Ten Friends reaches out to Sisters community

For years now the Ten Friends charity, established by teachers Rand Runco and Mark Lamont, has reached across the globe from Sisters to Nepal.

Ten Friends has provided stretchers for the transport of the injured in the rugged mountain country; worked on water projects; supported some of the country's many orphanages; and promoted the education of girls.

As part of that program, Runco and Lamont have taken Sisters students to Nepal to work with them during the summer - an experience that has profoundly affected the outlook of those Sisters youths.

Last Saturday, Ten Friends hosted a fundraiser to support the Himalayan Education Center in the northeastern Nepal village of Khandbari. HEC is home to 14 girls who aspire to be teachers. These girls, with the financial support of Ten Friends, are living in a hostel in Khandbari and attending a small university there.

"Their villages are six, eight, 10 days away from the university, so we house them," Lamont told The Nugget.

Electricity is spotty, especially when the water to turn a nearby turbine drops in the dry season. So Ten Friends has installed a solar system with an inverter so the HEC has lights to study by.

And study the girls do.

"It's a pretty rigorous program," Lamont said. They're bright girls, but it is very challenging for them to succeed there."

The girls make a pact with Ten Friends that they will become teachers and return to their villages to provide quality education. They're almost always the first female teachers their villages have ever seen.

It costs roughly $1,200 to support each student - and that's where the funds from Saturday night's event will go.

Attendees made a donation of $10 at the door and shopped amidst a long table full of goods from Nepal. The evening was capped by a paddle raise for direct donations to the program.

Kimberly Gorayeb was on hand to support the program. She became involved after her son Will Saunders made the trek to Nepal last year.

"It was such a life-changing experience for William when he went to Nepal," Gorayeb said. "He talks a lot about how the people have nothing, but they're so giving, so welcoming."

The trip made Saunders aware of the critical importance of sources of clean water, one of many aspects of life youth growing up in the affluent world take for granted. He plans to go into environmental studies to pursue work in that field.

The experience gave Saunders both a sense of connection with and compassion for the people of Khandbari and a sense of gratitude for the quality of life he enjoys in Sisters.

"Seeing this in him has made me want to get involved," Gorayeb said.

To learn more about Ten Friends visit http://www.tenfriends.org. Secure donations can be made through the website and they are much needed to continue to sustain the Himalayan Education Center.

Author Bio

Jim Cornelius, Editor in Chief

Jim Cornelius is editor in chief of The Nugget and author of “Warriors of the Wildlands: True Tales of the Frontier Partisans.” A history buff, he explores frontier history across three centuries and several continents on his podcast, The Frontier Partisans. For more information visit www.frontierpartisans.com.

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