FAQs
Some of the most commonly asked questions. For more details, please see our forum.
1. What makes Himalayan Learning so special?
- We are local and grassroots and understand who we are helping
- You can contact us directly and receive replies from somebody who has a full role in the projects
- 100% of your donation goes on the project and is not spent on admin
2. And communication?
Unlike the big charities, you can talk to us, not to a call-centre or a publicist.
3. Why is it so cheap?
We are a grassroots organisation that sources all our supplies and volunteers locally. 100% of your donation goes on the project, not on admin, and your donation covers exactly what we have said, rather than being spent on separate programs. By working locally, we pay rural prices in one of the poorest countries in the world. Whilst we would always like more money, we have decided to offer these items and then the rest is up to you.
4. Can we buy our children gifts?
Yes. We have provided an online shop inside your login space so that you can send you children gifts from £3 upwards. We buy these gifts locally and give them locally because the postal system is very bad and we ask sponsors not to post valuable items.
5. Will I get any kind of report?
When you sponsor you will get a donor space to login to. Once we have allocated children to you, you can see photos of them, of their school, and some details about them. You can also buy them gifts online.
6. What is this about buying gifts?
Most sponsors want to send children gifts, especially at special times of the year, because postage is expensive and there are no postal services in these poorest areas, we let you order gifts for your children from just £3. We deliver locally. You support local products and local business.
7. Can I send letters and gifts to the child I sponsor?
You are welcome to send messages to the child you are sponsoring. But please do not send them gifts. The postal system in the Himalaya is terrible, most items never arrive and there is no address system like in most countries. However, please see question 3 for how we try to help.
8. Can I decide on the gender and age of my child?
Unless you make a specific request, we will send you the details of the child and community in greatest need of your support. Please note - ALL our children are homeless, orphans, disabled, child labourers and so on. Every child is hand picked by a special womens community group.
9. How does sponsorship work?
As a donor, you give £20 a year. This goes to the Himalaya and is used in a multitude of different ways depending on what a particular child needs to get to school. Normally this is provision of equipment, fees and support as well as other things that are listed on the previous page.
10. How long will sponsorship last?
As long as you want. We will work hard to keep education available for as long as possible for as many as possible.
11. What happens if I cannot continue as a sponsor?
If your circumstances change and you can no longer sponsor a child, we will understand. We will, however, need to find another sponsor for the child as soon as we can. So the only thing that we ask is that you please let us know if you decide to end your support.
12. Will I always support the same child?
We cannot control everything, but we will do everything in our powers to keep your sponsorship in continuity.
13. Can I get involved and let my friends and family know about you?
Yes, yes and more yes. This is how we work, by word of mouth from YOU. If you have friends, tell them, if you have a website, put a link to us on it, anything you think!
14. What about international donors?
We are not country-specific. We have donors in Australasia, North America, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia. If you are international, that's no problem. Most of our services are over the internet, and we can normally post you anything else for a very tiny postal charge. We are also working on some alternative language pages, if you can help, let us know!
15. What's this I hear about an award-winning documentary?
That's right, we organised, shot, edited and printed an award winning DVD about life and our project in the Himalaya. We may even let you have a copy!
16. What is the difference between the old £7 and the new £20?
There is a large difference, and it's best shown using the following pie charts: 
The first chart shows the new sponsorship coverage and the second is the old £7 coverage.
16. And the worst?
Whilst we endeavour to do all that we can, some things can only be changed on a national or international scale. It is a fact of poverty that many children can die very quickly, in fact statistically 1 in 20 children in Nepal will die from diarrhea over 24-48 hours. There is also a massive problem with migration, children have to follow their parents in the search for food and money. Both of these problems cannot be solved locally. In the case of death of children, most of the time it will be because we cannot get them to a hospital in time which in many cases are many days walk away. We can only stress that we cannot change this, only governments can change this. We support Make Poverty History.
If these don't answer you question, you can either look on our forum or contact us
Click here to Sponsor
With the first phase of the Jaladevi school renovation scheme completed (see below), the project now moves on to building two new class rooms. More
14th July
**14 July Update** Our new system is half way done. Shouldn't be much longer now. Three months ago we received 32 million fake sponsorship accoun.. More
7th February
Jaladevi primary school has now got a roof over its new classrooms (sorry for the poor photo!)... More
21st November
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