NEWSLETTER NO. 2
June 2021

Dear Supporters

​

Thank you all for your continued support of our program to provide tertiary scholarships to financially disadvantaged young women from the Himalayan region.

​

The last few months has been a difficult time for India with the second wave of new cases of Covid-19 peaking at over 400,000 per day in early May. Thankfully, new cases in are now averaging just under 100,000. The new cases data in Nepal followed a remarkably similar pattern to India but the Covid-19 situation in Bhutan has been much better. With a population of just 800,000 Bhutan has had proportionally low numbers of Covid-19 cases and in April was able to deliver one dose of vaccine to 93% of its adult population in just 16 days! Thus far our scholarship students have generally been safe and well although often their studies have been disrupted due to online classes, lockdowns in accommodation and exam deferrals. 

​

We have commenced our scholarship selection process for new scholarships and have received expressions of interest from 32 young Indian women who are current Year 12 school students within the Tibetan Children’s’ Village network. The students in this cohort mainly originate from Ladakh (NW India) and Arunachal Pradesh (NE India) and their higher education course preferences are largely in health care (nursing) and education (teaching). Final Year 12 exams have been cancelled due to Covid-19, but academic results will be declared based on alternative criteria. At this stage, we still expect to review Final Applications and award a new round of tertiary scholarships to the 2021 cohort in late August or early September.

​

Thanks to the efforts of Carolyn Hamer-Smith, our Director who lives in Bhutan, we have recently established a partnership with the Royal Thimphu College (RTC) in Bhutan. Starting this year, we will annually offer one scholarship to a female student specifically for a four-year BSc Environmental Management at RTC. As with the Himalayan region as a whole, Bhutan faces serious economic and environmental threats as a result of climate change. Our goal is to empower young Bhutanese women from disadvantaged backgrounds by providing
them with the knowledge and skills to help Bhutan address these climate related challenges.

​

All the Directors of HHEF volunteer our time and our overheads are kept low which means that over 90% of all funds raised are available to be spent on our scholarship program. However, we are also conscious of the need to be able to measure the overall impacts of this program. The tangible benefits will be more obvious in the longer term once our scholarship recipients have graduated and are in well paid employment with the potential to make a real difference to themselves, their families, and their communities. In the shorter term, we will attempt to gather information on some of the intangible benefits already accruing these young women such as improved self-esteem, an increased awareness of their rights, and a reduced vulnerability to violence. This is a work in progress for now, but we will keep you posted.

​

Thanks again for all your support.

​

Kind regards
Peter, Carolyn, and Letitia