There is a small village, high in the Himalayas which is in need of a few friends. It is called Mephuna, which means place of fire. Mephuna is located in the Western part of Bhutan, in the Wangdi region. It is poised between two giant cliffs which make either coming or going extremely difficult. Because of this, Mephuna is seldom visited by outsiders. The villagers, who support themselves by farming, likewise have problems getting out. As it is a two hour walk down a precarious mountain track to the nearest road they are unable to access medical care, education for their children or markets for their produce. Advances in these areas have passed them by. Illnesses such as goiters and cataracts go untreated, the children remain illiterate.

Mephuna village

A road is desperately needed. A road will enable villagers to take their produce to market, their children to the school bus and give them access to vitally needed medical care. It will also allow for the introduction of new developments in the areas of farming equipment which will help to ease problems associated with heavy, ongoing, manual work. Electricity and other related developments will follow in due course. Any donation that you are able to give towards helping to build this road will be gratefully received. As a local friend of the village has said: Donations, however small, will be of the greatest help (like offering the way of heaven to the world of suffering) if given at such a time of great need.

Water flows again in the reconstructed channel