Hello!

In less than two weeks, I will be embarking on an adventure that will be an experience of a life time and I need your help more than ever!!

My aim is to raise £3000 for SEWA INTERNATIONAL UK – ‘Serving humanity is Serving God’. Their principle role is
• To relieve poverty and disease and help the sick, needy, the weak and those affected by natural calamities, disasters and other suffering.
• To help in the education and training of the poor, sick, disabled and socially backward students and assist them financially.
This organisation is run entirely by dedicated volunteers aiding a variety of projects ranging from relief projects to educational projects, welfare and health care projects. One of the reasons why I chose this project is because that SEWA ensures that every penny goes to victims, therefore guaranteeing that aid gets to everyone who needs it regardless of class, creed, colour or religion.

My trip will be made up of two different challenges. First of all I will be staying in an Aashram (very basic accommodation within a temple) in HRISHIKESH beside the GANGA RIVER. From here I will be travelling to one of the remote schools that SEWA has set up, Saraswati Ekl Vidyale, where normally children would take this 7 mile journey everyday barefoot. Here, I will have the opportunity to shadow the teachers in the classrooms, help them teach the children and encourage the kids to cherish the gift that SEWA has given them. I will also be taking part in other community projects such as building new schools and teaching local communities about basic health and hygiene. From this experience I will gain an insight into exactly where the money that you donate is actually going and how it will be used. 

The second half of my trip will consist of me tackling one of the hardest challenges I will ever face and only a few people in the world have the opportunity to do so......... Trekking up high altitude MOUNT LADHAK located in the HIMALAYAN MOUNTAINS! Mount Ladakh is one of the highest peaks in the Himalayan mountain ranges with a high altitude of 6100m. My journey will start off from Delhi to Manali and then on to LEH the capital of Ladhak region where I’ll acclimatise to the high altitudes and take in some of the most breathtaking sceneries of the world. Then I’ll begin my 7/8 high altitude trek to the summit of STOK KANGRI reaching 6114m! During this time I will not be able to take a shower and at night I’ll be sleeping in tents where temperatures may reach -25oC!!

Thankfully, I will not be alone! I will be joined with a group of students and trained professionals who will be there to ensure our safety at all possible times. We started our training during the Easter Bank Holiday Weekend where we climbed up 3 peaks over 2 days in horrific weather conditions including hail, rain and snow storms, Gale force winds at sub-zero temperatures – a weekend not to be forgotten!! Despite this, we pulled through knowing that ‘each step we take is one step closer to making the change we all want to see’ – a motto we will all take with us to Ladhak!! Since then we have also spent a weekend training in Snowdonia, climbing the highest peaks in the whole of UK!

I will be fully funding the trip myself and all of your donations will go directly to SEWA INTERNATIONAL UK. I am taking up a tough challenge and I ask you to take up a small one by sponsoring me through this website.  All your contributions will help us to make a huge, worthwhile and lasting difference!!

Donating through this site is simple, fast and totally secure. It is also the most efficient way to sponsor me: Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh (Sewa international) will receive your money faster and, if you are a UK taxpayer, an extra 28% in tax will be added to your gift at no cost to you.

So please sponsor me now!

Thank you for all your support!!

Sheema Pankhania

You can visit and join my facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=23050394880 to see more pictures and videos of me and Team Ladhak 2008.
Please also visit www.sewainternational.com