The International Mountain Explorers Connection is committed to helping individuals and groups locate service opportunities and coordinate service trip details in both the Himalayan and Kilimanjaro region.  If you or your group has a project in mind that you would like to complete in Nepal or Africa,  contact the International Mountain Explorers Connection to learn about ways we can help coordinate and complete the project.

If you would like to volunteer but are not sure how your skills could be useful abroad, please contact us to learn about opportunities.

Custom Opportunities in Action: Montview Group Sends Volunteers to Nepal

In November of 2000, 51 volunteers from Denver’s Montview Boulevard Presbyterian Church journeyed to Nepal, a trip that was four years in the making.

It began in 1996, when the church chose a special "mission" in order to celebrate its 100th anniversary.  Nepal had been a longtime magnet for several of the church’s members so they pledged $175,000 to build a pediatric wing in the newly established 85-bed hospital in Patan.  In order to add a personal touch, members of the church sent 18 handmade quilts to decorate the new wing.

Just one year later, in 1997, a number of the church members decided they wanted to do hands on volunteer work in Nepal; sending money and quilts just wasn’t enough.  As their idea took shape, they began to raise money and contacted the International Mountain Explorers Connection, who helped to develop their ideas, provided guides and logistical support for the group.

Finally, in November of 2000, the Denverites, ages 10 to 74, set foot onto the tarmac at the Kathmandu airport ready and willing to work.

The Montview construction and education teams set up headquarters in the village of Yarmasing, where Magda King, a Denver neighbor and mountaineer, had built a school for the local children. Each day they climbed the track to the school, which was set on a mountainside so steep that villagers feared the kids would fall off.  The church group aided in the construction of a fence to protect the children.  Additionally, the construction team built a swing set at a pediatric hospital and repaired and re-stuccoed a building to be used as a community center.  The education team worked with local teachers in an effort to introduce them to new instructional methods and classroom practices.

In 2003, the Montview church volunteers are learning about ways to continue their commitment to Nepal.   A number of the members maintain contact with their Nepali friends and send financial support to individual families.  Others have returned to the Himalayan Kingdom to do further work in the villages.