Turning of fascination for mountains into a project idea
The mountain giants of the Himalayan attracted us - Guido Uhlenberg and Steffi Lücking - for the first time in 1990. Many voyages to Nepal and India (especially Ladakh, Darjeeling and Sikkim) followed.
The fascination for the mountains stepped back from voyage to voyage. Meeting people came to the fore.
Friendships and the wish to help at least some people to find a way out of poverty emerged. We are trying to make possible a good school education for some children by taking over school partnerships since 1992. This improves future life conditions for them and their families.
In 2004 we met Rohit Andrew Pradhan from Darjeeling during a trekking tour. He was our guide. At that time he told us about his dream to found a small school in his hometown in order to make possible for them what he received thanks to financial support and luck.
This is a good school education being the basis for his life. In the following years Andy has been a reliable partner for us during many voyages. A close friendship between his family and us has developed.
We organized a school partnership for two children in 2006. Pupils of the Dellwigschule took over financial responsibility for them in 2007. They collected far more money than required for their support. From the remaining money evolved a school partnership between the Dellwigschule in Dortmund and the Aloobari school in Darjeeling. Further underprivileged pupils of the Aloobari school got support and new toilets were built.
During our last Darjeeling visit in March 2008 (we were accompanied by our second chairperson Mrs. Dr. Almut Köhler) we thought about the dream of a small primary school to become reality perhaps.
Back to Germany we told our friends about our idea. Many friends encouraged us to start this project. The meeting for the foundation of the association Darjeelinghilfe Dortmund e. V. took place in August 31, 2008.