Friday

Everest, A Climb for Peace

The Everest Peace Project is an organization that consists of individuals who have come together to promote peace, teamwork, and cultural understanding. The Everest Peace Project is not a religious organization nor does it have any political agenda. Their mission is to inspire and to show that people from diverse cultural backgrounds and faiths can unite together as friends and accomplish incredible things.

Filmed on location in Nepal, Tibet, Israel, Palestine, Jordan, U.A.E, and the United States, the film chronicles the spectacular journey of 9 'peace climbers' from different faiths and cultures as they climb to the summit of the tallest mountain in the world. The focus is on Palestinian Ali Bushnaq and Israeli's Dudu Yifrah and Micha Yaniv. They come together and set aside their differences to forge a path of teamwork and cooperation to attempt to summit the world’s highest peak. This however, is easier said than done. Their nations have been embroiled in a brutal war for years; each believes they are on the right side of that war and each knows that on Everest the cooperation of your teammate is a matter of life and death.

http://www.everestpeaceproject.org/index.html

Tuesday

Ecotourism and Community Conservation Projects, Sikkim, India

The Ecotourism and Conservation Society of Sikkim works with rural communities and government and non-governmental agencies. Our mission is to implement integrated community conservation and tourism-related development projects. These interventions help rural communities to become self reliant, and to plan and manage their resources...http://www.sikkiminfo.net/ecoss/projects.htm

http://www.sikkiminfo.net/ecoss/about_us.htm

Monday

Greenhouse in Mongolia by American Himalayan Foundation (AHF)

Mongolia, a Buddhist country, suffered for many years under a repressive regime in which hundreds of monasteries were destroyed and thousands of monks killed. The collapse of the Soviet Union brought religious freedom back to Mongolia, but the transition to a market economy has left many people in poverty. Traditional livestock herding has suffered from economic and environmental changes, and local herders and nomads are looking for better ways to support their families.

Fortunately, "ger" (traditional Mongolian tent-house) camps in the Southern Gobi have become a big draw for tourists who are rediscovering the natural beauty and rich cultural history of Mongolia, and can offer a source of income for the herders and nomads who run them. The tourists who stay in the camps crave fresh vegetables. So, the locals saw a good business opportunity and asked AHF to help.

The solution: Greenhouses! AHF has helped build a greenhouse near the village of Bulgan, an isolated but well-touristed community in the Southern Gobi. The results are impressive: triple the crop yields of open sky farming, a hungry market for the harvest, and the locals are learning important new skills. They even have their own brand of tomato!

AHF is helping to bring a viable new way-of-life to the people of Mongolia. Tomatoes today. Economic independence tomorrow. Would you like to help? Click here.

Read more on similar projects on http://www.himalayan-foundation.org/live/page/about and http://www.himalayan-foundation.org/live/page/projects

Wednesday

Cultural Restoration Tourism Project-Chairro Gompa, Nepal

Restoring a 300 year old Bhuddhist Monastery along with the local community, high in the mountains of Nepal that has been damaged by weather and neglect. It contains significant, centuries old wall paintings that are suffering from decay as well as overall structural damage...http://www.crtp.net/

Watch the video - Tourists Rebuild Temple in Nepal, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OVFbzFHCaDg

The Mountain Fund Moving Medical Clinic, Tamang Region, Nepal

A few years ago, when a medical clinic in the remote Tamang district (Karing for Kids) was at risk for losing its funding...http://www.changemakers.net/en-us/node/5621

http://www.mountainfund.org/ has more details on goals and specifics.

3 Nepali Sisters are Empowering Women through Adventure Tourism!

3 Sisters (and its non-profit EWN) utilizes the positive aspects of tourism to create equity for women in society and to bring revenue to the poorest areas of Nepal, while enhancing and protecting local environment and culture from the negative aspects of tourism.

You can read more...http://www.changemakers.net/en-us/node/5637

Tuesday

Tibet Foundation in the Land of the Khampas

This documentary follows the director of the British charity Tibet Foundation during his trip to Tibet in winter 2005, five months after a founding trustee of the foundation visited the projects the charity runs.

Directed by Gilles Blaize, edited by Pema Wangye, filmed by Kab in the former region of Kham, a land of yaks, snow-capped mountains and nomadic grasslands, 'In the land of Khampas' presents the situation of Tibetan people who are now living under Chinese rule and what Tibet Foundation has achieved in the past fourteen years.

If you want to help Tibetans, please visit Tibet Foundation website: www.tibet-foundation.org:

Itinary to the land of Khampas, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aeUEuf2iJ4k

In the land of Khampas - Part1, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k1R8CkihOPk

In the land of Khampas - Part2, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5XWaYzGfQAw

In the land of Khampas - Part3, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eTh09JYNoBM&feature=related

In the land of Khampas - Part4, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_llEp59liAQ&feature=related