NEPAL ONE DAY AT A TIME
170 Odin Rd. , SilverStar, BC V1B 0S5
Patti Shales Lefkos – President: Nepal One Day at a Time
Registered British Columbia, Canada non –profit S-0063498
May 2026.
Mission Accomplished
Thanks from principal Ratna Prasad and the students at Bhatte Bada.
DECEMBER 2025 NEWSLETTER
NAMASTE FROM SILVERSTAR MOUNTAIN
You are receiving this newsletter as you have expressed interest in and/or provided generous financial support for our society or purchased a copy of NEPAL ONE DAY AT A TIME One woman’s quest to teach, trek and build a school in the remote Himalaya.
As you know, in 2023 Barry and I completed a four-month long trekking adventure in Nepal. We completed 800 km over 75 trekking days. Thanks to all who followed our journey on Facebook and chimed in with support and encouragement.
NEW BOOK BEING CONSIDERED BY PUBLISHERS. WISH ME LUCK!
NEPAL IT’S NEVER TOO LATE, Redefining Love, Connection and Personal Resilience on The Great Himalayan Trail, recounts the joys and challenges of our 800 km trek and serves as a sequel to NEPAL ONE DAY AT A TIME. Look for it in 2026.
SUMMER 2025 FUNDRAISING
From several speaking engagements presenting our story, NEPAL IT’S NEVER TOO LATE, generous donations from friends, book and photo art card sales in May, June, July and August, Patti and Barry raised more than $7,000. Special thanks to my friend Mary Jackson for creating another fabulous PowerPoint with my photos.
KACHENJUNGA TREK POSTPONED
Political unrest in Nepal, flight cancellations, extreme weather conditions in both Hong Kong (our stopover destination) and in Nepal and difficulties with travel insurance caused us to postpone our trip until September 2026.
LATEST PODCAST APPEARANCE:
I had fun chatting with Beverely Glazer, Montreal-based host of the podcast Aging with Purpose and Passion. Here are the links if you care to listen. Comments welcome. Don’t worry. It’s short and sweet. A lot like me!!! Spread the word.
Spotify https://open.spotify.com/episode/6DCohwXgFyEj1KuKnO2P5K?si=ovZrljZXRtyL64B_w_vdfg
BHATTE BADA SCHOOL UPDATE
You may remember that during the first few weeks of our trek in western Nepal, we camped on the grounds of a primary school, Kindergarten to grade 5. Bidd Jyoti Primary is in the village of Bhatte Bada. Principal Ratna Prasad and many local students welcomed us. We discovered they had NO LIBRARY BOOKS so decided to provide some support. Thanks to a donation from Kingston Rotary, Ontario, they now have the beginning of a library.
NEW DONATIONS FOR THE BHATTE BADA SCHOOL
Heartfelt thanks to the Interact Club students of WL Seaton Secondary School in Vernon, BC for their generous donation of $1,000 CAD and Kingston Rotary, Ontario for a second donation of $1,400 CAD. Principal Ratna Prasad has sent a detailed wish list of supplies needed for his school. As the total surpassed these two donations, funds will be added from the Nepal One Day at a Time Society account to bring the total donation to $6,000.
Excited to report that as I write Ratna is in Kathmandu where our friend and guide Rajendra Neupane is taking him shopping with the donated funds. Photos to follow in the New Year.
SCHOLARSHIP STUDENTS
Nepal One Day at a Time Society will continue support of Shabuj Neupane, scholarship student, the son of our guide Raj and his wife Rojina. Shabuj is now eleven years old and in Grade 6. At school he loves spending time with friends and competing in quizzes. Outside school he enjoys art and travel to his father’s village. Raj and Rojina will support Sabisha, their seven-year-old daughter
Raj comes from a small, subsistence farming village in Gorkha. He and Rojina and the children live in Kathmandu. Raj works extremely hard as a guide non-stop during the trekking seasons. However, during the coldest winter months and also during the monsoon season, mid-June to mid-September there is very little guiding work. Raj expresses gratitude for the enhanced educational opportunities for Shabuj. WHAT’S NEXT?
STAY TUNED:
For Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/APRIKVILLAGECHILDREN for photos of Raj and Ratna shopping for school supplies in Kathmandu and later when supplies reach the village school.
HUGE THANKS to all who have purchased, read, told friends about my first book NEPAL ONE DAY AT A TIME and invited me to speak in person and on zoom. Please consider asking your library to stock the book and my second book GROUNDED BY GRANITE, or order a copy from your favourite independent bookstore, or Indigo or Amazon. As you know all profits support our projects in Nepal.
ATTENTION BOOK CLUBS: If your club is reading one of my books, feel free to invite me to Zoom in for a free Q and A session with members!
FUTURE GOALS include providing a fourth home in the Aprik area and continuing to support deserving students with scholarships.
DONATIONS are always welcome. To receive a tax receipt, go to https://www.canadahelps.org/en/ Search for Afretech Aid Society. Go to their drop down menu “Apply Your Donation…” where you will find NEPAL ONE DAY AT A TIME.
NO TAX RECEIPT REQUIRED? For smaller donations etransfer directly to pattilefkos@shaw.ca.
Thanks also to our sponsor NYA – EVO backpacks for funds donated to Swiss Chairty Sambhav Nepal Schweiz for the use of Nepal One Day at a Time Society projects in Gorkha.
Heartfelt thanks for your continued generous support.
Wishing you health and happiness for the festive season ahead and in 2026.
Patti
Supporting Education Health and Home Building in Gorkha, Nepal
Trekking, teaching or building a school
in NEPAL
it’s best to take it
ONE DAY AT A TIME
On April 25, 2015 Nepal was struck by an earthquake with a magnitude of 7.8 on the Richter scale. Approximately 9,000 people lost their lives and 22,000 were injured. Gorkha District was the epicenter. Hundreds of families lost homes and loved ones. Schools were destroyed. The process of rebuilding is slow and expensive.
Hundreds of Nepali children still don’t have schools with adequate furniture, basic school supplies, art supplies, libraries, electricity, lighting, computers or playground equipment.
Your donations can help us change that, but there’s still more to do.
Supporting education, healthcare, and homebuilding in Nepal
At Nepal One Day at a Time we partner with Kathmandu-based NGO Sambhav Nepal to build and equip schools and latrines, and build homes for those in need and assist with healthcare initiatives. We also provide scholarships for deserving students to access quality higher education in Gorkha or Kathamndu.
Schools: With the help of Kalamalka Rotary Club of Vernon, British Columbia, eight classrooms were completed at Devi Jal Kumari School in Aprik village. Students were able to move from the post-earthquake shelter school into new classrooms in 2018.
Sanitation: Toilet block and washing station built by Kalamalka Rotary in 2018.
Education: Library books and classroom shelving provided by WL Seaton Secondary School Interact Club.
We are proud to partner with:
Kalamalka Rotary, Vernon, BC., Kelowna Rotaract Club and NGO Sambhav Nepal, Kathmandu, Nepal
OUR HISTORY
In September 2011, Patti Lefkos and her husband, Barry Hodgins, visited Nepal for the first time. They completed treks around the Annapurna Circuit and to the Annapurna Base Camp Sanctuary, Upper Mustang to Lo-Manthang and Everest Base Camp. During their three-month adventure their guide, Rajendra Neupane, and porter, Khilnath Regmi regaled them with stories of their home village in Gorkha District.
In April, 2014 about to turn 68, Patti gathered her courage and returned to Nepal on a solo three-month volunteering and trekking trip. Her journey began with a two-week volunteering stint in Raj and Khil’s village at Bhairabi Primary School in remote Ratmate, a small subsistence farming village near Arughat, a seven hour hardscrabble 4WD expedition and two hour steep uphill scramble northwest of Kathamndu.
She fell in love with the village and the school’s 150 kindergarten to grade 5 students but was shocked at the dark, dismal classrooms, lack of supplies and frustratingly intermittent electrical service. During the two weeks Raj took her to nearby Aprik Village. The first foreigner to visit, she was shown Devi Jal Kumari School, a 55-year-old hand built stone building dangerously tumbling down around its 225 students. Villagers asked for her help to build a new school. Patti left Aprik feeling like an imposter. The challenges she overcame and kindred spirits she met during her month long high altitude trek in Upper Mustang restored her and gave her the confidence to believe she could help.
Back in Canada, Patti didn’t wait long to assemble a Board of Directors, and in December 2014 she formed NEPAL ONE DAY AT A TIME, a British Columbia non-profit. Patti was also invited to join Kalamalka Rotary, a large vibrant club in Vernon, British Columbia. The club’s international committee soon agreed to support the plan to build a school in Aprik village. Barry created a slideshow showcasing their 2011 Himalayan trekking adventures and they held their first fundraising event at SilverStar Mountain Resort in January 2015.
Then on April 25, 2015 Nepal was struck by an earthquake with a magnitude of 7.8 on the Richter scale. Approximately 9,000 people lost their lives and 22,000 were injured. Gorkha District was the epicenter. Every home in Aprik village was destroyed. Four villagers were killed. The school was a pile of rocks. One month later Prem K Khatry, founder of their partner organization NGO Sambhav Nepal was the first to arrive with shelter materials and food. Many villagers still live in shelter homes. Valuing education for their children, they quickly assembled a dirt floor shelter school and classes resumed.
During the next three years Patti and Barry and their team continued with various fundraising initiatives: slideshows, a crowdfunding campaign, sales of original photo cards, a Nepali dinner and grant applications. Friends, family, outdoor and service clubs, in particular, Kalamalka Rotary, provided financial support. Prem K Khatry of Sambhav Nepal, originally from Ratmate village, coordinated the school building project.
The circle of caring and concern rapidly expanded. In April 2017, Patti, Barry and former Kalamalka Rotary president Mary Jackson travelled to Aprik to open the first four classrooms. WL Seaton Secondary School Interact Club in Vernon donated $1,500 for library books that Patti, calling on her expertise as a former elementary teacher, purchased in Kathmandu.
In October 2018 Kalamlka Rotarian Rob Bauml and his wife Corrie visited Aprik, taking funds donated by individual Rotarians to provide staffroom furniture and bookshelves for the school.
In November 2018 Patti returned to Nepal to visit all 225 students now enjoying their new eight classrooms. Her second duffel contained 600 toothbrushes and toothpaste donated by Vernon dentists, Rotarians and friends which she delivered to children and families in Ratmate and Aprik.
In April 2019 UBCO student and former Interact president Bailey Morin spent four days volunteering in Aprik.
LEARN MORE – BUY THE BOOK
Patti’s travel adventure memoir NEPAL ONE DAY AT A TIME, One Woman’s Quest to Volunteer, Trek and Build a School in the Remote Himalaya describes her journey from fearful solo traveller to humanitarian.
Profits from the sale of the book go to supporting education in Gorkha.
WHAT’S NEXT?
The Aprik village school development committee has signed on with Japanese International Cooperation Agency NGO to add more needed classrooms. We hope these will be completed in the coming year and a half. The additional rooms will allow classes to expand to grade 10 and provide space for a proper kindergarten, library, computer room, dorms for boys and girls who live too far away to walk to school every day, a kitchen and storage. However, JICA group does not provide furniture, whiteboards or school supplies. Kalamalka Rotary’s 2019 support will go toward kindergarten supplies, classroom bookshelves, electrical hookup, indoor and outdoor lighting, two computers and a printer for staff.
Once more we are pleased to partner with Kalamalka Rotary. Our project Nepal 2020, coordinated by Sambhav Nepal, has been postponed until 2021 due to Covid. In 2021 we will see 20 Rotarians, friends and family complete their fundraising then travel to Aprik to build two homes destroyed in the earthquake. Team members will also refurbish old school furniture and after consulting with staff paint classrooms, provide English lessons, play sports and continue to establish lasting relationships with students and families.
WHAT’S NEW IN DECEMBER 2022?
Since 2019 the Japanese International Cooperation Agency built an additional eight. classrooms allowing Devi Jal Kumari School to expand to offer Grade 10 and now enroll 350 students.
In 2020, with a grant from the Kalamalka Rotary Club International Committee, electricity and lighting were added to the school as well as a seventeen station computer lab and a fully equipped Montessori kindergarten.
December 8, 2022. HOMEBUILDING PROJECT We are excited that construction began on December 8, 2022 on homes for two deserving families in Gorkha, Nepal. Wonderful to be once again partnering with Prem K Khatry of NGO Sambhav Nepal. To donate to this project please find Nepal One Day at a Time Society in the drop down menu of Aftretech Aid Society at Canada Helps. Look for “Apply your donation to a fund set up by this charity.” Find NEPAL – ONE DAY AT A TIME. You’ll get an instant tax receipt. https://www.canadahelps.org/…/afretech-aid-society/
Thanks to all those who have made this project possible, especially to Afretech volunteer treasurer Donn Aven who tirelessly manages disbursement of funds for us at Nepal One Day at a Time Society.
HOMEBUILDING PROJECT UPDATE APRIL 2023
Homes competed for two families in Gorkha in June 2023. Project coordinated by Sambhav Nepal.
DREAMS OF THE FUTURE
Future plans include creation of a healthcare post and scholarships for further education for promising students.
EXCITING NEW PROJECTS – January 2024
During our trek in Western Nepal, on September 16, 2023, we camped on the playground of Shree Biddjyoti Primary School in Bhatte Bada village. Principal Ratna Prasad told us the school had no library books. Our guide Rajendra and Ratna Prasad exchanged phone numbers. In late January 2024 Ratna Prasad travelled to Kathmandu. Rajendra took him to Pilgrim’s Bookhouse in Kathmandu where he purchased $500 USD worth of library books for his students. Books were paid for by a donation from Kingston Rotary, Ontario. Thanks to our friend, Ace the Himalaya guide, Rajendra Neupane, for facilitating this project. We hope to assist more in the future.
Update May 2025.
Thanks to members of the Interact Club at WL Seaton Seoncdary School in Vernon, British Columbia, Canada for their generous donation of $1,000 for books and school supplies for Shree Biddjyoti School.
Update August 2025.
Thanks to Kingston Rotary, Ontario for their generous donation of $1,400 for Shree Biddjyoti School. Nepal One Day at a time Society will add $4,000 to allow principal Ratna Prasad Jaisi to purchase two computers, two laptops, one projector, whiteboards, and text books and supplies for all students Kindergarten to Grade 5. Thanks to all donors who have made these purchases possible.
TO MAKE A DONATION
Go to Canada Helps www.canadahelps.org. Look for NEPAL- ONE DAY AT A TIME in the drop down menu at Afretech Aid Society. Receive an instant tax receipt.