Nepal

LED Project Round Up, Spring & Summer 2025

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Val was back in Nepal from late March to early May, spending time in the Khumbu and Manaslu-Tsum areas which provided the opportunity to review LED projects, to deliver solar lights, medical supplies and school supplies, and to hold eye clinics.

In June, Val heads out to Peru for the summer and will be carrying out LED work in Quishuar and the surrounding valley communities, and meeting the medical students undertaking their medical electives at the health post in Quishuar and Huaraz Hospital.

Nepal

In Khumbu, Val had the opportunity to visit Thame to see the impact of last August’s Glacial Lake Outburst Floods and the work the community is doing to recover from the disaster.

Thame Flood Relief: Val attended a Thame flood relief meeting with the villagers to discuss their ideas, deciding the main focus would be a water culvert diversion programme to protect the remaining village homes and lodges, some repaired and others rebuilt after the flood last August. LED is helping to fund the construction costs.

Thame School: The school building was destroyed by the flooding. The community has decided to repair and reinforce the former community centre between Thame and Thame Teng, which was previously damaged by earthquakes, so that it can be used as the community school. LED is helping to fund the rebuild through the Himalayan Trust.

Val also delivered LED caps to the schoolkids. The caps were Pat Booth’s suggestion to protect eyes from UV. Thank you to Mingmi and Ang Rita for organising the caps.

Thame Health Post: Val met with the community health worker about rebuilding the health post in Thame, the original having been destroyed by the floods. The likely location will be above Thame. In the meantime the health worker is working out of the community building between Thame and Thame Teng.

In Lukla Val had a meeting with Pasang Dawa, chairman of Himalayan Trust, about the health post and other Thame flood Relief projects.

Solar Lights: Val delivered solar lights to folks who needed replacements following the floods.

Next stop Tsum and Manaslu with the Wonky Wombats from Australia who were trekking with Val and delivering solar lights, medical supplies and school supplies.

Eye Clinics: Eye clinics were held in Nile and Chumling in Tsum and Prok in Manaslu. In Bihi, Val and the Wonky Wombats delivered glasses donated by Pat Booth and the Wonky Wombats to Dr Ruit the famous cataract eye surgeon from Tilganga Institute of Ophthalmology who was holding a cataract eye surgery in the area. His team were also teaching local health workers how to test for eye glasses and LED was able to provide eye glasses to his team running the Nubri clinic out of Bihi.

Val was also able to provide sunglasses / eye protection for a team of road workers encountered en route.

Solar Lights: Val and team delivered solar lights and carried out repairs.

Val met with Ang Rita of The Partners of Nepal about the projects LED supports: One Day One Tree and Bung old people’s home. Val and the WWs handed over 2 boxes of medical supplies plus a box of eye glasses and instructions to go to Bung old people’s home.

Big thanks to the Wonky Wombats for all their generous donations, and to pharmacist Chris for the 6 full kit bags of medical supplies.

A big thank you to Mingmi, Tenzi and Daley for all their help on the trips.

Thank you to Dr Kami and Dadoma for all their incredible work and support Thame side.

Peru

Welcome to Cambridge uni medics Franco Magjuni and Riyaad Ali, who’ve just arrived in Lima and will be spending a month in Huaraz and Quishuar at the hospital and health post respectively completing their medical elective.

In July fellow Cambridge uni medic Dan Lloyd-Davies will be coming out to spend a month in Huaraz and Quishuar on his medical elective.

Val will be heading out to Peru later this month and visiting the health post and delivering school supplies medical supplies to Quishuar and solar lights to remote families in the valleys around Quishar still without electricity.

Thank you to Melky and Antonia for their ongoing help with the Quishuar health post and Melky’s perseverance in working with the local government on the construction of the replacement Quishuar water supply and to Juan for providing support to the medics while they are in Quishuar.

We’ll be providing ongoing updates via Facebook at Facebook/LEDCharity and donations are always welcome using our JustGiving page justgiving.com/lighteducationdevelopment.

And don’t forget registration is open for our Annual Fundraiser event this September!

Photos from Thame

Photos from Manaslu & Tsum

LED Projects: Looking back at 2024 and ahead to 2025

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The LED Board of Trustees and Val met in December and discussed projects completed in 2024 and plans for 2025.

In 2024 we combined core projects – solar light distribution, education and health development in the remote communities in Nepal and Peru – with disaster relief following the Thame glacial lake outburst flood in Nepal.

2024 Projects

Peru

We continued to fund the nurse and medical supplies at Quishuar Health Post.

We distributed LED solar lights to 4 new village communities in the Cordillera Blanca, starting a project planned in 2019.

We provided school supplies to Quishuar primary school.

In May the Wonky Wombats joined Val on a trek in the Cordillera Blanca, bringing eye glasses with them all the way from Australia and helping to conduct eye clinics.

Melky carried out repairs at Quishuar Health Post and worked with the village committee to reorganise the water supply for the village, including the supply for the health post.

Nepal

As well as providing school supplies in Thame (Solukhumbu) and Manaslu (Gorkha district), we continued to provide funding to the local school in Thame which enabled them to continue engaging the services of a full time teacher at the school for another year. Following the Thame Flood, all the children and staff are now based at the school in Khumjung.

In August 2024 two glacial lakes above Thame village burst and water, mud, boulders and debris flooded down the valley. The flood destroyed many of the homes and businesses in Thame, the health post and school, autumn crops and winter stores, the hydro electric plant and trails to and from the village. Working through the Himalayan Trust and local contacts we focused on providing funding for initial food supplies and ensuring the education for the children of Thame.

LED partners with Ang Rita Sherpa of The Partners Nepal on their “One Day One Tree” project which focuses on planting native tree species, such as rhododendrons, junipers, birch, and fir, in key areas of Solukhumbu, including Khunde, Khumjung, and Pangboche. This not only enhances forest cover but also delivers critical ecological benefits, such as stabilizing soil, improving watershed health, and creating habitats for local wildlife. Rooted in its collaborative approach, the program has also raised awareness among communities about the vital role forests play in mitigating the effects of climate change.

We also support The Partners Nepal with the running costs of the Elderly Care Center old people’s home in Bung.

Following the floods that hit the Kathmandu Valley in September 2024, Mingmi and Tenzi Sherpa distributed LED solar lights to outlying areas, 1 ½ day’s walk from Kathmandu.

2025 Projects

We’re delighted that Val has already booked her flights to return to Nepal next spring and Peru next summer.

Confirmed projects – there will be others:

Peru

Solar lights: We’ll continue with our project to distribute LED solar lights to 4 new village communities in the Cordillera Blanca.

Quishuar primary school: We’ll continue to provide school supplies each year.

Quishuar Health Post: We’ll continue to fund the nurse and medical supplies, and ongoing maintenance of the building itself.

Quishuar Health Post Volunteers: Three medical students are already confirmed for summer 2025. Val’s planning mobile medical clinics during their time in the Cordillera Blanca which forms their elective placement.

Greenhouses: LED is funding the cost of replacing three polytunnel greenhouses that were stolen from the health post during autumn 2024. The thieves also stole the four greenhouses the villagers constructed having seen the benefits brought by fresh vegetables grown in the health post greenhouses.

Nepal

Thame Flood Relief: Over the course of 2025 we expect to fund further flood relief projects in Thame and to support the communities of Thame Teng (where many families have now moved to) and Khumjung (where Thame school now operates).

Solar lights: During her spring trek in Manaslu and Nar Phu, Val will be distributing lights to more folks from remote communities in those areas. We also plan to distribute lights to more of the outlying areas of Kathmandu Valley that remain without road access following September 2024’s flood.

Mobile medical clinics, eye clinics & glasses distribution: The spring trek in Manaslu and Nar Phu will provide Val and the group with the opportunity to run mobile medical clinics and eye clinics and to distribute more of the reading and long distance glasses provided by Pat and Dave Booth. Khumbu region now has an optician but we plan to run a mobile eye clinic there too.

Thame & Samdo schools: LED will continue support the Thame teacher and provide school supplies for Thame and Samdo schools for another year.

Bung Old People’s Home: LED will continue partnering with The Partners Nepal to support the running costs of Bung old people’s home.

Solukhumbu reforestation: LED will continue partnering with The Partners Nepal to support their “One Day One Tree” project.

Wonky Wombats at Work in Peru

Thame Flood Relief, Nepal

As ever, we’ll be providing ongoing updates via Facebook at Facebook/LEDCharity and donations are always welcome using our JustGiving page justgiving.com/lighteducationdevelopment.

Val and the LED Trustees

“Helping with Glasses”: Eye Clinics in Khumbu

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In recent years, LED has started to carry out basic eye checks in the remote communities Val visits when distributing LED solar lights and medical/school supplies, and while on trek. This has been down to the invaluable guidance and support from “Eye Doctor” Pat Booth who has provided instructions and charts and glasses carefully labelled and packaged.

In November 2022, Pat headed out to Khumbu with Val and a small trekking group. Here’s her write up of the trip.

It was with some trepidation that I agreed to go back to Nepal in November 2022, after missing three years with COVID restrictions. But it turned out to be the best trip ever!

We started off at Chhahari Eco Resort, just outside Kathmandu, as a group of nine trekkers. I got a box of glasses out and showed them all how it works – as most Nepalis and Peruvians have really good distance vision you can give them reading glasses based on their age. The next day four of us went up to Nagi Gompa to check some of the nuns and screen the schoolgirls staying there.

Pat preparing to start eye checks at Nagi Gompa

Then up to ‘Remote Khumbu’ via Lukla. One of our first visits was to the hospital at Kunde. They had some donated reading glasses there already but unfortunately mainly too strong; +1.00 and +1.50 suits most people, if you would ever like to bring some along with you. They had an ophthalmoscope (for looking in people’s eyes) that we borrowed as I had had to leave mine behind because of the weight restrictions on the flight to Lukla. The best thing was the news that they had an Eye Camp coming in the Spring to do cataract surgery, so we were able to advise people to come back then.

Dr Kami, Kunde Hospital

We then went on to Thame where we were treated to a display of Nepali dancing by the pupils at the school. We were then able to screen all the children who were boarding at the school, using an alphabet poster as a chart. Even the youngest children could do this easily – they all had fantastic vision. We had so many helpers we were able to work in two teams.

Dancing, Thame School

In the afternoon we were booked to do eye checks at the Thame Health Post. Again, we were able to work in two teams as we had a retired GP with us who was also able to use the ophthalmoscope. That turned into a long session, and it was getting too dark to see by the end. My scribe was side-tracked by the guides’ and porters’ tales of how many times they had summited Everest and Ama Dablam etc. They would all have been world famous if they had been westerners.

When we were in the more remote areas of the trip, we pretty much did eye checks in every place we stayed. As ever, the people were incredibly grateful for our services. We were all laden down with prayer scarves by the end.

I was re-acquainted with Tsering from my Manaslu trip, when he was a very helpful primary teacher in Sama. Here in Khumbu as one of Val’s team, Tsering did most of my optical translation for me, as well as being my personal porter. From his point of view, he became recipient of my Most Improved Optical Assistant award and graduated to Fully Trained Sight Tester!

The sun is very strong in the mountains and can cause eye damage; Tsering embraced the need for change and we took every opportunity to get people to wear a hat or cap with a brim, and sunglasses if possible, especially for the guides and porters who spent time on snow and ice.

We were in an area near Everest which had a lot of infrastructure supported by The Hillary Foundation, which means there is lots of Wi-Fi – and so lots of mobile phones. There unfortunately seemed to be an associated increase in distance vision problems. So we also encouraged youngsters to follow the 20/20/20 Rule: for every 20 minutes on a screen or device, spend 20 seconds looking at something 20 metres away.

In total we saw over 300 patients, mainly for reading glasses but also some distance, conducted vision screening in youngsters and a basic eye health check. We also distributed some safety glasses (it was alarming to see stone masons at work unprotected) and gave advice to two families whose very young children had squints (not previously diagnosed).

Three of the trekkers also spent a couple of enjoyable hours repairing and servicing some non-functioning solar lights that LED distributes, and we all were amazed by the solar reflecting panels used to boil our tea kettles!

It was such a rewarding and satisfying trip, I had forgotten how much it meant to me to be able to give something back. My heartfelt thanks go to all my helpers, especially the doctor and another trekker who helped me with my Diplomacy Course, as I can be a bit blunt at times!

“Eye Doctor Pat” conducting an eye check

And, of course thanks go to Val and all her team without whose help nothing would be possible…and for all the extra work ‘Helping With Glasses’ has created. In the end, we had run out of glasses, but were able to keep records and hopefully we will be able to send out what is needed next time.

And thanks to my husband who puts up with all the brainache this creates!

LED Projects 2022 – Looking Ahead

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The LED Board of Trustees and Val met earlier this month to discuss projects for 2022.

For the past couple of years, during the COVID pandemic, we’ve focused funds into very necessary ad-hoc projects – in particular food distribution – in the remote communities in Nepal and Peru that we support.

With the expectation that Val can get back to Peru and Nepal in 2022, we are hoping to refocus the charity back onto core projects – solar light distribution, education and health development, and we’ve agreed to fund the following projects:

Peru

  • Funding the Quishuar Health Post
  • Solar light distribution and school supplies (lights specifically in Alpamayo, Piscaraccga and Pischcopampa)
  • Mobile clinic

Nepal

  • Funding the Rasuwa District Health Post
  • Ongoing solar lights and school supply distribution, building on previous years work
  • Funding a teacher in Thame
  • Mobile clinic

As ever, we’ll be providing ongoing updates via Facebook (Facebook/LEDCharity) and donations are always welcome using our JustGiving page.