Classroom for Mt. Everest Sherpa Children
Classroom for Mt. Everest Sherpa Children
Classroom for Mt. Everest Sherpa Children
Classroom for Mt. Everest Sherpa Children
Classroom for Mt. Everest Sherpa Children
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Classroom for Mt. Everest Sherpa Children
If you love unspoiled nature, the beauty of snow-capped mountains, and want to help preserve a wonderful culture, then I invite you to donate to the Himalayan Sherpa School in Ghat.
The Sherpa people are an ethnic group from Nepal who have lived in the high altitudes of the Himalayas for generations. They have long served as guides and porters, whose local expertise has been invaluable for foreigners attempting climbs in the area. While the Sherpa are admired for the ease with which they deal with the physical challenges of scaling some of the world's biggest peaks, the villages where they live and their children stand in need of assistance by the same foreigners they have served for so long.
For centuries the Sherpas, the local people of the Khumbu region around Mt. Everest, have lived a hard life walking up and down high mountain passes for trade with the outside world. These lovely people bear extremely cold weather to live their lives, growing vegetables in their fields during short summer months and then enduring long winters in their homes. With the arrival of Everest climbers from around the world who have donated funds to the Sherpa community, their lives have improved a great deal. Now, the region has schools for their young people and hospitals for all, but the region continues to need donations and help from volunteers. By donating to the Ghat Sherpa School, you will help to teach their children and community. You will give them confidence and open opportunities for these beautiful people.
My name is Lauren. I am only 16 years old, but I am old enough to be inspired by the Sherpa. I just happen to have an older sister named Kirsten, who has told me wonderful stories of her experience with the Sherpa people who live along the Mt. Everest Base Camp trail. Kirsten went with my dad to Nepal in 2013 when she was 17 years old. They volunteered for the summer at the Sherpa school in the village of Ghat, which is located along the Mt. Everest base camp trail (EBC) about 2 hours hike from Lukla. They lived with a monk named Jangbu. They taught English at the Sherpa school as well as hiked 4 hours daily to teach young monks who live in the Pemacholing Monastery high on the mountain side above the main EBC trail.
Jangbu continues to stay in touch with my dad and has recently asked for help to build a classroom addition to their school. The classroom will be used as a library and computer room. The room addition will be built entirely using traditional Sherpa methods. Granite rocks will be quarried from local mountains and carried by Sherpa porters and yaks to the school. Sherpa people will chisel and shape the rocks into blocks to form the walls.
Metal, wood and glass will be purchased in Kathmandu and carried up the mountain by Sherpa porters for the roof, doors and windows. Using these traditional methods, the Sherpa build lovely homes and buildings that are warm in the winter and will last for hundreds of years.
The Himalayan region of Nepal is known for its panorama of the world's highest mountains, the unique culture of local people who live in their shadow and also the rugged beauty of the valleys that lie below. The Everest region, which lies in north eastern Nepal, is a paradise for nature lovers where you can find magnificent snow summits, mountains full of rhododendrons, isolated villages and communities, and mountain top monasteries.
In the shadow of Mt. Everest live the Sherpa people who came to the region over 550 years ago from Tibet. Read more about their story by following the link to the monastery website at the bottom of this article. Today they maintain their culture that is heavily influenced by their Buddhist religion. Several monasteries along the trail to Mt. Everest are home to traditional Lamas (monks) who dedicate their lives to the monastery. The sound of their chant and the smell of the incense they burn invoke a deep appreciation of this magnificent region. The whole Everest region is without any motor-able road. It is not even practical to ride a bike on the steep and rocky trails. Communities are connected by trails that were established over hundreds of years for trading between villages. People entirely get around by hiking along these trails.
The center of trade for the region is Namche Bazaar, a village located at an elevation of approximately 12,000 feet. A visit to Namche Bazaar to see a dentist is a 16 hour strenuous round trip hike from Ghat on steep and rocky trails.
Supplies for the villages are entirely carried from the heads of Sherpa porters, or on the backs of yaks. There is a constant train of supplies being carried by Sherpa porters and yaks every day of the year. The Sherpa have acclimated to the thin air high in these mountains. They seem to move effortlessly when compared to climbers who are laboring to trek to Everest Base Camp, where the amount of oxygen is only half of what it is available at sea level.
Solar power from the sun and in a few locations hydro power from the streams are the only source of electricity, which can be used for lighting at night. Water is collected from local streams and stored in large pots. Cooking is accomplished by wood burning stoves below 14,000 feet and burning yak dung is used in the higher elevations. Sherpa men collect yak dung and Sherpa woman mix water with the dung to make pancakes and then dry them in the sun. The dried yak dung pancakes are used as fuel for cooking, because there is no wood for burning above about 14,000 feet.
Many of the Sherpa are porters who carry gear and supplies for climbers who are attempting to climb Mt. Everest. At 29,029 feet it is the highest peak in the world. While Sherpa fathers are often away from home for weeks at a time assisting climbers or shuttling supplies up the mountain, Sherpa children help their mothers tend their gardens and take care of the home. The children that live in the village of Ghat are lucky enough that they get to go to school. It is very important that these children to receive a good education, so that they will later have the capability to come down off the mountain to join the outside world if they want to, or stay and contribute to their Sherpa culture and community. Those that leave, often return with advanced degrees in medicine, dentistry and agriculture and are able to give back to their marvelous community of Sherpa people.
Jangbu, the monk that my sister and dad lived with, is very active in the community. Everyone knows him up and down the mountain. He was very fortunate many years ago to receive a significant donation from a generous woman that allowed for a school to be built in Ghat. Today, children wear uniforms and attend classes taught by local teachers as well as visiting foreign volunteers coordinated monthly by Jangbu. He is a tremendous man and exemplifies the best of the Sherpa people.
Please join me in helping Jangbu and the Sherpa of Ghat to build a classroom addition for their beautiful children. Your donation will pay for all the supplies and the labor to build the classroom and for my dad to take me to participate this summer to teach at the school and help with the construction. Together with my dad and Jangbu, we estimate that we can get half of the construction done this summer and fall before the heavy winter snow is upon us and then finish up next year in the spring and summer. Any small funds that are received in excess of our goal will be used to buy computers and books to fill the classroom. If we are so lucky as to greatly exceed our goal, we will add a satellite internet connection to allow the children to access a world of knowledge on the WWW.
The Pemacholing Monastery website was designed and built by my sister and dad when they were there in 2013. I plan to manage a blog on the website so everyone can participate in the volunteer work at the school.
I certainly look forward to helping the Sherpa and hope that you can participate with me.
-Lauren