Guest Speaker Colin Maber

For many years, Colin and a mate used to take their kids walking (in England) and one day decided to go on a treking holiday in the Himalayas. Their guide took them to some of the most remote areas in the world including the Ladakh area. While staying in one of these remote villages, the asked their hosts about the education of the children. They were told that the children are educated up to the age of 8 at the village school and if the parents can afford it they send their children to a town school. The only way to get there is to walk, and that took 12 days. However that could be shortened to 8 days in the winter by walking on the frozen rivers. Once at the school, the children stay in hostels, so Colin and his friend went to see the accommodation. The hostel for the girls was good, having beenbuilt by a charity but the boys' accommodation was terrible. That was when the "Children in Ladakh" charity was formed and with funding from private organisations, hundreds of fundraising events and Rotary International, the hostel for 400 boys was built about 5 years later.