NEPAL - SHERPA/TIBET PROJECTS
Bouddha, Kathmandu
Sherpa means “people from the east”. The Sherpas are Himalayan people living on the borders of Nepal and Tibet who are renowned for their skill in mountaineering. Their population is about 250,000.
Our Sherpa boys and Tibetan tribal girls are from Buddhist backgrounds, where Buddhist philosophy is mixed with obedience and respect for the spirits. The spirits are believed to inhabit their surroundings and control their world. Therefore, for the people, it is essential to make merit to the spirits. Their villages are primarily up in the hills near the Himalayas, and many of our kids hail from difficult economic and social backgrounds where abuse of alcohol is common.
The boys’ work is based in Bouddha, which is in the Buddhist quarter of Kathmandu, an area famous among tourists to visit. But for our kids, it is simply everyday life. While we are a Christian organisation, we do not operate by criticizing other people’s religions or philosophies on life. Instead, we simply enjoy living under God’s grace and His unmerited forgiveness.
some brief case studies on the backgrounds of our Sherpa/Tibetan people:
Person A (age 12) studies in class 6. Some years back, they shifted from the mountains to Kathmandu. Their father drinks alcohol every day and beats them. The mother is unable to take care of her/him and she works hard labouring at a hospital. Life has been miserable.
Person B (age 11) studies in class 6. The father left them when she/he was just 16 months old. They don’t know where he has gone. Mum then went to the Middle East to find work, but still their economic condition is very poor and mum is unable to provide a good education for her child. Without your assistance, “Person B” would have always stayed in poverty.
Person C (age 11) studies in class 5. Her/his parents are divorced so she/he had been living with mum in a small spare room within a hotel where mum worked. In the past she/he lived in an orphanage, but was unable to stay because of frequent physical illness.
The Sherpa boys’ work started back in 2016 when some members from the Sherpa community came to us and requested that we have homes for young people similar to those that we already had for our Asha Kendra young people in Kathmandu. The Sherpa’s were willing to take charge, care for the boys, and form a board to govern the work. So we agreed to start.
The photo below was taken in August 2025, and shows three of our original boys holding up a computer photo of themselves back in 2016. My, how they have grown! They are in Grade 10 now. Nepal has 12 grades.
Both the boys and girls attend english medium private schools. The government schools are of much lower quality, and it is very difficult for graduates from government schools to gain entry to university. Our oldest girl that we have is just 14 years old, hence on average, our boys are older. We currently have 17 boys and 14 girls staying with us. We can easily add in two more girls when the new school year starts. The older girls are developing good English language skills. Additionally, they are taught piano and guitar. While our boys are engrossed in using traditional Tibetan instruments.
Now we have one boy who has just started a business degree. He is living with his mum, outside of our house at the moment. He comes to visit us often and contributes by being a positive role model and helping the younger boys who are struggling with their homework. In return, we pay his university course fees.
