How the 'Treks to Build' began

In 1994 the newly formed Nepal Trust, then without funds or experience, was asked by a village in Humla to help them create a community health post.

The villager’s first request was for money. We had no funds to give and we also felt that just giving cash was not the answer to sustainability but just a way to foster more dependency in the third world.

We asked the community how and what they could contribute to the project. They said, " We have our sky our mountains our families, our rivers and culture and our hands. Bring people who can help and we will share what we have."

It was clear now what the fledgling Nepal Trust had to do and that tourism would be the vehicle to create this remote area's first community health post. A tiny ad was run in two national UK newspapers - the Guardian and the Telegraph - with the hope that we would reach the full spectrum of British society who would then pay to go on a trek to help build a clinic in the Himalayas. The first 'Trek To Build Health And Community' hiked over 120 miles through dense forest, steamy jungles, crossing swollen rivers and 5000m passes in the far West of Nepal where no tourists had trekked before. The 10 participants successfully built the first of the Nepal Trust clinics in Humla in 1995.

In its third year of operation this first clinic in the village of Torpa, treated more than 3000 people, some carrying their sick relatives for up to 3 days to seek the only medical help available in the area.

These days it's possible to fly into Simikot, from where you can trek out to visit the health posts and micro hydro projects over the course of several days.  To learn more about our treks, click here.