaking a unit of inquiry. For the educators out there, the unit was:
Central Idea: Natural disasters transform how a community functions.
Lines of inquiry:
● why natural disasters occur (function)
● the effects of natural disasters (causation)
● the human response to natural disasters (causation, responsibility)
Being dyslexic, Ameer meets many challenges at school on a daily basis. This unit was timed perfectly with our trip so that he could find real world connections and explore lines of inquiry through means other than reading and internet researching. My mummy-educator hat kicked in and Ameer and I planned ways that he could find out more about the central idea and lines of inquiry.
At home, we finalized flights and itinerary and, together with Raju, planned the trek. All the while, busily organizing ourselves at home to ensure that we were ready.
Below are some photos from our first trek in the Annapurna region in Nepal.
A bit of background about Mal, Nepal is practically Mal’s second home after New Zealand. He has many amazing summits and climbing achievements to his name. Mal was one of the first responders after the earthquakes that devastated Nepal on 25th April 2015. Through he and his wife Sophie’s enormous grass-roots fund-raising efforts he was able to supply much needed medical aid and basic health care to remote areas in the Gorka region. He partnered with a small NGO called Karma Flights to walk into areas that became unreachable by road or air after the earthquakes. It was this company that he recommended we contact about trekking options in the Annapurna Region.
I contacted Karma flights and the office manager passed our queries onto Raju Das. This was the beginning of our partnership with Karma Flights.
Karma Flights was established in 2011, by a small group of adventure athletes. The purpose was to support education and development for the children in Nepal. Paraglider pilots affiliated with Karma Flights give a percentage of their earnings to support their projects. To date, the completed projects include disaster relief, scholarships, child nutrition, school building and much more. By choosing to hire a guide with Karma Flights, the profits taken from our trek would go straight back to the education of children in most need. (Check out Karma Flights)
After many emails and conversations with Raju, we decided to simply trust his vast experience and go with his outlined plan. Having such an experienced guide gave me a sense of relief as Ambieka was only seven and Ameer nine. Although I had been in Nepal before, going back as a mum with the responsibility of ensuring my children had an enjoyable and safe experience added pressure to the planning.
At this time, Ameer’s grade four class were undertaking a unit of inquiry. For the educators out there, the unit was:
Central Idea: Natural disasters transform how a community functions.
Lines of inquiry:
● why natural disasters occur (function)
● the effects of natural disasters (causation)
● the human response to natural disasters (causation, responsibility)
Being dyslexic, Ameer meets many challenges at school on a daily basis. This unit was timed perfectly with our trip so that he could find real world connections and explore lines of inquiry through means other than reading and internet researching. My mummy-educator hat kicked in and Ameer and I planned ways that he could find out more about the central idea and lines of inquiry.
At home, we finalized flights and itinerary and, together with Raju, planned the trek. All the while, busily organizing ourselves at home to ensure that we were ready.
Below are some photos from our first trek in the Annapurna region in Nepal.
Take off
When we arrived in Kathmandu we had some days to explore. One of the places we went to was the old city of Bhaktapur. The city is more than 300 years old and the buildings made of old bricks and wood. The old buildings are really close together and the streets are really small. We got a guide to show us around the city and the temples. Mum went here 20 years ago and she said it was really different and some temples were not there anymore because of the earthquake in 2015.
At one of the temples I interviewed the guide about the earthquake and he told me all about it. He said that when he was in the earthquake the only thing that he wanted to do was make sure everyone was okay. After the earthquakes, he went to buildings to help people and find people who had been caught under the buildings. Many of the old buildings and temples were destroyed and they are still rebuilding them. In Nepal, a lot of people can’t afford to rebuild their houses even with the money that the government gives them. Since Bhaktapur is a UNESCO site, they have to rebuild the houses and temples exactly the way that it was before and this is very expensive. A lot of people are living still in temporary shelters and broken houses.
When we got to Pokhara we went to Karma Flights and met Mr. Raju. Mr. Raju’s a very nice guide and he was my first friend in Nepal. He teaches me a lot about the history and what happened in Nepal.
After our trek we went to the Barang school to help with the distribution of books and stationary that we got for the children. Their school was destroyed in the earthquake and they were having classes in small buffalo sheds. Karma Flights were trying to get money to build a new school but they had only just started digging a hole for the foundations. The children there were super excited to get their books and stationary because their whole school had been broken down and they lost all their stuff.
I interviewed some of the older students about the earthquake. It was interesting listening to them talk about the earthquake. When the earthquake happened, they went to the safest place in the fields to get away from the houses and the school that might fall. The biggest problem after the earthquake was getting food and shelter.
Mr Raju was part of an NGO that was an initial responder. He provided supplies, medical relief and shelter to areas that were very hard hit. These areas were hard to get to because of all of the aftershocks. Many of the paths and roads, as well as the airports, were broken so people had to walk into the areas to provide help.
When I got back to KAUST, I made a presentation so that I could show my class and help them understand more about the impact of earthquakes.
Please look at my presentation and interviews from my first trip to Nepal I made in grade 4.
By Ameer (now aged 10)
At one of the temples I interviewed the guide about the earthquake and he told me all about it. He said that when he was in the earthquake the only thing that he wanted to do was make sure everyone was okay. After the earthquakes, he went to buildings to help people and find people who had been caught under the buildings. Many of the old buildings and temples were destroyed and they are still rebuilding them. In Nepal, a lot of people can’t afford to rebuild their houses even with the money that the government gives them. Since Bhaktapur is a UNESCO site, they have to rebuild the houses and temples exactly the way that it was before and this is very expensive. A lot of people are living still in temporary shelters and broken houses.
When we got to Pokhara we went to Karma Flights and met Mr. Raju. Mr. Raju’s a very nice guide and he was my first friend in Nepal. He teaches me a lot about the history and what happened in Nepal.
After our trek we went to the Barang school to help with the distribution of books and stationary that we got for the children. Their school was destroyed in the earthquake and they were having classes in small buffalo sheds. Karma Flights were trying to get money to build a new school but they had only just started digging a hole for the foundations. The children there were super excited to get their books and stationary because their whole school had been broken down and they lost all their stuff.
I interviewed some of the older students about the earthquake. It was interesting listening to them talk about the earthquake. When the earthquake happened, they went to the safest place in the fields to get away from the houses and the school that might fall. The biggest problem after the earthquake was getting food and shelter.
Mr Raju was part of an NGO that was an initial responder. He provided supplies, medical relief and shelter to areas that were very hard hit. These areas were hard to get to because of all of the aftershocks. Many of the paths and roads, as well as the airports, were broken so people had to walk into the areas to provide help.
When I got back to KAUST, I made a presentation so that I could show my class and help them understand more about the impact of earthquakes.
Please look at my presentation and interviews from my first trip to Nepal I made in grade 4.
By Ameer (now aged 10)
You can download the presentation about earthquakes ameer made after our first trip to nepal below.
ameer_nepal_presentation.pdf | |
File Size: | 8085 kb |
File Type: |
Returning to Nepal
I decided to go back to Nepal because I wanted to help more schools and go trekking and summit a mountain. I organized it by speaking to our guide and friend, Mr. Raju, on Skype without telling my mum and dad because I wanted to plan the holiday and make it a surprise. Mr. Raju contacted my mum and informed her that we were going to Nepal again and got really surprised because she did not know about it. We had a family meeting and I said I booked the trip know all we need is the ticket. We all decided that we would climb Mardi Himal and thought it would be fun to go again.
Mr. Raju told us about the Karma Flights Winter Appeal. We decided that we could help by bringing warm clothes with us to donate. We put up a post on our community page to ask people to donate clothes. Lots of people donated and then we realized that we also needed suitcases to put it all in which people also donated. Our community was really generous and we were able to pack 5 big bags full of warm clothes and shoes. It was over 130kg of clothing.
When we arrived at Pokhara, we sorted the clothes by putting warm clothes into one pile and jackets in another pile and pants and socks and a lot of other things in other piles. We also put the clothes in sizes to make it easier to find the right size. We only took the best of the clothes to Nepal to donate. I only took clothes that I would feel happy to wear.
When we got to Barang school we saw the rebuilding and hard work that they have been doing. The school was still not completed but it did have the bottom layer done. It was disappointing that the school was not completely rebuilt because I didn’t want the students to work in the buffalo sheds anymore. The buffalo sheds are really cramped and have no doors and very weak roofs and they are using broken chairs and stools to work on. It makes me feel really sad to know that they have to work in a buffalo shed and that they have only one or two books and only a few pencils to help them. Compared to our school they only have the basic resources to help them learn. They only have seats, pencils and a writing book each that we gave them the year before.
I was happy to be at Barang school again because I saw my friends that I made the year before and the people always make me smile. I was sad that my friends from 5th grade were not there and had already moved to a different school. I felt pleased to have warm clothes to give to them because they really needed them. When we distributed the clothes it was like a big party and lots of people from the whole community came along. Once the children got their new clothes, many of them ran to show their parents. We also had adult clothes and shoes that we gave away. So many people needed fresh, warm, new clothes. They were excited about the pants but most of the people were really excited about the shoes because they had flip flops, or shoes with broken soles. Next time I go I will bring more shoes if I can.
Written by Ambieka (8 years old)
Mr. Raju told us about the Karma Flights Winter Appeal. We decided that we could help by bringing warm clothes with us to donate. We put up a post on our community page to ask people to donate clothes. Lots of people donated and then we realized that we also needed suitcases to put it all in which people also donated. Our community was really generous and we were able to pack 5 big bags full of warm clothes and shoes. It was over 130kg of clothing.
When we arrived at Pokhara, we sorted the clothes by putting warm clothes into one pile and jackets in another pile and pants and socks and a lot of other things in other piles. We also put the clothes in sizes to make it easier to find the right size. We only took the best of the clothes to Nepal to donate. I only took clothes that I would feel happy to wear.
When we got to Barang school we saw the rebuilding and hard work that they have been doing. The school was still not completed but it did have the bottom layer done. It was disappointing that the school was not completely rebuilt because I didn’t want the students to work in the buffalo sheds anymore. The buffalo sheds are really cramped and have no doors and very weak roofs and they are using broken chairs and stools to work on. It makes me feel really sad to know that they have to work in a buffalo shed and that they have only one or two books and only a few pencils to help them. Compared to our school they only have the basic resources to help them learn. They only have seats, pencils and a writing book each that we gave them the year before.
I was happy to be at Barang school again because I saw my friends that I made the year before and the people always make me smile. I was sad that my friends from 5th grade were not there and had already moved to a different school. I felt pleased to have warm clothes to give to them because they really needed them. When we distributed the clothes it was like a big party and lots of people from the whole community came along. Once the children got their new clothes, many of them ran to show their parents. We also had adult clothes and shoes that we gave away. So many people needed fresh, warm, new clothes. They were excited about the pants but most of the people were really excited about the shoes because they had flip flops, or shoes with broken soles. Next time I go I will bring more shoes if I can.
Written by Ambieka (8 years old)
Taking action
The first action that Ambieka took was on the last day of our trek. We met a boy around the same age as Ambieka who was sitting forlornly at a rest stop. After talking to him we found out that he had walked all the way down the mountain to school, only to find out that it had been canceled (very steep climbing for around an hour). We asked if he wanted to walk with us. Ambieka noticed that his shoes were in a very bad condition and that he had no warm jacket. The zip on his school bag was broken but he continued to use it. She measured her feet against his. After a while we had a rest near a tea plantation and we gave him a mandarin that he devoured.
This meeting with BJ (which we found out was his name) initiated quite interesting conversations with Ambieka. When we arrived back in Pokhara she decided that he needed a warm jarket and a new school bag. She also decided that by the time she was going to trek again, she would have grown out of her shoes and BJ could use them everyday if he had them. So we went shopping with Raju and got BJ a bag and jacket. Ambieka filled the bag with the jacket, her washed shoes and some pairs of very warm socks. Raju will go back and deliver these to BJ as a thanks for his fun conversation and friendship on our last day of hiking.
Upon returning to our current home, Ambieka decided to take her action even further. She has started a Beeswax Wrappers project to raise money for Barang school and also give people and alternative to using cling-wrap in their lunchboxes. Check out her page for more information.
From left to right: Ameer, BJ and Ambieka
This meeting with BJ (which we found out was his name) initiated quite interesting conversations with Ambieka. When we arrived back in Pokhara she decided that he needed a warm jarket and a new school bag. She also decided that by the time she was going to trek again, she would have grown out of her shoes and BJ could use them everyday if he had them. So we went shopping with Raju and got BJ a bag and jacket. Ambieka filled the bag with the jacket, her washed shoes and some pairs of very warm socks. Raju will go back and deliver these to BJ as a thanks for his fun conversation and friendship on our last day of hiking.
Upon returning to our current home, Ambieka decided to take her action even further. She has started a Beeswax Wrappers project to raise money for Barang school and also give people and alternative to using cling-wrap in their lunchboxes. Check out her page for more information.
From left to right: Ameer, BJ and Ambieka