Why education?

We believe that improving education is the single most effective way of helping people to build a better future for themselves and their region. Better educated people who understand the local situation will be able to make greater use of any opportunities offered.
Furthermore, by investing in education, much can be achieved for relatively little money.

Why children?

It would be much harder to achieve the same benefits through adult education. Most adults in the region work long hours to earn a living for their families. Since most will have received little formal education in their youth they tend not to see any benefit in education for themselves and would be unwilling to sacrifice their limited free time to study. However, they too realise that the future rests with their children. We hope to reinforce this belief, and to allow them, through our financial contributions, to keep their children in the education system for longer.

Why people from the Duble area?

Our interest in this area arose by chance, during our trekkings we met several people from this area. My personal interest to help arose during my first hiking trip in Nepal, in 1997, when I suffered an attack of altitude sickness. Kame Sherpa, one of the porters in the party with some English (and a native of Duble) helped me to make a safe descent and accompanied me for another week on the walk back to base. We stayed in touch and during my subsequent visits to Nepal, he introduced me to the people in his village. More about this in the associated web pages describing my various trips to Nepal and illustrated with the pictures I took on those trips.

Why a formal foundation?

While it's easer to contribute to an existing aid organisation, setting up our own Foundation allows us to address the needs of our target group much more directly. It also provides better assurance that our donations are spent, now and in the future, in accordance with our original vision. When you have personal contacts with the people to whom you give your assistance and become aware of the beneficial effects of your contribution it will spur you on to do even more for them. However, we realised that by setting up a foundation, more could be done than we could hope to achieve as individuals. Furthermore, government recognition as a charitable foundation, the so-called ANBI Classification (literally an organiation classified as for the common good), presents considerable taxation advantages which in turn allows for more aid. Another reason is that we feel that any children that we help to enter a school in Kathmandu should have some confidence that our support will not prematurely be withdrawn. With our sponsorship goes a duty of care for these children that may well extend beyond our own lifetimes. The establishment of a formal foundation appears to be the most suitable way to achieve this end.

Why start a web site?

1. Through these pages we aim to show that it is not difficult to provide people with effective aid.

2. We hope to find like-minded people who will also want to help the people of Nepal. Most people in Nepal live below the poverty line. Average annual incomes are between 250 and 300 euros. The maoïst revolution was a direct consequence of this poverty. We would like to assist the people we got to know to raise their standard of living and we are not too proud to ask others to help us in this.

3. Since my first trip to Nepal in 1997 I've visited that country at least once a year for periods up to 6 weeks at a time. During these visits I took thousands of fotographs and recorded many hours of video film. I started using a digital video camera in 2000 and in 2003 I also made the step to digital photography to replace conventional slides. Until now this material has not been published anywhere except for a limited exposure through the advertising material from the Nepalese travel agency MultiAdventure in Kathmandu whom I gave free access to some of my output. By now posting a selection of these images and video clips on the web, occasionally with some explanatary notes from my diaries, I hope to attract visitors to this site who will then become interested in the people of Nepal and will perhaps even wish to assist us with the work of our foundation. We will be delighted to hear from you.
I haven't decided yet whether to make much use of on-line videos on this site. The adoption of HTML5 makes this decision a bit easier, because I like to keep this site in such a form that it can be used without an internet connection. Publication on YouTube has certain advantages, but for me it may be more satisfactory to distribute selected videos on DVD. I might end up with a mixture of the two media, because YouTube is also an important medium for advertisements. Concerning the progress of this site you must know that for me this site has become a hobby project too, by which I like to learn as much as possible.

Why did we create a multi-lingual site?

The English version of this site is aimed not only at the obvious audience in the English speaking countries of the world but also at the people of Nepal itself. (Our inability to speak let alone write in Nepalese is another factor).
Tourism is the main source of income for the country so a knowledge of foreign languages and in particular of English has become a prerequisite for success in further education as well as commerce. The proportion of people with a working knowledge of English is rising fast. The children we are sponsoring to attend a school in Kathmandu are being taught English and it is nice to know that they will be able to check this site and be able to warn us when we inadvertently include some incorrect material.
The latter goes for any other readers as well; please advise us of any errors of fact that you notice on this site.

While access to the internet is still quite rare in the Nepalese country side, progress is being made through the introduction of wireless CDMA communication equipment which allows for relatively cheap internet access particularly during off-peak hours. The situation is of course much better in the cities where cyber shops are becoming common place.

Through our contacts with our favourite Nepalese travel agency MultiAdventure, which in collaboration with Diamir Erlebnisreisen, is well established in the German market, we are aware of the great interest in things Nepalese in Germany. This inspired us to build a German version of our site as well.