Active Adventures have been running trekking expeditions in the Himalayas for over three years now. Each season a handful of Active’s New Zealand guides head over to Nepal to work alongside a Nepalese team of guides and porters, helping Active’s guests reach Everest Base Camp, the Annapurna Sanctuary and the remote Mustang region. Having spent a considerable time in Nepal now, learning the culture and the language and spending time in the local villages, Active’s senior guide Dan Keys (DK) has come up with a grass roots initiative to give back.
“After living and working in the Himalayas and spending time in the remote villages of our guides and porters, it became apparent more could be done to help the communities than just sharing gifts and smiles. Active Hearts Himalaya has begun as a small token of appreciation for the kindness and generosity our friends in Nepal have shown.” - DK
Active Adventures is well known for creating a family-like atmosphere both within the office and during their trips around the world. None more so than in Nepal where their New Zealand guides work alongside a legendary team of Nepali guides and porters. Active’s guides DK, Mel, Kate and Duck are welcomed with open arms each season when they relocate to Nepal and this ‘family connection’ is what makes a trekking trip with Active Adventures so special.
Active Hearts Himalaya aims to raise funds to build a library in the small village of Setobaje part of a group of villages called Fhikuri. The village, which is an 8 hour bus ride north of Kathmandu, is home to about 1000 families and 12 of our guides and porters. Many of their children go to the local government-funded school with a role of about 900 students. While the teachers do their best, due to the remote location of the school, it still lacks a library despite being there for about 40 years.
“We have a room made available that we are painting, carpeting, building furniture, reading spaces and bookshelves. Books relevant to the school's curriculum, atlas's, encyclopaedias, history books and novels will stock the shelves. Work is already underway in the school with prep and painting starting. A real buzz is running through the village!” - DK
During the first week of April DK is heading back to Nepal for the guiding season and he will team up with one of our senior Nepali guides, Arjun, to purchase the books and take a truck from Kathmandu to the village to start filling the shelves!
“The Nepalese hold Kiwis in the highest regard thanks to the incredible work Sir Edmund Hillary and others have done. We want to do our bit to help our friends in Nepal also. If you’d like to contribute to Active Hearts Himalaya, you can do so through our Give a Little page.”
To stay up to date with the Active Hearts Himalaya project, keep an eye on the Active Adventures Facebook page. The team in Nepal are planning a community day with students and parents invited, to come and enjoy each other’s’ company and check out their new library.
Active Hearts Himalaya plan to complete one project such as this each year. Active Adventures also supports Sir Edmund Hillary’s Himalayan Trust, with a portion of each guest’s trip cost going towards the Trust each season.