The Mountain Fund & Trek4Good-Peru

At least twice a year, "The Mountain Fund" travels to Peru. And during the past six years, we've had the pleasure of forming a personal friendship with our Peruvian guide, Yure Chavez. Yure has been guiding in Peru for over twelve years, and we highly recommend him for your trips to Peru.

In addition to conventional tours, he's led customized tours with tailor-made iteneraries, such as adventure, ecotourism, and bird watching. He's worked with a lot of American tourists, and can answer any of your travel related questions and concerns - including safety and health issues, best restaurants, etc.

Yure says: "Without ever compromising your safety and comfort, I'll take you well off the tourist paths into the real Peru, the country I know inside-out!"

Yure has the advantage of his in-depth knowledge about Peru, which comes from first-hand experiences of being a life-long native of Peru. He was born in Cusco, where he went to the University for five years to be licensed in tourism. His spoken and written English is excellent, and he's a terrific communicator. He also speaks Spanish, Quechua (local Peruvian language), and French.

Yure's got a great sense of humor, and is very involved with Andean Anthropological Studies (costumes, traditions and social customs). He's also got a real passion for helping his fellow Peruvians and giving back to his community. And, as program manager for "Peru Trek4Good", he donates a percentage of his profits to our Peru-based micro-finance program called Aynikuy. In Quechua, "Aynikuy" means to help each other or to cooperate.

We encourage you to visit Yure's blogspot and read more about his tours in Peru!

LNK: http://yurechavez.blogspot.com/

Medical Camp Moves Mountains in Nepal

Kathmandu, Nepal
Oct 28, 2007

The October 11-24, 2007 "Moving Medical Camp", organized by The Mountain Fund , served over 1000 patients in seven villages.

The 25 member charity trek which is composed of US, UK and Nepali Doctors and Nurses, as well as Nepali translators, visited 7 villages in the remote Rasuwa District on the Tibetan border, and just finished giving free medical care to over 1000 indigenous Tamang inhabitants of the area.

The medical volunteers included OBGYN, Pediatric, Optometric and General Medicine practioneers. Over 225 eye patients received glasses and vision assistance. (A more detailed report will follow this press release.)

Our medical volunteers were: Michael Falcone, Dr. Beth-Hall Thompson, Tu Mach, Dr. Dorothy Kammerer-Doak, Susie Rivard-Dibenedetto, Shelly Ogle, David Diaz, Robert Doak, Lindsey Mahlstedt, Ann McCollum, Kerry Flint, Christina Quack, Peter Korpi, Katie Korpi, Puskar Gurung, Sudhir Lama, Dr. Alish Prajapati, Teja Raut, Sudha Dhungana, Kopila Lama, Phurbu Tamang, Dipendra Shrestha, Dipendra Lama, Nima Tamang and Jimyang Lama. Special thanks to Dr. Alish Prajapati who was our official medical host from Nepal.

Much thanks to Mountain Hardwear for the Space Stations that were used as portable clinic buildings and Phillips Environmental for the PETT toilet systems.

About The Mountain Fund:
Our mission is to eliminate poverty, its causes and symptoms, in developing mountain communities around the world.

Website: http://www.mountainfund.org

The Mountain Fund
Scott MacLennan
email: mtnfund@mountainfund.org

Medical Camp in Peru treats over 350

JULY 2007: Because of a compelling request made by the nonprofit Reach Out Foundation (ROF), The Mountain Fund took a group of volunteers (who paid for their expenses) to Peru in order to administer general medical services to 350 Quechua people of Huilloc and Patacancha. People in this region have little or no health care, explained Anne Schimmel Beck, the President of ROF. "The children never see a doctor and have yet to see a dentist."

Within minutes of the team's arrival to the remote village of Huilloc, they were overrun with patients. "It was incredible," said Scott MacLennan. "At times up to 30 or perhaps 40 people were camped on the school grounds waiting to see our medical staff."

The team gathered vital statistics on each person, ascertained the problem, and then sent critical cases to the lead doctor, Claudia Delgado-Corcoran, and less serious ones to public health lectures, where they learned about basic health tools (brushing teeth, boiling water, etc). Thirty people were provided with glasses, and people were treated for everything from dysentery, broken bones, infected teeth, and cataracts to frostbite due to the high altitude.

"Like true warriors, the medical team refused to wrap up until all the patients had been seen," said MacLennan. "It was difficult to get them to take time to eat or drink!" And the team didn't stop there. After Huilloc, they visited Patacancha, a small village 30 minutes up the road where their small clinic is administered by a local woman from Urubamba who walks three hours a few days per week to the clinic.

"In one day some 80 people visited the Patacancha clinic and were given complete medical care by our team," MacLennan stated. "The lines were so long that at times it was nearly impossible to move from one exam room to the other."

View some of our trip photos by clicking HERE.

Charity Trek in Nepal - November 2007

From November 3 - 17, 2007, The Mountain Fund will host a charity trek for a project in the Tamang villages near Langtang. We will begin the trip with a trek up the beautiful Langtang Valley before going to the villages of Gatlang, Goljung or Chilime to work on a community project. Projects may include helping at a school, making repairs to a health clinic building, or other needs of the community.

Cost of this trip is only $1,900 and includes virtually all of your in-country expenses such as hotels, transportation, food, tents, etc. Airfare to Nepal is not included. Our friends at Himalayan Travel, will arrange your flights at very good prices.

Day One - Arrive Kathmandu
Day Two - Rest day in Kathmandu
Day Three - Depart for Syabru Bensi, the start of the Langtang Trek
Day Four - Begin the trek to Langtang
Days Five - Nine - On the Langtang Trek
Days 10, 11 & 12 - Tamang Villages and service project
Day 13 - Return to Kathmandu
Day 14 - Depart for US

There's always an option to extend your stay, visit other parts of Nepal and enjoy other guided tours in the country. We can make any arrangements that you may require for an extended stay.

Visit the Trek4Good website for more information about our treks.

Peru Medical Trip - July 2007

July 7, 2007 --

We leave in two days for our trip to Peru! The duration of the trip will be from July 9 to July 23, 2007.

The main focus of this trip is to provide medical assistance to some of the local children in need.

Not far from Ollantaytambo in the Sacred Valley, Mountain Fund partner, "Reach Out Children's Fund", has been key in improving education and educational facilities to the 250 students attending the Huilloc school. Recently, we were informed of the dire medical needs of these children.

Read more about it HERE.