THE CHEREM DEVELOPMENT PROJECT
NEPAL
Registered Charity Number 1077121
(Click on any of the pics to see the full size photograph)
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Working in Nepal to:
Maintain and develop a Sherpa community in the Himalaya
Provide education
Improve health
How the Cherem Development Project makes things happen ...
The Cherem Development Project helps the Sherpa village of Cherem in Nepal. Its aim is to put life back into a traditional community that was dying out due to the hardship of their existence in a harsh mountain environment.
Where is Cherem?
Cherem is a Sherpa village of just over a hundred people. It lies within Solo Khumbu, a remote mountain region in Nepal dominated by Mount Everest. There are no roads in this region. Travel is on foot along a network of footpaths. It takes 9 days to get to a main road.
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What was the problem?
Several bad harvests brought the villagers of Cherem close to starvation. Many people were driven away. A lack of education, no healthcare and a culture cut off from the rest of the world had taken their toll. The people remaining in Cherem wanted to do so on a permanent basis, but this was only possible with outside help, to put them back on their feet. Without the help of the Cherem Development Project, the village would eventually have died out.
The solution: A new approach ...
Development work is always in danger of imposing first world ideas and methods onto fragile third world cultures. The Cherem Development Project allows the people of the village to make their own decisions about the best way forward. The Cherem Development Project puts the people of Cherem first by asking the villagers what THEY want us to do.
How is it organised?
As a registered charity, the Cherem Development Project is organised by a small group of Trustees. It was devised and led by Robin Hamer, a mountaineer who visits Nepal every year. This is in partnership with Da Gombu Sherpa, who was born in the village of Cherem, and is the lynch-pin of the Project in Nepal.
Fund raising
The Cherem Development Project links individuals, schools and business with the Sherpa village. It promotes fund raising activities to underpin the village, as it progresses towards becoming a self-sustaining community.
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How the money works
ALL of the money raised in the UK goes to the village. There are no running costs or administrative fees. Everyone who works on the Project does so voluntarily.
The money works on several levels:
It pays for community projects in Cherem such as building the School and Gompa
It buys local skills and materials, putting money into the local community
It buys time. The local people could not spare time from their daily work of growing the food they need to live. The money means they can buy in extra food.
What has it achieved so far?
built a school and school house
built a bridge over gorge
employs two teachers
provides books and writing materials for the school
run evening classes teaching the adult Sherpas to read and write
laid 1500 metres of water pipe to bring running water to stand pipes in the village
built a Gompa (the monastery/community centre)
employs a Buddhist Lama for religious teaching
composting toilets have been built to improve the health of the village
started to introduce new crops to improve diet
families who left the village after the bad harvests have started to return
Current projects
the school, one of the biggest success stories in Cherem, needs rebuilding. The usual local construction methods have proved inappropriate to its use. The villagers are committed to continuing education. Cost: £2,000
trialing solar power to provide lighting in the village houses. Cost: £5,000 for the whole village.
Continuing and Future projects
pay the school teacher's salary and provide materials for teaching and learning. Cost £1,500 p.a.
establish camping grounds in Cherem and on the way to Mera Peak for trekking trade. Cost: £3,200
flour mill to process local cereal crops. Cost: £300
explore new agricultural practice (poly tunnels, new vegetables, fruit trees) to expand the local diet. Cost: £3,300
buy furniture and decorate the interior of the Gompa (monastery/community centre), employing an appropriate religious artist. Cost: £4,800
install a source of power, probably micro-hydroelectric. This would allow the villagers to set up small scale industry such as the production of perfume from juniper berry, or paper from tree bark. The power would also be used in the evenings for heat, cooking and light. This would help the village towards self-sufficiency. Approximate Cost: £40,000
communication, satellite telephone system, providing link to the outside world. Cost: £4,000
What can YOU do to help?
send us a donation (every penny goes direct to Cherem)
invite us to give one of our illustrated talks telling you about Nepal and the village of Cherem
organise a sponsored event, have a car boot or garage sale in aid of the Cherem Development Project
use the Cherem Development Project to help teach your School or class about life in a Nepalese village and sponsor the school in Cherem
ask your company/organisation to adopt the Cherem Development Project as their charity this year
house the Cherem Development Exhibition (recently at the Royal Geographic Society, London)
Please make cheques payable to: The Cherem Development Project
For further information please contact:
Robin Hamer
The Hollies
Gannock Park
Deganwy
Conwy LL31 9PZ
Tel: +44 (0)1492 596959 Mobile: +44 (0)7971 810063
e-mail: robin.hamer@virgin.net
The Cherem Development Project is supported by:
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The text on this page has been copied in its entirety from The Cherem Development Project brochure but not the photographs.