Dear friends,

Over a decade after our time teaching in , we did a sponsored walk to raise money to complete the building of a new Himalayan Buddhist Cultural School (HBCS) in Manali. To date, we have raised £220,000 and this is a final push to raise the £80,000 needed to meet our target and complete the project.

OUR WALK

Although not as impressive as the 5 day walk some of the children make to get to the school, we decided to walk for 2 days along the Thames Path from the Thames Barrier (although we couldn't actually get to the barrier, as the path was blocked off on the day!) to Hampton Court (just under 40 miles) on April 9th and 10th 2010 (we've uploaded some photos of the walk).

 

We were joined on the Saturday by family and friends, which was much appreciated, as we were a little weary by Saturday afternoon! We now have some blisters and achy feet, but we were lucky with the weather. We would still like to raise more money towards our target, and we'd be very grateful if you could sponsor us. It's a great cause- read on for more details about the school and the project.

 

A BIT OF HISTORY

To give you a bit of history about the school and this project, the school is for children aged 3 to 16 from remote Himalayan villages and is run by a Buddhist organisation.   Children tend to come from very poor families and they board at the school for 10 months of the year.  The current conditions are very basic with poor sanitation and ill-equipped classrooms. Many of the children are malnourished and suffer from skin infections such as impetigo and scabies.

The HBCS project aims to rebuild the school and work towards ensuring there are adequate funds to make the school self-sufficient and to ensure the longer-term future and well-being of generations of children from this region of the . So far, together with Care Education Trust, we have held numerous fundraisers, including… a 60s Night, A ball, Raffles, Bazaars, Golf Days, Going across land from London to Manali (almost 6,000 miles), a mammoth cycle ride from Greenwich to Cannes and lots more.

 

THE TARGET
Some of you will already have donated money to help us with some of these previous ventures, and to date, we have raised £220,000.  This is the last push, as we just need another £80,000 to meet the final target.

The building is well underway, and the plan is for the new school to open in October 2010, and hopefully His Holiness the Dalai Lama will be there to cut the ribbon!

WE NEED YOUR HELP!

We would really appreciate your support to help us reach our target. If you fancy joining us, that would be brilliant and even better if you could forward this link to your friends too!

Thank you for your support.

Nina, Nadia and pupils of HBCS.

 

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