For many years, Roshi Joan Halifax, abbot of Upaya Zen Center in Santa Fe, New Mexico, has hosted a medical mission, called Nomads Clinic into the Nepali Himalayas to care for people who have little medical care available. Far beyond the electrical grid, most of the villagers have respiratory problems from a lifetime of cooking, heating, and lighting by burning wood and other fuels indoors.

In 2013, Dr. Charles McDonald, a pulmonary specialist who was on the medical team that year, took 200 Little Sun solar lights with him to give away. The response was amazing.

In the aftermath of the two large, and many small earthquakes in Nepal , we would like to redouble his efforts, and send 400  Little Suns to Nepal with the Nomads Clinic this year.

These high quality durable solar-powered LED lamps have been used by women to sew and weave by, pilgrims and porters to travel by, people to read and study by, and everyone to work and cook by. They've been used for throat, eye, and ear inspections, for dentistry, or preparing tuberculosis slides, for changing dressings and looking closely at infections inside dim rooms.

The electrical grid and infrastructure in Nepal, which has never been available away from the cities, has been greatly compromised. Many, many people are living under tarps and makeshift housing at this time, and will be living this way for a long time, no matter the weather. These small portable solar rechargeable lights will bring much needed light to people who are suffering greatly. 
We ask that you help us to bring light to Nepal, and with deep gratitude we thank you for helping us in this effort.

If we raise more money than is needed for the 400 Little Suns, the extra donations will go directly into Upaya Zen Center's  Earthquake Relief Fund, https://www.upaya.org/give/fund.php?id=22

Little Sun solar lights:
Little Sun is a small hand-held solar LED light developed by artist Olafur Eliasson and engineer Frederik Ottesen. Its plastic casing looks like a sunflower, and it has a long lanyard that may be worn around the neck or hung as a lamp while in use. The energy gathered with its small solar panel is stored by three rechargeable AAA batteries, which will work at full power, under constant use for 2 years or more, before they need replacing.