Visit our projects!

A birth of our ambition- 'Role Model Village'

Acknowledging- what we have, and what we know today is passed us by our forefathers and mothers. Our community, despite all our members working hard for generations, is still far away from meeting the basic needs that are essential in order to lead our lives productively. Realizing- waiting for the government to provide us with our basic needs such as primary health care, education, and clean drinking water, still may take several years if not decades, the village meeting that took place on December 20th, 2008, questions posed to all members:

- How can we use our natural resources in the most sustainable way?
- How can we mobilize human resources so that we can improve our living standards?
- What do we want to leave for the future generations?

After that meeting, we spent a year preparing and discussing with community members, the diaspora community, friends and well-wishers of our village around the world. Result? A birth of our ambition: we work together to make this village 'A Role Model Village' to inspire other village communities in Nepal and to improve our living standards.

Our foundation- JVF-NEPAL was officially registered in Kathmandu District Administration Office on November 18th, 2009 as a non-governmental organization.

The Village

The village is located in Rukum district, Rapti zone of mid-western Nepal. The elevation of Jhumlawang village is about 2328m (7633 ft.) but varies from 1600m to 3100m.

Jhumlawang village is a home of about 850 inhabitants from 6 major ethnic-groups of Nepal: Magar, Newar, Gurung, Thakuri, Chhetri, and Dalits. Although there is not enough written history about the village and its' people, we thrive from oral history which is passed on through the generations.

Hundreds of years ago, this village used to be the center of business activities in the region due to its copper mining industry. But today, most of the community depends on traditional-farming agriculture. However, because of poverty, a new trend for village youths is to go abroad, (usually to Gulf countries) in search for employment as unskilled labourers.

Where we are!. For latest work progress photo report of the project, please click on this picture.

How to get there

Depending on season of the year, there are two ways of reaching to our village from Kathmandu, the capital city of Nepal:

  • One and half hour flight from Kathmandu to Rukum Salle airport. Then a 6-hour Jeep ride from the airport to Ratwamarne. From there, the hike to Jhumlawang usually takes 3 hours climbing through Sima village and pine forests.
  • Bus ride from Kathmandu takes up to 24 hours to Musikot Salle. From here, it applies what we have mentioned above.

However, in the monsoon season (from end of June to beginning of October) it is most likely that the Jeep road from Musikot Salle to Ratwamarne would be blocked from landslides. In this case, it takes up to 3 days trekking from the Salle Airport/ Bus station to Jhumlawang Village.