What does Khiraule Education and Health Project do?
Khiraule Education and Health Project raises funds to advance the Education and Health of the people of Khiraule Village.
With the funds it has built new classrooms, furniture, a Lower Secondary School, a Clinic, a school Library, Office, and Nursery Room, including all fixtures and fittings. KEHP also funds 4 Teachers and a Health Worker. KEHP also regularly provides school equipment and extra school clothing.
KEHP worked in partnership with the International Rotary Club and following our successful bid, used the funding to build extra toilets, improved drinking water, improved play area, built an enclosure wall and wall display boards.
The Juniper Trust provided funds for two solar panels and two batteries to run two computers provided by KEHP. These were installed in
March 2013. Due to the very difficult location and terrain to get to Khiraule all materials have to be carried in by individual porters
on their backs, which takes approximately one week! Unimaginable to us here in the West!
How did the Khiraule Education and Health Project start?
Khiraule Villagers identified a need for a School in 1989 so they built a make shift one out of Bamboo and requested the
Education Authorities to provide a Teacher. This request was approved by the Education Authority who sent a Teacher.
Lhakpa Sherpa (Chairman of KEHP) is from Khiraule and he was the only person at that time from the village to go on to study at High School
in Sotang (a day's walk from Khiraule). He played a vital role in establishing the School in his Village, such as finding accommodation
for the Teacher, encouraging the children to attend, collecting bamboo for a new roof and liaising with the Authorities to give permanent
approval for the school.
“Many government schools are in a bad physical shape and extremely underfunded especially in the rural areas. Although primary education
is free, government schools are often inadequate and overcrowded. Many schools in remote areas are very basic. Often these schools have no
blackboard and very little furniture which is worn out.” Khiraule Primary School was exactly like one of these.
After Lhakpa completed his secondary Education in Sotang he went to Kathmandu for further education. Lhakpa and his wife Pat Steel-Sherpa visited
Khiraule Primary School in 1995. Seeing the condition of the School and the limited infrastructure he asked his wife Pat if she could do
something for the School. As soon as Pat returned to England she began to raise funds for the school. Over the coming years since 1995
Pat and Lhakpa were able to build classrooms, rebuild and refurbish the school, and fund an extra teacher.
They also provided a new roof for the school building, new furniture, white boards, provided a school bag and rain coat for each child,
sports equipment, and funded a teacher's salary.
They have individually been supporting Khiraule School for many years and their fund raising events and the support they received was
immensely successful. They registered the Charity in 2011.
KEHP (Khiraule Education and Health Project)
Lhakpa Sherpa and his wife, Pat Steel-Sherpa have been raising funds and supporting Khiraule School with buildings and funding a teacher
since 1995. In 2011 with the help of other volunteers they set up KEHP as a formal charity in the UK. Lhakpa Sherpa is the Chairman and Pat
Steel-Sherpa is the Secretary. They both have been actively involved and all committee members volunteer their time freely.
KEHP is unique in that we have no overheads. We can guarantee that all of your donation will go directly into the project and you can be
confident that no money is wasted or used for salaried staff. We are all volunteers and are very grateful indeed for any donations big or small.
There is no administration cost and all money is used efficiently and effectively.
About Khiraule Village, Nepal:
Resources:
Nepal is the fifth poorest country in the world and as a result it has very limited resources with which to support the village of Khiraule. It is an extremely remote area which means the villagers have to trek up and down high mountains for more than 10 days to reach the nearest road. Consequently, access to facilities for Education and Health is tremendously limited and difficult.
The People of Khiraule:
The villagers are primarily Sherpa an ethnic group who are Buddhists with an ancient rich culture originating in Tibet. Many of us in the West know of them for their great mountaineering skills on Expeditions in the Himalayas, particularly on Everest. They are also very involved in Trekking in Nepal, leading and running treks for many western groups. Due to their Buddhist religion and culture they have a close knit community always helping each other and have worked with us over the years with the building work etc. They live off the land and have very little (if any) money.
How many People? How many Children?
There are approximately 400 people in Khiraule and 90 children attending the School.
Housing in Khiraule:
People live in extended families in their own stone built farm houses with their land surrounding it on which they graze their animals (water buffalo, chickens, and goats).
Food in Khiraule:
They grow most of their own food, such as corn, potatoes, sweet corn, etc and keep chickens. They get their milk from their water buffalo. They grind their own grain for flour. Lower down the mountains where it is warmer they grow different kinds of food and Khiraule villagers are able to trade with them for other items, such as oranges etc, selling them their potatoes. Items such as salt and oil are brought into the region by donkey to Sotang one days walk away from Khiraule. There are no roads, the nearest one is over ten days walk away. There is no electricity in Khiraule. All food is cooked on open wooden fires. Water is from the glacier river which some have piped to their homes through black rubber piping using gravity.
Size of Khiraule:
Khiraule village covers a huge area of land and is at an elevation of 7,000 ft. (2200 m.). It is surrounded by huge Himalayan mountains and deep valleys with a deep gorge river running by the side of the village. There are panoramic views from every direction. The stone farm houses are spread out across the valley of Khiraule. There are approximately 45 houses.
Flora/Fauna and wild life of Khiraule:
As in the rest of Nepal there is a great variety of trees and plants in Khiraule, such as rhododendron, daphne, meconopsis etc. There is a wide range of birds, including birds of prey. Wild animals include bear, leopard, thar, deer etc.
KEHP Trustees
- Lhakpa Sherpa - Chairman
- Pat Steel-Sherpa - Secretary
- Dave Redfern - Treasurer
- Barbara Maudsley - Trustee
- Paul Millen - Trustee