In 1997, Tashi Gurung and David Bidwell, with the help of Mr. Hubert Secretan and the Greendale Foundation of Guernsey, established the Himalayan Children’s Foundation (HCF) as an NGO in Kathmandu. The children were initially accommodated in the home of a teacher. After meeting on a trek to Mustang in 1999, David Bidwell and Micheline Kramer, of Winter Park, Florida, decided to work together to expand HCF in Kathmandu. Their Love of the country and the people of Nepal planted the seed that eventually would become the Kailash Home. What began with 6 needy children líving in rented quarters grew slowly to 30 children by 2002. That same year Bidwell and Kramer co-founded the Himalayan Youth Foundation (HYF), it has 501 C 3 foundation status, with headquarters in Florida (USA) in order to raise the funds needed to further its impact. That same year, Mountaineers for the Himalayas Foundation (MHF) entered into contact with HYF and HCF, beginning its cooperation with the Kailash Home. In May of 2010, MHF took charge of the Kailash Home’s overall management. The project’s goals are to:
- locate orphaned, poor or helpless children in the most remote mountain areas of Nepal and to provide them with a quality education in Kathmandu,
- provide protection and support for the children in a home run by HCF,
- provide medical and general support for the children,
- give the children an education so that they will be self-reliant, and
- give the children instruction in various arts and music,
At present, the Kailash Home is educating 100 boys and girls. In 2009, Ang Kami Lama became the first boy of the Kailash Home to begin university studies. Our boys and girls are enrolled in four of Kathmandu’s best schools:
- YHBHS
- Marasanovar Primary School
- Namgyal High School
- Trinity College
Each student is maintained by a sponsor who undertakes to finance his or her education for a renewable period of six years. Sponsor a child HCF is the on-site manager of the Kailash Home, assuring a pleasant atmosphere and encouraging personal contact between sponsors and students through written correspondence and e-mails as well as periodic reports on the students’ progress at school. It also encourages the children to take part in extracurricular activities such as dance, orchestra, choir, swimming, climbing, excursions, computing, etc. Aside from all this, four part-time tutors are available at the home to help the children with their homework, and two staff music teachers give them classes in modern music and Nepalese and Tibetan traditional music.
