Volunteer with 17000ft in Ladakh for a vacation you've never had before

Harsh” and “bleak” may be two of the most common adjectives used to describe the remote landscape of Ladakh. Altitudes range between 10,000 and 17,000 feet. Temperatures range from 30 degrees in summer in more inhabited areas to an appalling minus 50 degrees in farther corners. The terrain is rocky, steep and barren. Spotting another human can be a challenge. The availability of food is uncertain.

So, when Sujata Sahu, founder of 17000ft, an NGO that works with local schools, suggests that you venture into this less-than-indulgent terrain for a holiday — and pay for it — you might think she’d taken leave of her senses.

Add to this what she expects of you. To be surrounded for about eight hours a day by 20-25 wide-eyed children, all just as charming or annoying as a gaggle of city kids, all in the age group of 6-14, whose attention you’d need to hold, and read, play and dance if need be. Also expect plenty of staring.

After this, you trudge up a steep slope to a hut where you will be staying with a Ladakhi family. Homes are cute and as comfortable as possible (though toilets with running water are a rarity). Food, though tasty and nourishing, is restricted to local offerings, a blend of Tibetan, Nepali and Ladakhi: tingmo, skew, khambir, thupka and occasionally momos.

If this is your idea of an interesting holiday, 17000ft, which runs “Voluntourist” programmes, can make it happen.

Tempted? You are not alone. Over 400 students, working professionals and even families have opted for this “holiday” in the last three years. A 10-day programme is priced at Rs 55,000 (all-inclusive barring travel) and Rs 69,000 for 16 days. Sahu says she interviews every individual who expresses interest to make sure they can cope. Spirit, grit and reasonable physical fitness are essential ingredients for this unusual vacation.

The Voluntourist programme is one of the efforts to improve the quality of schools and learning outcomes in the remotest parts of Ladakh. In 2010, Sahu, at the time a teacher at Delhi’s Shri Ram School, embarked on a three-week solo trek to Ladakh, fell ill and recuperated in a remote village for three weeks. During her time there, she began to appreciate how little the people of the region managed with. “Falling in love with Ladakh is easy but I couldn’t get over the inequality I saw,” she says. The gap between children at her Delhi school, and even her own, was too glaring for her to ignore.

After returning, Sahu resigned from her job and began to explore how to improve matters for the children in Ladakh. Initially, she thought she’d open a school but then realised the impact would be limited. After all, the government already had a system in place with over 1,000 schools.

Instead, she sought out several NGOs, including Pratham and the Aga Khan Trust, to find out why the tiny region was not on their radar. The universal answer: the terrain was too challenging and they had their hands full already.

In 2012, Sahu registered 17000ft as an NGO. She began working with 1,034 government schools, starting with Leh and later expanding to Kargil district. Since then, the NGO has helped improve basic infrastructure in 135 schools and revamped 150 anganwadis. Playgrounds have been set up in 134 schools and libraries in 220 schools. Their data shows that children read three books a month on average. Around 2,100 teachers have been trained over 34,000 man-hours; 250 workshops have been held to involve the community; and 120 digital labs have been activated using local servers.

The local authorities have also woken up to the NGO’s work and started working more actively with them. A technology platform called MapMySchool@17000ft is being rolled out, which allows the government’s education department to keep a closer tab on schools under their jurisdiction.

Funding remains a challenge (Sahu’s husband quit his job and joined full time) but the support of individuals like Luis Miranda (a former banker who chairs the trust and has done the Voluntourist programme with his own family) has kept the ship afloat.

Sahu is often asked why she picked the most difficult terrain to operate in. Her answer is that someone had to. So, dear readers, if you can deal with a bit of discomfort and want to add a unique experience to your next vacation, be a Voluntourist. Someone has to.