Inspiring non-profit the Himalayan Leaky Foundation was established by Kiwi Clare McCall and Nepali Rabindra Tamang “to bring real change directly to the people who need it most” in Nepal.
“We’ve been working together ever since, delivering food, blankets, and temporary shelters,” Clare tells Verve. “We also secured land on which we built a 26-house community. Rabindra is one of the kindest souls I’ve evet met, and it’s a privilege to work with him. He left school at just eight years old to support his family. He has always wanted to help people, and I feel like a conduit for his work there.”
Clare also runs JC McCall Plumbing, which she took over from her late dad; she set up Himalayan Leaky Foundation in his honour. I ask Clare about her father, and if he ever visited Nepal.
“Dad was a real Kiwi bloke and loved the outdoors,” she beams. “From a young age, he always inspired me to travel, to get out there and see the world. He could be a hard man, but he was a good man, and we were great mates who worked together for 12 years. He never made it to Nepal but had always hoped to do a trek with me.”
Clare reveals that her father kind of got to visit after his death, however, when Rabrindra took a photograph of him to Everest Base Camp. “Nepalis believe the highest place on Earth is the closest to heaven,” she says. “On the way they stopped at Tengboche Monastery and the head lama blessed Dad’s soul. It had such a healing impact on me and it’s why I’ll always do this.”
Were you raised in an environment that encouraged you to care for others? “I had a normal Kiwi upbringing, lots of outdoors, and a close family. I think it’s in my blood to help others. I have some notes that my nana gave back to me that I’d written when I was six that say things like “I am Clare, I love everyone” and “I love everyone in the world”. So, I think it’s what I’m here to do!”
Clare has been in love with the “magical country” of Nepal since her first visit in 1999, trekking the foothills of the Himalayas with one of her still-best mates.
Inspiring non-profit the Himalayan Leaky Foundation was established by Kiwi Clare McCall and Nepali Rabindra Tamang “to bring real change directly to the people who need it most” in Nepal.
“There is such a peaceful way of being. But it can be strange in that there is a caste system, which is on a lesser scale than India’s, and it is so patriarchal and corrupt at one end, but at the other, Nepalis are the kindest, most generous people you’ll meet. They have nothing, and they’ll give you all of it. There is no place on Earth like a Himalayan range. I’ve trekked to the base camps of Everest and Manaslu, and with my partner, Bino, trekked to Lo Manthang, where only 40,000 tourists have visited, so we feel incredibly lucky.”
Bino Smith, Clare’s partner, is a Māori artist who now shares her passion for the Himalayan nation, having met through charitable youth work (Clare is also on the board of the her local Rotary club in Westhaven).
“It sounds a bit ‘witchy’, but I had known that someone pretty special was coming into my life, and I realised it was Bino following a text message chat,” she says. “We met two days later and have been together ever since. He plays a supportive role with Himalayan Leaky Foundation and also grounds me. Sharing this whole journey with him and having his support takes it all to a whole other level.”
The foundation aims to improve the region’s sanitation, health and education systems, with a focus on training women and disadvantaged children while providing shelter, medical services and clean water.
“I have been helping a woman called Nanimaya and her four children since the end of 2015,” says Clare. “Her husband was trafficked—he went to Qatar for work and unknowingly signed his life away—and so she had no support. For the cost of a meal out a week, I was able to support them, and have been ever since.”
The family now lives in a Himalayan Leaky House in Kathmandu, which also serves as a safe house when needed.
“I’m proud of giving voice to the voiceless,” Claire continues. “At one of the literacy classes we held, a woman felt safe enough to share her domestic abuse situation, and we were able to support her out of that situation. It’s so rewarding being able to support women in supporting themselves.”
Nepal has been hit hard by the pandemic in recent months, and though it has hampered some the foundation’s work, they’ve still been able to provide vital services.
“We’ve had to follow lockdown rules, keeping everyone safe is the main priority,” says Clare. “We were able to install a sanitation system into the Bhaktapur community earlier this year, which has been life changing for all of the community and their neighbours. We haven’t been able to completely finalise the work we did with Rotary Westhaven and Rotary Foundation for the Thamdanda community, but they have had access to clean safe water and sanitation since just before March last year.”
Before covid, did you feel the country was making process in the issues you focus on such as education and gender equality? “I think that in Kathmandu and the metropolitan areas there are more equality opportunities for women these days, and with technology changing the way everyone lives, it helps. But in rural areas, its changing at a much slower pace, if at all. It is a long way from life that we know in New Zealand. It’s still such a patriarchal society, and women never flourish in that environment. We hope to get our women empowerment programme up and running later this year or early next, depending on the covid situation. Education is also something that is easily accessible to some, but not to all. And a lot of young girls are forced to leave school to support family or get married. Or are trafficked.”
Clare says that the past few years have taught her that one person really can make a difference, and that you never really “know what you’re capable of until you give it a go”. She admits to wishing she have made better financial decisions when younger—but only so she “had more ability to do more now!” Everything else, she says, is “just a fabulous rollercoaster of learning as we go”.
“People, generally, are kind and want to help others,” Clare adds. “Sometimes, they just need help finding their voice. I haven’t been able to have a family myself, so that’s why I’m able to do what I do now. My biggest heartbreak has also been my biggest blessing.”
Words — Jamie Christian Desplaces
