Hello, My name is George, and together my friend Tamzin and I are wanting to raise funds to help a Nepalese girl called Tarati Kulukhamme through her English studies, to get her through the necessary training to work at sea, and finally, to get her employed onboard a super yacht.

Who is Tarati?

Tarati is the daughter of a man called Mitra Rai. When Tamzin and I went on a hiking trip to Nepal in 2025, Mitra was our porter. Without Mitra, our dream of climbing Mera Peak would not have been possible. Tarati is 17, she has finished school but is studying English at a government school in rural Nepal, near Paphlu. When she is not at school, she helps with the family on their small farm.

Why help just this one person?

Short answer, why not? If we can give Tarati opportunities she otherwise wouldnt get in Nepal, it would be life changing for her, her family and her community. If we can do what we can to help one person, the positives to come after will be immeasurable.

Is Nepal really that poor a country? Is there really so little opportunity?

During our 2 weeks trekking, we spoke to Mitra (through our guide Dendi), and with many other people, Nepalese or not. It became very apparent very quickly that it is incredibly hard to get by in Nepal and opportunities for education, consistent work and healthcare are hard to come by. Nepal is a victim of its own geography, most of it is set within the Himalaya mountains, so there is little primary industry. The tourist industry is actually very short, the mountaineering season only runs in the spring and a bit in the autumn as the summer is the monsoon season and the winters are incredibly harsh. As result, Nepal struggles to generate wealth thus the opportunities that come with a wealthy country. Mitra works very, very hard to raise what little money he can to support his family. The few portering jobs he can get dont pay much, but its the only cash he can get. The rest of the time he is a subsistence farmer. For him to raise the funds to put Tarati through good education in Kathmandu are pretty much impossible.

Why a job at sea, Nepal is landlocked, and why a superyacht!?

Tamzin and I both work at sea and on yachts, we love it, the opportunities for travel, learning and work are amazing. If Tarati could experience what we have, wouldnt that be amazing! We also know that it would be a great opportunity for her to save western currency and she could support her family from abroad.

Whats the plan?

Tarati is currently studying english in a very basic government school near Phaplu. In the short term, help her through her studies till she graduates.

In the meantime, we need to raise money to get Tarati through the required training courses to work at sea (STCW, medical certificate etc), we need to get her a passport, visas, and ultimately we need to get her to Europe and get her a job!

£5000 is a lot of money!

£5000 is the ultimate goal, we believe that would be sufficient to give Tarati the best chance. However, there are some "big ticket" items we need to arrange for her, one being, a plane ticket to Europe! The other pricey items are the courses and the visas etc. In the western world, the STCW is over a £1000 these days. We are looking into providers in the Nepal/India region to make it closer to home for Tarati and to make the donations go further.