Dubai mum to walk on frozen river for charity

Dubai A mum of three will walk on a frozen river in a far-flung Indian village this month to raise money for a residential school in her home country.

Indian Harsha Makhija, 40, who has been helping fund education for 50 school children, ages four to 15 in Ladakh since 2010, is setting out on her maiden trip to Zanskar on January 29.

A high altitude semi-desert on the northern flank of the Great Himalayan Range, parts of Zanskar valley near Ladakh are considered some of the coldest continually inhabited places in the world.

Arduous challenge

Over a course of 12 days, she will walk on the valley’s Chadar river, now frozen, trekking 80km in minus 20 degrees Celsius and at an altitude of 11,400 feet. This, she says, is to recreate the gruelling route local children undertake every year to reach school after the winter break in March. Due to the region’s extreme geographic isolation, the trek over the Chadar is their only access point, making it arguably the toughest walk to school for children anywhere in the world. “This journey is fraught with danger, especially for the little ones as they brave sub-zero temperatures in little protective clothing,” says Makhija who is aiming to raise $380,000 to build a residential school in Zanskar so that children don’t have to risk their lives going to school in Ladakh anymore.

For this project, she has collaborated with Lille Fro, an Australian non-profit organisation that works at the grassroots with the world’s lowest income groups who are difficult to reach out to because of geographical remoteness and conditions in which they live.

“Zanskar is indeed one of the world’s remotest regions, cut off from the rest of civilisation. Those who live there have no roads, no electricity, no running water and no medical facilities. The only access they get to the rest of the world is by walking in winter, risking landslides, hypothermia and harsh weather. Not to forget the river is not entirely frozen so the dangerous element of falling in and getting trapped always remains,” adds Makhija, who was born and has lived all her life in Dubai. “Once the school is up and running, no child from Zanskar will have to walk over Chadar river.”

If and when that happens, says Makhija, it will be an extension of a project she started accidentally five years ago.

For more please click https://lillefroiceriver.everydayhero.com/au/harsha