About Mustang
Mustang is a remote district in western Nepal and is one of
the few districts in Nepal that development has yet to
reach.
A good weeks trek is required to reach this outlying area.
Alternatively, one may want to board a small airplane or
rely on horses and mules.
A group of people called Thakalis live in Mustang, and
surprisingly, their living style and culture is similar to
that of Tibetans.
The main occupation of Thakalis is business. Prestige among
the Thankalis is is often rooted in the success of their
businesses. They started with barter trade with Tibet and
now many have big businesses in the main cities of Nepal.
Other Mustangis depend on seasonal farming 5 out of the 12
months for their livelihood. However, the barren land often
makes farming a fruitless endeavor.
This area has been on the trekking route; a few thousand
westerners trek this area every year, and villages on the
trekking route have been able to establish some necessary
infrastructure. Those outside of the main trekking route,
however, lack any infrastructure and seem to be trapped in
the stone age.
NCEF has ventured to help the children of this particular
area of Nepal, where the literacy rate has remained under 10
percent. Our operation will be in villages off the trekking
route where people are afflicted by extreme poverty. Some
representative villages include Chimang, Thini and
Syang.
NCEF relies heavily on local volunteers. As such the fact
that most literate individuals of Mustang go to the cities
for better opportunities poses as a huge problem for the
organization. Volunteers are exceedingly difficult to find
and administration is very difficult. However we have
ventured this area with full enthusiasm and, with the
cooperation of all concerned, we are bound to
succeed.
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