Explorations Company funds a daily school meal programme so that pupils have at least one nutritious meal during the school day — improving concentration, supporting healthy development, and enabling them to learn.
What challenges do families face in rural Nepal?
In the rural terraces of Tikhyan, malnutrition and food insecurity are an everyday reality for many families. Most parents are subsistence farmers, and children often eat only an early breakfast before walking to school and then go without food until evening.
In Nepal, the rate of stunted growth is among the highest globally. A national assessment found that around half of children experience acute malnutrition in their first five years, with long-term effects on memory, concentration, and cognitive development. Without nutrition, the ability to learn weakens — and opportunity narrows.
Explorations Company’s tiffin meal programme
The partnership between Explorations Company and the Shree Kurlung Baraha School began in 2016 after our founder, Nicola Shepherd, learned of the school during a trekking research trip in the region.
Shree Kurlung Baraha School serves children aged five to fifteen in a remote, roadless mountain community beneath Annapurna South. The school provides formal education in an area otherwise defined by distance and isolation. Pupils travel up to two hours each way on foot to attend.
Nicola learned that many children were unable to bring food to eat during the day, having only a breakfast before leaving home and not eating again until they returned home.
Working closely with the headmaster, Ram Poudel, Explorations Company helped establish a system that delivers a fresh daily lunch to all 65 pupils:
- – Explorations Company funds the cost of providing a daily tiffin lunch for every school child.
- – Rather than procuring ingredients from the valley market (a day’s travel by donkey), ingredients are locally sourced from pupils’ families in rotation at market rates. The majority of families are smallholders and growing the staple ingredients required.
- – Parents rotate cooking duties, bringing firewood and preparing the meal on site.
This scheme works in that not only are children eating a nutritious meal to help them learn but their families are also benefiting from the additional income through produce sales — creating a closed loop of benefit.
How Explorations Company guests can engage with the tiffin programme
Guests on a walking holiday in Nepal’s Annapurna Mountains can visit the school by prior arrangement with your local walking guide. You are welcome to spend time at the school, meet pupils and teachers, and join in preparing and cooking lunch with families as part of the daily rotation.
Why this matters
For children walking hours each day to reach a classroom, a midday meal is not a minor detail — it is the difference between hunger and attention, between fatigue and focus. This programme strengthens both learning and livelihoods in a place where access is hard-won.
If you would like to learn more about visiting the school or understanding this work as part of a journey in Nepal, our team can advise.
