June 2023 Trustees Visit to Nepal – Official Opening Community Health Clinics
Trustee Margaret Stocker visited Nepal and was a special guest at the opening of the Patle Community Health Clinic in the Okhaldhunga District and the Rural Pike George Hunter Clinic in Goli, Solukhumbu. The latter named in honour of our Founding Trustee George Hunter.
This is in conjunction with our partner organisation, the Himalayan Trust Nepal.
The clinics are providing a much needed central location for the people living in the remote villages in these districts to visit trained nurses and other health related professionals to receive medical services.
June 2022 RIP George Hunter – Founding Trustee
Sadly George Hunter, one of our founding Trust members and visionaries passed away in May at the age of 90. George was instrumental in establishing the Trust and continued to work tirelessly to improve the lives of the people in the of the Okhaldhunga and Solukhumbu
districts. In recognition of George’s devotion, in 2018 a Health Clinic was named in his honour in the town of Goli, Solukhumbu. The George Hunter Health Clinic, provides general health services to the local community. It is supported by the Forgotten Sherpas of Nepal Trust in-conjunction with the management of Himalayan Trust Nepal. George was a very humble man devoted to a life of service. His legacy will live on with the continued work of the Trust including supporting activities such as the George Hunter Health Clinic. Our heart felt thanks and acknowledgment to George’s wife, Kay for supporting George’s passion for the Trust over the last 12 years and our condolences to Kay and the Hunter family.
August 2021 COVID Support for Nepal
We have been raising finds to assist and support our Health workers and communities in Nepal. If you want to give a specific donation for this purpose please read the information in the link below.
We have already made a donation of NZ $2500 which has been used to purchase urgently needed medicines and Covid preventive materials for the Health clinics we support in Nepal.
October 2020
Check out our Sherpa Shop located at 56 King St Temuka.
Hours : Open Most Fridays and Saturdays 10am 2pm.
Donating Goods: If you want to donate goods please send us a message or contact either Margaret or Colleen.
Your support is making a huge difference providing medical supplies and services to the nurses and villages we support in Nepal
Look for our brightly decorated shop sign in Temuka
A wide variety of goods to buy. Donations very welcome. Please talk to us.
This shop is raising funds for Nepal. Thank you for your support South Canterbury.
22 November 2018
Our Trustees were out in force when we recently had a successful fundraiser at the Geraldine Arts and Plants Festival. A $1000 was raised for our work in Nepal.
Trustees George, Colleen, Russell and Margaret put on their best sales hats and our founder George also acted as chief coffee maker for the day.
We had some extra assistance from a very special young man Luca, who helped us sell raffle tickets.
These events do not happen without a lot of support from our wonderful South Canterbury community. Special thanks goes to the Geraldine Tramping Club Members and other folk who provided baking, plants and donations for raffles. Also special thanks to Ron Cations for his ongoing support.
6 August 2018
We are pleased to announce that the Forgotten Sherpas of Nepal Trust will be working in partnership with the Himalayan Trust Nepal. We are are delighted to be associated and working with such a respected organisation. The Himalayan Trust was established by
Sir Edmund Hillary and we are proud to be following, in a small way, in his big footsteps.
This partnership will help ensure the sustainability of our project work in Nepal. This is the first time Himalayan Trust Nepal have formed a partnership with a small New Zealand trust.
The Trust will continue to fund the Health Service in the Okhaldhunga district and the newly established mobile health service in the remote villages of Goli Gumba and Maili in the Solukhumbu district.
The Himalayan Trust Nepal will manage the day-to-day logistics required to operate the health services.
29 July 2018
Donations now have NZ tax credit status. George has been working very hard and as a result we are pleased to announce that we are now recognised as an approved donee organisation for NZ tax purposes. If you are a NZ tax payer, 33.3333% of any donation over $5 you make to the Trust, can now be claimed as a tax credit. This is effective from the 1st April 2018. Please refer to the NZ IRD website for more information on how to claim donations.
Donations used to assist with training nurses
We are pleased to announce that the Trust has sponsored the training of Tukuni Sherpa. Having successfully passed her nursing exams, she is now working as a nurse for the Mobile Medical Health Unit. Previously Tukuni had been providing administrative support. Congratulations Tukuni and thanks to the donations we have been able to provide training to help improve local skills.
Margaret and Colleen have returned from a very successful trip reviewing the Health Centres and the work the nurses are doing. This includes taking medical supplies to the villages and discussing with the locals what and where we can best meet their medical needs. The population of the villages changes and regular review is requried in order to provide efficient services.
31 March 2018
Your Donations DO make a Difference Update on Clean Burning Stoves and Chimneys Project – watch a short video showing the results – Project 2017
18 March 2017
A big thank you to the team at Survive Rock, Water, Air for organising an evening in Lyttelton – “Stories Without Borders”. We heard from 7 inspirational Doctors, stories that challenged our concept of adventure !!! It was a great night and the Forgotten Sherpas of Nepal Trust are grateful for the support and encouragement for the work that we do in Nepal.
10 March 2017
We have Official Status in Nepal – Our trust is pleased to announce that we are now formally recognised by the Nepal Social Welfare Council ( the Government Department responsible for the supervision of all NGOs and INGOs in Nepal ) and our project is also registered with the Okhaldhunga District Headquarters. This formally recognises the Trust’s work in Nepal and will give us more opportunities to provide long term project assistance.
Sponsorship – Jill Worrall – The Trust is pleased to officially welcome our latest sponsor Jill Worrall. Jill lives in Timaru, New Zealand and is an international tour operator and manager (Jill Worrall Tours) with a special interest in development projects. We are very grateful for Jill’s support.
7 March 2017 Clean Burning Stoves and Chimneys Project. Our Trust has been busy working on arrangements for the next exciting project in Nepal. The April departure date is getting close for a team of intrepid adventurers who are going to Nepal assisting the Sherpas to install clean burning stoves and chimneys in Damar and surrounding villages. The stoves are currently being built and assembled in Nepal and will travel with the team to the villages. In consultation with our Nepalese friends, the stoves are designed to meet the locals needs by providing a robust cooking platform and heating requirements. Villagers are soon going to be able to say goodbye to smokey houses.
30 April Photos of damage to Dhikure School and nearby houses
28 APRIL 2015 CATASTROPHIC EARTHQUAKE IN NEPAL NAMASTE . I have just received word from Ngima, One death from one of our villages in Nalidanda. A villager working with a trekking group in the mountains. Although communication is currently difficult in the remote areas we are working in Ngima has managed intermittent communication. To date it for sure sounds like most houses are damaged with cracks throughout, and a large number destroyed. Villagers are building bamboo shelters, usually built to house their animals. Many are fearful of going back into their unstable houses due to after-shocks. Our trust is working to raise funds to enable villagers to re-build prior to the monsoon season which is fast approaching in the next few weeks, apparently earlier than usual. Dhikure school has received big damage. One of our health clinics in Damar has been re-located to another house with less damage. Om mane padre hum. Marg stocker 27 APRIL EARTHQUAKE UPDATE As Nepal crumbles further with aftershocks, it saddens me to see on the news the absolute shambles and destruction these people are dealing with. Having a love of the people and country and with our project work over 5yrs and several trips to Nepal our Sherpas of Nepal Trust’s concern is for the remote area we are working in. Being so remote I believe direct aid will not be filtered through to these areas. Having word from Ngima our guide there has been no loss of life, that he is aware of but the solar lighting systems are damaged and there is concern about water scheme integrity . Dhikure School has sustained substantial damage too. If you would like to make donations to our Trust’s fund your donations would begin the re-build for our villagers life. Life is challenging enough in these remote areas with no roads, two days walk from the nearest town and infrastructure almost non-existent. Click “become involved” for bank details to donate or contact any of the trustees .Your support is greatly appreciated. October – November 2014 Marg Stocker and Colleen Winnington returned to Damar. Our goal was to review the Health Service, to meet the team of nurses and review how the service is accepted and operating. We visited each of the villages from which the clinics operate, holding meetings with village people . Each village formed a committee to support the nursing team and giving ownership of the service to the people to help ensure its long term viability and sustainability. The people are very grateful to be able to access health care locally and at a cost they can afford. While in Nepal we met with Dr Mingmar Sherpa who, under the umbrella of Himalayan Health and Education Solu Khumbu (HHESS), oversees our health service. We also checked on how our solar systems and water schemes are operating. All are functioning well and we identified more homes that desperately need lighting and/or clean burning cooking facilities. It was truly rewarding to see how our projects are improving the health and well-being of these Sherpa people who live in such a remote area where the tasks of everyday living can be very arduous.
January 24th 2014
OBITUARY:
NGIMA SHERPA´s ELDEST SISTER DALI DIED just after giving birth to her 6th child – a baby boy, on Monday night, 21st January in the village of Damar.
I must share a sad story on behalf my dear friend Ngima Sherpa, native of Damar, who lost his eldest sister Dali – she was just 41, just shortly after giving a birth to her 6th child… Dali gave birth in A local “Bethlehem”, in a very modest house of middle-aged conditions, being assisted by her relatives and friends… the baby-boy was safely brought into this world and the mother had just a very short time to enjoy him… shortly after, she claimed a strong pain in her chest and within few minutes died…
Dali (centre) with her Mum and brother Ngima Sherpa
Remote villages of Nepal cannot provide any proper medical assistance, poor region has no chance to help to save the lives… In our spoilt culture full of waste and surpluses we are all mourning about our “poor politics, poor salaries, bad jobs and all kinds of unsatisfied policies…” LOOK OVER THERE !!! The only policy in life is caring family and children – new generation of possible suppliers of a better life for the rest of all the clan. Dali died, and for sure she will get into a kind of Buddhist heaven. Everybody, who got in touch with the life of remote people and even shortly shared their lives on the hills and during their forced labour migration in our “civilized” world, would agree, that the respect, honesty and sharing-caring of these people greatly exceeds our individualistic closed and limited worlds of so – called modern “values”. If it was well taken care of Dali, she would be probably happily nursing her child now… Tomorrow, she will be burnt on the hill above Damar… God bless you, Dali ! With the sincere sorrow, Lucia Benická – Slovakia “Pujah for my sister Dali will take place in her village next week. All family will be there… Ngima”
