Who are we?
"Health & Education in the Himalayas" - Together for Nepal
Our Mission
Dear supporters of Chay Ya,
our name Chay Ya means – let’s do it! That’s exactly what we do: Chay Ya tackles injustices directly at the root, actively stands up for a world in which all people can live in dignity. The focus is on medical care, education, food security and equal opportunities for women and girls.
Our projects are geared to the needs of the local community in the Himalayas. Chay Ya supports with humanitarian emergency aid, builds basic hygiene and medical supplies, supports the education of children, finances the medical education of adults and organised reconstruction projects after the earthquake in Nepal in 2015.
Our Main Values
Self-determination and sustainability
The first step towards the positive change of an entire society starts with education – we are therefore particularly committed to children and young people, and to their right to learning. Especially girls, children from indigenous peoples, children with physical or mental disabilities as well as from discriminated castes we create a chance to break out of the spiral of poverty and to make their own decisions about their future. In this way we give the adults of tomorrow a voice – because in the end only they can have real influence on their environment and government and create a better world for all.
Respect and eye level
All our projects are carried out with the involvement of the local population and their voluntary participation and assistance. Our Nepalese sister NGO Chay Ya Nepal works closely together with local decision-makers, at least 33 percent female participation is a matter of course. Plans and decisions are worked out together, and the willingness to learn from each other is a priority. All our partners contribute their expertise on the principle of eye level, and we use this potential to discuss so that only the best reaches Nepal.
Our Way
Chay Ya’s starting shot took place in 2007 at a chance meeting of Austrian and Nepalese students who shared the same dream: A better, healthier and happier life for the people in the remote mountain areas. Chay Ya Austria was officially founded in 2011, but since 2007 our chairmen Sabine Klotz and Kamal Thapa of Chay Ya Nepal have been working on aid projects organised from a kitchen table in Kathmandu, all as unpaid volunteers. Initially, the basic idea of the association was to promote and improve health and education in remote mountain villages. We started with annual mobile health camps including hygiene training (three-week walks up to 4000 meters) and the support of schools with teaching material, teachers and warm clothes for the children. After two years the scouts Austria could be won as sponsors for a permanent health post including a birth ward.
In the middle of the construction phase of the health post, the severe earthquake in April 2015 shook the project region Tsum Valley, Gorkha, as the construction site was only 50 kilometres away from the epicentre. 70-90 % of the houses in the surrounding villages were razed to the ground. In the following months we provided more than 3000 families in eight districts with essential supplies and were able to motivate so many small and large donors that by now we have been able to rebuild 21 village schools and found 4 disability learning centers. Additionally, we completed 8 health posts including birthing wards, built a waste management facility and trained women on 2 organic model farms.
Currently we are generally working in the areas of health, education, reconstruction, empowerment of women, waste recycling, promotion of children with disabilities and livelihood projects (permaculture and school garden projects). The project load of our association has exploded in the last years, so our association decided in March 2016 to pay Sabine Klotz for a part of her work, because the responsibility and work had increased abruptly. Nevertheless, we have only 2.0% administration costs and 4.9% project organisation costs in Austria, of which we are really proud!
Donations to Chay Ya Austria have been tax deductible since December 2016. Chay Ya Austria is subject to strict external audits, as is our independent Nepalese sister NGO Chay Ya Nepal.