HAPPY HOUR YOGA on September 9th 5:30pm MST on zoom… RSVP for zoom link here

The postponing of my Yoga, Mindfulness & Trekking Retreat in Nepal this fall means a cancelation of the solar project we were going to fund & install. All solar projects have been canceled because of a loss of overall funding due to do the border shutdown from COVID-19 & the impact it has had on the economy. I am hoping to raise money to help build out one of the projects below. I was introduced to the Himalayan Light Foundation through a friend who worked directly with them, installing solar on a school 2 years ago. I assure you that every cent goes to use & benefits the villages greatly.

Below is the info about the Himalayan Light Foundation projects from the project coordinator in Nepal. If you are interested in donating, instead of donating on the Himalayan Light Foundation website, please donate directly to me so it goes to these specific projects venmo: @breallison or paypal.me/ForBreAllison. Also, feel free to reach out directly bre@breallison.com.

Our work in reaching out remote villagers in providing basic health and education facilities using solar photovoltaic. We normally do these Solar Support Projects in the villages where there is either no electricity or irregular electricity.  

The main component of our program is Solar Photovoltaic, we use this solar lighting as its easy to transport in high remote areas, easy to install i.e in a day or two the villagers get electricity, environmentally friendly and very easy to use.  Till date we have supported hundreds of community buildings with solar lighting and thousands of remote dwellers has been benefited by this program. These community buildings (like; village health centers /hospital, community school, mothers group and some monasteries) are very useful and plays a very important role in community development where hundreds of villagers (Women, Men and Children) are directly benefited by one single installations.

Site 1: Gorkha District: The name of the school is Shree Prabha Secondary School  situated in a village called Ajirkot (New name Kharibot) which lies on the North West side of Gorka District. This school was destroyed by the 2015 earthquake and was rebuilt by the Government.

The school is up to Grade 10 with 197 school children. The children age group in the primary section (grade 1-5) is from 5-10 years old. In basic level (grade 6-8) the children age group is between 11-14 and in secondary level (grade 9-10) its 15 to 17 years old.

The school has total of 22 computers, 2 projectors and a printer. But only about 10 or 12 computers, 1 project and a printer are in working condition. The school is connected with hydro electricity but the frequency of power cut is so high which as destroyed many computers and a projector that is why the school has been requesting for solar lighting support so that they can run the classes regularly. The school has 13 teachers (8 men and 5 women).

Though the power requirement based on the number of computers, printer and the projector is very high around 2000+ watt system but based on the number of school children and the computers we are thinking of providing support to around 1200watt solar system with a heavy duty inverter, charge controller and 4 large solar batteries along with other installation materials. This projected system will be enough to run the computers about 3-3.5 hours/day and for other equipment like printer they do need to use it regularly so once a week during weekend will be enough and for projector they can use it for few hours a day. Our tentative calculation shows that we need support of minimum of US$5,800/-. This cost will cover a complete set of solar equipment as mentioned above, transporting the system to the village, installation (solar technician cost) and some other small cost. Attached some pictures of the school activities.

To reach the school we have to catch a local bus from Kathmandu which will take us up to  Bhachowk  bazaar and that would be about 8-9 hours drive then we have to hire a local jeep to reach the school, which take another 1.5 to 2 hours drive depending on road condition. As we have to take the solar equipment with us therefore we are thinking of taking a small pick-up truck to transport the equipment to the village.

Site 2: Lokhim health and birthing center, Solukhambu:

This Health Center lies in a village called Lokhim and the Health center is also named after this village. The village is in South- East side of Soulkhambu and is the main center for Lokhim village itself as well for its surrounding villages like Jubu and also for the adjoining villages of Khotang district. The total population it serves in Lokhim itself is about 2800 people and other few hundreds from the adjoining villages.

The health centers has 6 staff, the daily OPD is about 30-35 patients and in this last six months 36 new born babies has been safely delivered from the center. The centers provides all the basic health facilities but sometimes they receives serious cases which is beyond their level of treatment on such situations they normally refer the patients to the district hospital at Phaplu.

The reach the site we have to take a jeep from Kathmandu which is about 10-12 hours drive to reach a village called Nele, staying overnight in a family home, next day we have to take another jeep from Nele upto river crossing which is about 1.5 - 2 hours steep off road drive. After leaving the jeep, we have to hike almost 6 hours and this hike is up hill all the way to site and from this point we have to potter the equipment to the health center.

For this project we have planned to support about 600 watt system, with two heavy duty solar batteries, one inverter and a charge controller with number of lights, wires, switches and other installation materials. This system will provide 24x7 lights at the health center, it can also run other electronic items like; Nebulizer, Peri light, room heater etc. The cost calculated for the solar equipment, solar technician cost, travel and transport with other small costs comes to about US$3,650.00