Concept

The concept of Awake & Shine is to develop Integrated village Tourism by creating empowerment and earning modules

Empowerment Modules :

• Development of infrastructure for village tours - primarily for homestays.
• Development of a Pre School model, for rural areas, to empower children (and adults) to be proficient in spoken English, in order to build foundation for future employment in tourism.
• Provide bright children scholarships to pursue formal education after pre schooling.
• Enhance existing skills and teach new earning skills through vocational modules, to create viable handicrafts and village products.

Earning Modules :

• Home stays
• Village tours
• Sale of handicrafts from vocational modules, and other village products 

Methodology :

Since the core of Project Awake and shine is to create earning through village tourism and encouragement of local skills to make suitable products for sale to tourists, it is imperative that earning should start within a short time span, to build credibility with the community. This should be achieved with minimum start up costs and maximum earning potential.

Status Report :

Initially the project has been launched at Gaire Gaon (called Nepali Village) and Kabi (called Lepcha Village) - two hamlets in Samthar Area. General Jimmy Singh has provided philanthropic assistance from his personal funds, for pilot homestay cottages, handicrafts and carpentry. In adittion a pre school infrastructure has been deveoped, for empowerment through spoken English The project has made good progress as described below -

Awake & Shine English medium Pre School :

Pre School was started on 01 Feb 2007, as a philanthropic project  funded by General Jimmy Singh. The School is functional. The foundation course is of 03 years duration. The child progress through three stages – Nursery, Lower Kindagarten, and upper Kindagarten. Age of entry is at 03- 04 years. Currently the school has two classes Nursery of 16 children and Lower Kindagarten with 14 children. The Upper Kindagargten class will be added in 2008. More >>>

Home Stays :

One home stay each in Nepali Village and Lepcha Village is functional. Individual community members, have provided land and labour to build infrastructure for two home stays. Gen Jimmy Singh has provided funds for the buildings and furnishings. Community members retain ownership of their land and have been gifted the buildings and furnishings to start the home stays. More >>>

Village Tours :

Village home stay tours have been designed and are being marketed abroad,  by Gurudongma Tours & Treks, and Insider Tours, UK. These tours offer a unique, relaxed and fulfilling holiday; which is truly a journey of discovery. The itineraries aim at lifestyle explorations, learning and teaching holidays, providing for a wide range of activities. More >>>

Women Working  Group :

Working group with 20 members is operational. Local women have been assisted by volunteers, to enhance existing skills and provided seed capital to make hand crafted products. More >>>

Carpentry Module :

Funds were provided to one family, to build infrastructure for a carpentry module. Some machine tools are being installed, and a product range has been identified. Insider Tours – one of the companies in the UK, for whom Gurudongma Tours & Treks operate eco tours, has set aside a percentage of earnings from each tour to support this project. This module is in the development stage, and should start earning by the end of 2007.

Conclusion :

Project Awake & shine is conceived as an integrated tourism project through funding by value added tours. The scale is modest in scope but designed for maximum impact. It has made a good start, with earnings at start up. This has gained the confidence of the community. The Pre School, Women’s working group and Village tours have been a success. It is hoped that guests who come on the value added tours will interact with the people and become participants in the real sense. Some will donate their skills, some return as managers, and others will generate more donors through word to mouth publicity.