To share the experiences of a nearly 5-week trip to Upper Dolpo, you need more than one article on the website.
For this reason, only a brief summary of the most important findings of the trip is presented in this article:

There have been some changes since the last visit in 2018. In particular, the fact that the government has decided to open up Upper Dolpo by building “roads”. You drive up the mountains with big bulldozers, and some of the paths slide down again when it rains. It seems to us that it hasn’t been well thought through, more like aimless “activism”.

There are definitely divided opinions about this infrastructure measure. The younger generation finds this quite good, because it is possible to cover faster distances with a motorcycle. It is also hoped that the transport of goods will become cheaper.
But there are also critical voices, because many jobs are in danger of being lost (mainly in the transport sector with mules, horses and yaks). Tourism could also change drastically.

Climate change is noticeable in the Dolpo. On the one hand due to heavy rainfall and significant landslides in Lower Dolpo. On the other hand, there is a lack of water in some villages and there was heavy snowfall in Upper Dolpo as early as October. We experienced it all first hand. The residents have never experienced weather extremes like this year.

People are suffering considerably from the pandemic because China has kept its borders closed for three years. Trade with Tibet is important. People currently have to buy their goods more expensively in their own country or do without.
The locals of Upper Dolpo continue to urgently need the support of foreign organizations such as the HUMAN Foundation. Education and medical care are still the areas with a very high need for support.

Operations of our winter schools in Saldang and Nyisal is felt to be very important. We have been asked several times to continue to finance these lessons in the long term. The two winter schools for the period 2022/2023 start again in November.

Our new school building in Lhuri has come to a standstill because the timber could not (yet) be transported over the passes due to early snowfall. Construction will continue in 2023, so use will not be possible until the middle of next year. The residents of Lhuri are eagerly awaiting its completion and the children are very much looking forward to it.
Currently in Lhuri there is the shell of five classrooms and two rooms as a hostel for students from other villages. Next year will be two more rooms for the teachers to sleep in and the construction of the school kitchen as well as the roofing of all buildings, floors and a corridor along the classrooms.

Our excellent network is particularly positive and important, both with the local population in many villages and with other foreign organizations (NGO’s) that are active in the Dolpo.

Despite the optically not very nice road construction, a trekking tour to the Upper Dolpo is still a dreamlike experience.
There will soon be a new film about the Dolpo and our projects, which will be completed and published on the website by the middle of the month.

The 2021 school year began on May 1st and ended on the last day of October. The lessons went smoothly and the students achieved very successful results. It is very difficult to direct the school lessons because there is currently no real classroom, school furniture, too few teachers and a lack of good facilities. However, we managed to do it by teaching on the floor of an old building and accommodating the teachers in a house without any facilities. There are currently three well qualified and enthusiastic teachers who are willing to improvise and adapt to new challenges and demands in order to achieve the best for the children.

The school management committee (SMC) meeting was held several times over the past year. All members are very supportive and helpful towards the school. They help us for free and are also very loving and caring when dealing with our students. There were three meetings on school planning, school administration and activities to improve school operations.

For the 2022 school year, all the goods and equipment needed for the school have already been purchased and transported from Kathmandu to Lhuri. And at the same time, the planning for the school building is in full swing. If we get enough wood, there is hope that we will have eight rooms available in autumn 2022.

The village of Lhuri in the Upper Dolpo, between Saldang and Nyisal, consists of the three-village parts Ke, Lhuri and Sungjer, all at an altitude of around 13,000 ft. The school in Lhuri was closed during the civil war in Nepal (1999-2006) and did not reopen afterwards. The government built a small school building a long time ago, but it is now in a very dilapidated condition and is not a safe environment for children’s education.

Dawa Phuntsok, a youth from Lhuri village who attended the school in Kathmandu, recently reopened the school with our support. Last year, 23 students attended the school. Three teachers were available for teaching and supervision. Since the children have not had any regular lessons up to now, there has not been any class assignment. Of the 23 children, 14 children were in the care (nursery) and 9 children in kindergarten/preschool. The plan for 2022 is that 11 children are in care (nursery), 5 children in kindergarten and 7 children in the 1st grade. With each additional school year, the next higher class will be started, so that class 5 can be put into operation in 2026. One additional teacher will be hired each year, making a total of 6-7 teachers.

In the long run, an increasing number of students is to be expected, since the children from Sungjer and Ke are also attending the classes. In particular, the children from Sungjer will sleep at school because it is too far to go home.

We want to start construction of the new school complex in the local architectural style this year and by the end of the year we will have built eight rooms:

• A kitchen
• Two dormitory rooms
• 4 classrooms for Nursery, Kindergarten, first and second grade
• An office room for the teachers

The crucial question is whether we can get enough wood approved for construction. Wood is a very scarce commodity and is regulated by the government.

If everything goes according to plan, we will construct the remaining buildings in the coming year, including the sanitary facilities and a school wall. Then we hope to have enough wood for the interior design, such as the school desks. We may also have to postpone some construction activities until 2024. For this year it is important that we lay the foundation for the new school.

We also fund ongoing operations and have made a commitment for at least 20 years, barring any extraordinary event. The funding of the school building is largely secured, but the annual operation expenses must also be ensured for the teachers, teaching equipment and game materials, food, school clothes and the high transport costs from Kathmandu to Lhuri.

We are very pleased that we can tackle this project, especially because a local and former student from neighboring Saldang, where we finance the winter school, took the initiative.

We would be very happy if you continue to support us with our new undertaking. Thank you for your generosity and your trust in our work.

Another special thank you goes to the architects Ursula Schmid in Munich/Burghausen, who designed the plans for us free of charge and gave us many good tips for the construction.

Despite the sometimes very difficult pandemic situation in Nepal, we will also be able to successfully conclude the year 2021 with our projects. Successful because we have achieved or will achieve all our goals:

• The winter schools in Saldang and Nyisal were closed as planned in March / April for the winter period 2020/2021.
• The food aid project led by the DTCF, with the HUMAN Foundation heavily involved in planning and financing for 700 families, was completed.
• The first partial financing of the school operations in Lhuri in the summer period April to October 2021 also ended as planned.
• The winter schools in Saldang and Nyisal start as planned with the school period 2021/2022.

Despite the not always easy conditions such as the pandemic and the extremely difficult communication with the acting people in the mountainous villages, the interaction with the school coordinators in the three schools, the DTCF as our administrative partner and the HUMAN Foundation as project partner and financier of the projects worked perfectly again.
Thanks to everyone involved.

School construction in Lhuri – main topic for 2022/2023

Nepal currently has very high rates of people who are tested positive, sick and died. The area in Upper Dolpo, in which our school projects are running, has been largely spared so far. For about two weeks now, there has been an increase in the number of cases of illness, some of them severe, with a few deaths. In some villages, 70-80% of families are sick, in other villages it is less. The situation is unclear as there are no test facilities, but also hardly any medical care, although some elderly people have been vaccinated once. At the moment there is no / hardly any vaccine, neither from China nor from India. A corona-related shortage of food in many families will be a major problem in the future.

The reason for this is that due to closed borders (Corona), no trade with Tibet / China was possible either last year or this year. As a result, important foods such as rice, oil and flour could not be exchanged.

Due to the many diseases in the families, the harvest will also be less this year because the fields cannot be completely processed. One of the few sources of income for the Dolpa-pa (that’s the name of the residents there) also ceased this year and last: the harvest of the Yartsa Gunbu fungus. The harvest was banned by the government due to corona risk. The government has delivered rice to some areas, but people are supposed to pay for it. Quite a few families would have to take out a loan without knowing how to repay this loan.

What exactly are we doing to help people?

In order to improve both basic medical care for serious cases and nutrition for the coming winter 2021/2022, we have decided to start an immediate aid program. A list of emergency medicine has been made and the medicines will be shipped as quickly as possible. In cooperation with our project partner Dolpo Tulku Rinpoche, we as the HUMAN Foundation will carry out an aid supply. On May 22nd, by a lucky coincidence, we were able to send important medical equipment to the three small health posts in Upper Dolpo in a helicopter that has just flown out a seriously ill person. There is a health post for several villages that is supposed to provide emergency medical care, but is mostly poorly equipped. In addition, a list is currently being made of which food is necessary for which villages and families. We buy this food and then send it to the villages in Upper Dolpo with a mule transport.

From a medical point of view, we can only help to a limited extent, as the people live too high and far away in the mountains and cannot simply “go to the doctor” (the villages are at an altitude of 4,000 meters). We sincerely hope that most of the residents can cope with this difficult situation with some support from the medical aid delivery. It would be particularly tragic, however, if people then have too little food to strengthen themselves and to be able to survive the coming winter reasonably well. We all want the people in need in Upper Dolpo to be able to cope with this difficult phase with our support.

We do not want to let our friends and the children of our schools down in the Himalayas now.

Preliminary Remark: The villages and the schools in Upper Dolpo are located in one of the remotest mountainous areas in the world and there is no or hardly any phone contact and Internet is not available. This said, we only can deliver detailed reports of the school sessions for our winter schools with 9-12 months delay after the school period ended. We need to give the school coordinator time to write and provide their reports once they come to Kathmandu. Thank you for your understanding.

The winter session at the Shree Yangjer Gumba Basic School in Nyisal started on November 2019 and was completed end of February 2020. The sessions mainly focussed on reading and writing aspects on the three core language subjects: Tibetan, English and Nepali and also served as remedial courses for other subjects and preperatory classes for the students. Beside that, the winter classes serves as the coaching classes for struggling students and also let the students be involved in extra-curricular activities to fulfill their learning needs and well-being. Examples are chess, puzzles, dance lessons, singing and art classes.

A total of 34 students attended the sessions and the students came from the villages of Musil and Lhuri and from Nyisal, were the school itself is located. The winter season has a huge significance for the people of the Upper Dolpo as the annual festival of Sonam Lhosar falls in this season. 

Together with the school management we appointed three teachers and one cook for the winter period. The session was coordinated by Ms. Phurba Sango Gurung, while teaching English to the students. The other teachers Nyima Tashi Gurung and Lodoe Namgyal Lama trained the students in other languages and subjects.

The three teachers differentiated the levels of the students as per their grades and skills. The students were facilitated accordingly. The Tibetan lessons helped students to learn more about social and cultural aspects. All people in Upper Dolpo follow the same culture, so winter classes are always very special for the students and the community in this regard. For graded learning, the teachers grouped the students in beginners, intermediate and advanced skills.

The school is located above the altitude of 3,800 meters, the region experiences heavy snowfall. Here is the daily routine of a school day:

08:30 am – 09:00 am Morning assembly

09:00 am – 12:00 am Morning classes

12:00 am – 01:00 pm Lunch time

01:00 pm – 04:00 pm Afternoon classes

04:00 pm – 04:15 pm Afternoon assembly

At the end of the winter class the teachers conducted an assessment. The evaluation helped in comparing students level. All students made remarkable progress and formed the baseline for the summer classes.

The villagers played the role of guardians during the winter class. Their contribution in terms of materials and other resources were limited. The villagers supported with firewood, potato and other supplies as per their convenience. In general the school was under-resourced and was not capable of proving food to all students. Some students need to get food from their home. This is why we will improve the situation in the future.

The school management is very happy that the HUMAN-Stiftung decided to take over the expenses for the winter school in Nyisal from 2019 on, because the former sponsor was no longer able to support this school. 

Overall we successfully managed the first winter school period and decided to increase the financial support from the winter school period 2020-2021 on. In the meantime, this school period ended and at least we received a very short message that everything went well. Unfortunately we need to wait again for several months. If Covid allows, it is planned that I will visit all schools in Saldang and Nyisal and our new small school project in Lhuri in September 2021.

More details about the school project in Lhuri will follow in our next report.

We higly appreciate your support for our winter school projects. Without your help, the schools would not work in the winter period.

Preliminary remark: Since the schools in Upper Dolpo are remote and there is no or hardly any telephone contact and no Internet, detailed reports on the school periods for the winter schools can only be provided with a long delay. We kindly ask for your understanding. The Winter Schools in Saldang and Nyisal are completely financed by the HUMAN Foundation. The Dolpo Tulku Charitable Foundation (DTCF) is our administrative partner in Nepal.

Before I focus on the 2019-2020 winter period, I would like to briefly provide a current overview of the Corona-situation. In Kathmandu, the Covid numbers are slightly increasing again. There is no lockdown, but the situation is getting worse. However, the Upper Dolpo situation in Saldang and Nyisal is good.
People are still scared about the corona virus but were even more worried in the summer. The autumn harvest was good, and people have enough to eat during the winter. Summer schools in Upper Dolpo began in July, but Government teachers were not allowed to go to Dolpo. So only the private teachers paid by the NGOs like us gave lessons to the students.

Although no corona infection was detected in Saldang, people were heavily affected by the pandemic. Picking the “healing” fungus Yartsa Gunbu was not allowed. Many people did not have a chance to earn some money with it, also because the border to China / Tibet was completely closed. The Dolpa-pa could not trade in their goods. Usually the Dolpa-pa need flour, sugar, butter, tea, clothes and shoes, while they offer their special animal wool and Yartsa Gunbu for trade. The herdsmen had to leave their Yaks in Lower Dolpo because they were not allowed to stay there or wanted to return to their villages.

Overall, the Winter School period 2019-2020 was successful. The session started November 5th 2019 until March 31st 2020 from 9am to 4:15pm. In total 70 students attended (28 boys and 42 girls) from Nursery to class six, two more students compared to the year before. All students came from Saldang village.

During this session 32 students who live nearby the school, stayed with their parents and other 38 students lived in the school. One teacher served as Tibetan teachers, where students were educated about Dolpo cultures, language, and reciting prayers. The other teachers revised the regular main subjects of the summer session, like Math, Nepali language, English, Science, reading and writing. Two kitchen staffs and some local caretakers provided food and took care about the students in the school.

The Winter School Management and the parents were happy with the results and the progress all children made.It is a very promising sign that the same number of students attended the winter school as in summertime.

The School Management Committee found: “The winter school is very effective in keeping our old religion, culture and tradition alive and in developing the knowledge not only of the children in the school, but also of the community. It helps to change and reduce the bad habits. The winter school has also helped to preserve traditions and culture and to keep the experience of the summer lessons in memory.”

As every year, the villagers provided the food for the staff and the students and we pay them for it.

Your donation makes all these happen. Thank you so much.