Ngima Sherpa's fundamental approach and basic philosophy is to help the poor people of his own and surrounding villages improve their respective socio economic status and wellbeing.

This was demonstrated with his recent initiative to run the first ever highly successful Medical Camp in Kharikhola during March / April 2005 where 1274 people from Kharikhola and surrounding villages were treated at no charge at the Kharikhola Hospital by "The Band-Aid Box" team.

http://www.bandaidbox.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=blogcategory&id=70&Itemid=43

Mera is a primary school about 1 hour's walk up the valley from the village of Khari Khola. It is sited on a flat area about the size of a tennis court and enjoys magnificent views of the surrounding mountains. The number of pupils varies from 50 to about 80 and the school has 2 or 3 teachers, depending on the funding available. It was largely financed through the efforts of Barry Sleigh from Taunton Gardens, Christchurch, New Zealand. He had visited Nepal as a horticulturist and immediately saw potential in developing varieties of rhododendron, the native tree of Nepal. He has since propagated seedlings of Daphne, aracaema and other indigenous plants. He also saw the need for improved educational opportunities for the Nepalese children. With Ngima Dorji Sherpa supervising the project, the first stage of the school was successfully completed in 2000. The original building had 3 classrooms and a teachers' office.

In 2001 Mera School was officially opened, when Barry Sleigh and a group of Christ's College students were in Nepal. As a special project for Mera, the students were able to fund a 600m pipeline, which brought water from a small stream to the school. A considerable amount of clothes was distributed to the village families. Each pupil was given a polar fleece tracksuit and multi-colored beanie. It was party time and the visitors were treated like royalty by the local people.

Such was the success of the 2001 visit by the Christ's College students, that a similar trip was organized for the next year. The fund raising effort was to extend the school to double its capacity. The new building had a wooden floor and the walls and ceiling were lined. The grounds were extended and a permanent volleyball court established. Again there was a substantial distribution of clothes and equipment for the school. Although only a few days were available for working on the new classrooms, substantial progress was made, first leveling off then starting to lay the floor. The wooden window and door frames were also painted. The work was left to be completed by the local builders, whose stone construction work and general craftsmanship were of an amazing quality.

In 2004 a large school group from Christ's College was due to visit Nepal. However, within 4 days of departing New Zealand, the trip was cancelled because of increased Maoist activity. The considerable amount of clothing to accompany this trip was later shipped in November, but has been held up by Indian customs in Calcutta since early January 2005. Efforts to get this to the children of Mera School and the village families, is continuing. The local community is very grateful for the aid work and it would be good to see it continued in the future.