Sagarmatha home

The home opened on 31 November 2002 in the northeast of Kathmandu at an altitude of 1100m. It is supervised by a local NGO * and under the responsibility of local staff.

Children of Sagarmatha currently welcomes almost 50 children and youngsters. The children generally arrive at the center at the age of 5 or 6. They leave the center at the end of their schooling (18 years old) or later if they pursue their studies.

"Children of Sagarmatha" takes in children with a difficult past; they have either lost their mother or father, or come from large families living in poverty.

The center provides them with a stable life and family environment, as well as a complete education.

To the children, the orphanage is much more of a family than an accommodation center, and they consider Phinzo and his wife Beena as their adoptive parents.


* Sagarmatha Asahaya Sewa Sangh (SASS) 

Situation in Nepal

Nepal is one of the poorest countries in the world. Life expectancy there is 62 years of age for men and 63 for women – figures well below world averages. According to UNICEF, the mortality rate of children under the age of five was 50‰ in 2010 and there were close to a million orphans that year, representing 3,4% of the Nepal population; a figure in constant increase.

The population of Nepal is approximately 28,3 million (2006) with more than sixty different casts or ethnics groups spread out over an area of 147,181 km. The population of Nepal is approximately 28,3 million (2006) with more than sixty different casts or ethnics groups.

Population growth rate in Nepal is 2,30%, well over the world average of 1,14%. Distribution of land and goods is very unequal: 40% of farms exploit only 9% of farmland while 6% of farms exploit over 33% of it. The average annual income per inhabitant is approximately 270 USD and it is estimated that 45% of the population lives under the poverty threshold, with 24% living on less than a dollar a day.

How the center is run

Daily life at the center focuses on two main aspects, family life and education.

Family life
The main objective of this home is to take care of the children’s essential needs, that is, to provide food and accommodation, as well as regular medical check-ups (many of the children suffered from various infections). It also provides a family environment — the children live with the adults that make up the team, and so Beena and Phinzo, who run the place, are considered mother and father by the children. Pasang, their son, is the administration and finances manager.

Education
The other objective of the center is to enable children to complete their studies and, in as much as possible, allow them to pursue higher-level education.

In Nepal, schools go from grade 1 to 12, including two years of kindergarten for younger children.

The older children can choose to do two extra years after their compulsory schooling (college: two years before university). These two extra years satisfy the requirement to study in any university program worldwide.

A day at Sagarmatha home

5 am: Time to get up. In the yard, the children are getting ready for their daily walk to a nearby hill.

6.15 am: The tutor arrives to revise the previous day’s lessons and prepare for the coming ones. The children, though they have different classes, share the same tutor for these revisions.

7.30 am: Once the children’s homework is done and they have freshened up, they play in the yard until their dahl bhat breakfast is served. After breakfast, the children place their dishes in a large tub used for cleaning dishes and laundry.

8.30 am: Time to put on the school uniform. After waiting in the yard until everyone is ready, the children line up and head out in an orderly manner to the Shangri-La school. This public school has about 1000 students and classes are divided into seven periods of about 45 minutes each.

4 pm: After school, it’s time to go back to the center. The children head home between 16h and 17h, except Friday when classes end earlier to leave time for the weekly hair washing sessions. Back at the center, the children change out of their uniform and play in the yard. But before long, the tutor is back to revise lessons for an hour in the dining hall.

6 pm: Once homework is done, the children can finally go and relax in the yard, play hide and seek, ping-pong, basketball, etc.

8 pm: Dinner time. The children line up, ranked by age and enter the dining hall after being called by name. At the table, they say a prayer and then tuck in! Meals alternate between Nepalese, Hindu and Sherpa dishes.

9.00 pm: After the meal, the children play a little more in the yard and then go to bed. Once a week they are allowed to watch TV and that’s an opportunity to go to bed a little later…

The managers of the home

Pasang (Babu) Sherpa is the administration and finances manager. His parents - Phinzo and Beena Sherpa - help him to run the center since it was created in 2002.

The support team includes other employees: junior supervisor, cook, nanny for younger children, kitchen help, driver, accountant and nurse.

For more information on "Children of Sagarmatha"

Visit the website of the association that manages the home :

Sagarmatha Asahaya Sewa Sangh (SASS)

Financial support

To see the names of the organizations which support Sagarmatha's children, please click here.

Their financial contributions are indicated every year in our annual report.