Sambhav Nepal’s mission is to achieve grassroots reforms in education, poverty, health and sanitation, empowerment of women, various youth clubs, vocational skills and training programs so as to uplift the living condition of the people of the rural communities of Gorkha. After the 2015 Earthquake, our focus centered on helping the affected communities of Gorkha. Now, since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, we are focused primarily on distributing relief food supplies to affected people and medical supplies to the local villagers, community schools and health workers of Gorkha to prevent and control the deadly virus.

Inception & Vision

Nepal is a country of breath-taking natural beauty and a deeply spiritual social environment. But its turbulent history and political and socio-economic instability has left a significant portion of the population below the poverty line. The sad reality has touched the hearts of many tourists and led them to contribute personally to the improvement of the situation.

A number of guests who trekked with Prem Khatry over the years expressed their concern regarding the degraded living conditions of Arupokhari. One prominent person was the Australian national Allan J. Waldon who met Prem as his trekking guide in 2006. The duo remained in regular contact and their professional rapport soon turned into a friendship. The second time around when Allan visited Nepal, he got the opportunity to visit Prem’s village in Gorkha and was also informed of the hardships and greater challenges faced by the common Nepalese in the region. The education sector, among others, required immediate attention, given the absence of the government’s reach, resulting in worn-out buildings and a lack of proper resources, including qualified teachers.

Prem and Allan discussed possible ways to better the situation; subsequently, Sambhav Nepal was founded the same year in collaboration with Richard Jackson, also from Australia and a member of the Rotary Club of Wahroonga – Sydney. Though the initial supporters are from Australia, we do have by now contribution and support from other countries like the United States of America, Switzerland, Germany, Israel and various rotary clubs. The team is dedicated to helping the rural communities while continue searching for worldwide channels and opportunities to receive help.

Melanie Kreuzer, who came to Nepal in 2007, fell in love with the country and its people. She saw the need of giving back to the people who were friendly and helpful to her but lacking many things. So, since 2008, she started helping out and supporting Sambhav Nepal and its mission of giving back to the communities. It was in 2015, when a huge earthquake (and its aftershocks) devastated Nepal, especially Gorkha district (which is the core project area of Sambhav Nepal), that she decided that she has to do more for the communities and their people and help them rebuild their lives and make it better. So, in the same year, she founded Sambhav Nepal – Schweiz in Switzerland, which is the main partner and supporter of Sambhav Nepal. Since then she has initiated executed numerous small and large projects. She is a powerhouse herself who has raised funds for many of the projects that Sambhav Nepal has completed and is running. To name a few: relief supplies for the 2015 earthquake victims, the entire Bhawani Higher Secondary School Boarding House, reconstructing Bhairabi Primary School, economic upliftment via coffee plantation, child education sponsorships, PCL Medical Courses scholarships, Himalayan Ambulance, Rebuild Home Gorkha, Covid-19 food and medical goods distributions program, and so on and so forth.

Melanie Kreuzer based in Switzerland along with Prem K Khatry based in Nepal has planned a number of amazing projects. These projects, once completed, will significantly speed up the pace of progress and upliftment of Gorkha and its people.

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Mission & Objectives

Sambhav Nepal’s mission is to achieve grassroots reforms in education, poverty, health and sanitation, empowerment of women, various youth clubs, vocational skills and training programs so as to uplift the living condition of the people of the rural communities of Gorkha.

After the 2015 Earthquake, our focus centered on helping the affected communities of Gorkha. Our objectives included:

• To renovate and rebuild community schools so that the villages can provide education to children in modern, safe and clean classrooms.
• To construct toilet facilities in community schools which do not have any and to improve the condition of existing school toilets.
• To bring foreigners to volunteer for teaching in the schools and various health posts.
• To conduct teacher training programs to help village teachers to improve their skills.
• To provide scholarship to children in need.
• To provide relief supplies to those affected by the devastating 2015 earthquake.
• To build earthquake-proof houses.
• To construct modern and earthquake-resistant community schools.
• To organize home-stay trips to help villagers with income generation and to alleviate poverty.

Since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic that has devastated lives, our focus has been on:

• To provide relief food supplies to the needy families whose income sources have either disappeared or severely affected by Covid-19 and the lockdown caused by it.
• To help local governments and health workers of Gorkha (all 2 municipalities and 9 rural municipalities) to fight and contain the Covid-19 virus by providing medical supplies such as hand sanitizer bottles, thermal guns, surgical masks and viral transport mediums (VTMs).
• To help the community schools along with students and teachers by distributing masks, soap and thermal guns to prevent the spread of the virus and create a safe learning environment.

Board Members & Field Support

Sambhav Nepal’s board members hail from Gorkha district. The team is led by Mr. Prem K Khatry, native of Gorkha and the Managing Director of Ace the Himalaya and Ace Holidays. He possesses wide knowledge and has experience of leading various social organizations. Formerly he was the Chairman of Arupokhari Society and a Board Member of Trekking Agencies’ Association of Nepal (TAAN). Currently he is involved as the board member of the Rotary Club of Mt. Everest. He has been recognized as MPHF + 2 (Multiple Paul Harris Fellow) by the Rotary International.

Sambhav team is working closely together with the local community as well as the domestic and the international donors to bring developmental projects to the backward region of Gorkha. We have witnessed and more often than not, experienced firsthand, the hardships and other socio-economic issues that have impeded the prospects of growth. We are committed to deliver continued support to accomplish our goals for safeguarding the future of the children and the nation.

Generally we are the ordinary people ranging from a butcher to a small and large business operator and a financial adviser to a Rotarian. Everyone has one thing in common – uniting to realize the importance and contribution of the Sambhav Nepal Foundation for making a difference in the world where it is most needed. We collaborate with individuals, business owners, schools, universities, hospitals, sporting and church groups, along with those that have a desire to commit to a noble cause. Through our guidance, we strive to help children learn to be proud of who they are and what they can achieve.