Meet Pemba

Pemba is 9 years old and lives in the remote village of Thame, 3750m above sea level, with mum, dad and her sister.  The family earns a living by growing potatoes and transporting goods with their yaks.

In the 2015 earthquakes, Pemba’s school in Thame was completely destroyed, forcing the school to close for many weeks until temporary classrooms were set up in tents. 

With the generous support of the New Zealand public, the Himalayan Trust rebuilt Thame school and now Pemba and the children of Thame are back at school, in classrooms made safer and stronger than ever before.  In total, the Himalayan Trust built 150 earthquake-strengthened classrooms in 36 villages across the Everest region.

Now Pemba and her sister are benefiting from the Himalayan Trust’s ground-breaking literacy programme, which is bringing important changes to the way reading and writing are taught to young children.  Getting a good start in reading and writing is an essential foundation for future learning, but literacy levels throughout Nepal are low.

Pemba’s mother, Pasang Dhiki Sherpa, says: “Learning to read is so important, otherwise our children will miss out on opportunities. I think it is our responsibility as parents to help our children but before this literacy programme, I didn’t know how to help.”

I can’t read so we didn’t have books at home. Now the children can bring books home from school with them to read. I think encouraging my children to read every day and listening to them will really help them improve.

Pasang Sherpa, Pemba’s mother.

Thanks to our supporters and fundraisers, the Himalayan Trust is opening up new opportunities for children like Pemba by giving them the best possible start to their education.

Sir Edmund Hillary believed that education, more than anything else, has the power to lift people out of poverty. Thanks to you, we can give bright, deserving children like Pemba, the chance they need to build a better future.