Som Bahadur Gurung

Trekking Guide to Himalayas (specialist in French) and Resident of Singla

Born in 1972 in Singla Village, Som attended the local primary school until grade 5. He then continued to study in Arughat until grade 9 with the support from his family, who had to sell their livestock and farm produce to finance his education.

At the age of 24 he began working as a porter carrying 30-50 kg loads to many trekking destinations in Nepal – for e.g. Annapurna Circuit, Langtang and Mustang. Intelligent and motivated, he quickly progressed through the ranks and began working as a qualified Trekking Guide. In 2004, in order to service French trekkers better, he took up courses in French. Today, Som is proficient in the French language and speaks English as well.

Som wished to study further but was unable to do so due to his family’s economic weakness. That’s why he has a strong desire to help children from Singla to have a higher education. Som is sincere and enthusiastic about his guiding work and his commitment to helping his local village, Singla.

Therese Baenziger

Nurse, Health Teacher, Massage practitioner and Friend of Singla

Therese was born in Switzerland near Berne. After completing basic school, she added extra studies for about 5 years to become a nurse. In Switzerland she worked in different hospitals and made studies in higher level nursing, management, teaching and other specialist techniques like massage and rehabilitation.

Over a period of 15 years she taught health care, prevention and other specific personal development. With a high knowledge in health care, teaching and working hands on with old people in family care was the goal.

4 years ago she met Som in Switzerland. In 2007 she went for the first time to Nepal with friends for a short trek with Som in his homeland Annapurna-area. Deeply impressed from the rural life and the friendly people of Nepal, she came back to Nepal in 2008 for about 4 months. She visited with Som his village Singla, and received an idea from the real life in the country side, beside the usual tourist trekking trails. She learned about the hard lives of these friendly people without a chance for help from the government or big international organizations.

Then she met Kesang . Som ,Therese and Kesang decided to create a small organization with the name of, Friends of Singla, with the intention, to help directly to the people of Singla.