Santa came early this year…
If you read my previous blogpost, you saw I sell postcards in favour of The Girls Hostel in Spiti Valley, India.

Santa decided to help the girls! Instead of selling the cards shown above for €15 each, he gives you three cards for that same price. A good offer, isn’t it? Thanks a lot, Santa!
If you want to order them, check all the info here and use the pay button.

If you are more into donating €1, €5, €50 or €5.000.000, that’s possible too. Use the pay button below and enter under the question ‘Do you want to leave me a note?’ ‘gift The Girls Hostel’. Although there is mentioned ‘Purpose: trien trapt fundraising’ the money goes to The Girls Hostel in Kaza because you mentioned ‘gift The Girls Hostel’ before. Be aware that your contribution is not tax-deductible.

…
In the mountains of Himachal Pradesh, in Spiti Valley, Kaza, I met Karanbir. He’s the owner of the cosy Deyzor hotel where cyclists can stay for free. In his hotel, the walls are covered with books, pictures and inspiring texts. One of those texts was about ‘The Girls Hostel’ in Kaza. It caught my attention.

The Girls Hostel is a hostel for 17 to 18 years old girls from all over the stunning Spiti Valley who want to study in Kaza but are living too far from this small town and don’t have the money to rent a flat. Neither do they have relatives who are living there.
It’s Lhamo’s father who started this project. Experiencing the problem himself he started the hostel with all his savings. Once Lhamo (here together with her beautiful grandmother) finished her studies she followed the good example of her father and started working as a volunteer for the hostel. Seven days a week, from the early morning till late at night she’s doing her utterly best to make it as good as possible for the girls. In five years she hasn’t taken one day off, always there to serve the girls. My respect for Lhamo is huge. She’s the most altruistic and inspiring person I’ve ever met.

Lhamo’s cousin Lobsang is mainly taking care of the after school education. He’s a funny, very skilled and intelligent fellow. He’s teaching computer science and Bothi, the local language.

Right now, they need rupees, tons of Indian rupees. The owner of the building decided to sell the house where the hostel is accommodated. As Kaza becomes more touristic the house can yield more as a hotel than as The Girls Hostel.
I really hope they can raise the money which is needed for buying the building themselves. Otherwise, all the effort Lhamo, her father, her cousin Lobsang and so many other volunteers are putting into it, will be gone.

A girl making boiling water

The girls are helping all around, here by doing the dishes

Lhamo preparing the food

I’ve created a website and will create a fundraising page for the hostel (soon more details on The Girls Hostel page on this blog and on the trientrapt-Facebook-page). I really hope that all of you are willing to donate a little bit (or actually a lot ;)) to help Lhamo, her father and Lobsang achieve their dream: giving Spiti girls a nice future thanks to good education and a place to eat and sleep.

Thanks a million!
A merry Christmas and a lovely 2018!