The Rising KU
The rising KU is an organization that helps decrease the illiteracy rate in the village of KU (a remote village in Upper Dolpa, Nepal, close to the Tibetan border), by providing classrooms, teachers and study material.
In 2018 I met founder and KU native Pema Tzering Gurung. When I heard his story, I was convinced I wanted to document his foundation. Little did I know I had to travel for almost a months by foot to do this. It took a little while to plan, but in 2022 I finally made the trek and arrived in KU to document the school and the kids. I did interviews and followed along with different students.
For more information @therisingkuThe school completely relies on donations,
if you want to help, you can visit their fundraising page
In remote areas like Ku, education is not always a given. The foundation “The Rising Ku”, founded by Pema Tsering Gurung who is from Ku himself, initiated building the local school in 2011 together with the community. The school gets support from the Nepali government, but mostly relies on financial assistance from INGOs, NGOs and individual donors, because government help does not always reach these remote areas.
Now, in 2022, multiple classrooms are built and 7 teachers teach 42 children a broad curriculum in Nepali, English and Tibetan.
Pema (13)
A thirteen year old top of the class student from The Rising KU. She wants to become a nurse, so she can run the health post in her village. There is a health post, but no one is running it, because they don’t have a nurse. Now, if something is wrong, people have to travel for days to seek medical help. She wants to change that.
You can see it’s in her nature to help people. As one of the older students she helps out a lot around the school. Like leading the assembly and help the smaller kids in the school. She also makes sure her father has lunch before she heads off to school. And she has the friendliest smile.
Niyma (13)
Another student that is doing really well in KU village is Niyma. His dream is to become a teacher in his own school one day, so the kids will have a local example to look up to.
He won a poetry competition just before we arrived in KU. And he has the medals to prove it.
Pema Tzering Gurung
Ku native and founder of The Rising KU. When Pema was 5 years old, he was left in Kathmandu to receive education. A small village boy, all alone in a big and hectic city. When he graduated, the villagers of KU came to him, asking if he could teach the children what he learned, because they did not have a teacher. He could have easily said he was living his life in the city now and was doing great, not wanting to go back. But instead he made it his mission to rebuild the school (together with the local community), bring qualified teachers to KU and provide the children with textbooks and warm meals. He made it his mission the decrease the illiteracy rate in KU village. I admire what he did for the village. He is one brave, young hero.
Yak butter tea
During my 4 day stay in KU, I was invited by a couple of people living in KU. Like this sweet man and his granddaughter, who made yak butter tea for me.
