Village Library Project

Part of Ten Friends’ Village Vision project is to provide libraries for those villages in which a book is a rare thing.  In 2009, we established our very first library in the village of Lingham and dedicated it to Diane Jacobsen, a revered teacher from Sisters, Oregon.  Over the next two years, nine more libraries were established and dedicated to a number of individuals from Central Oregon.  We now have a total of 34 libraries in place!

The most recent library was established in March 2020 in the town of Khandbari when Louisa Lamarre, an 8th grade student at Cascades Academy, traveled to Nepal with funds she had raised herself!  The ceremony was very meaningful and she expressed how much she had benefited from the process of learning about other cultures and helping them to improve literacy. 

A typical village in which we place a library has from 100 to 400 residents.  The cost of one book placed in a library is around $5 – roughly $2 for the book and $3 to transport the book by plane and/or porter.  Bookcases are constructed by village carpenters and the village provides the building for the library.  The average total cost of a library is around $6,000.  

Summer 2023 Library Project

Over the years, Ten Friends has taken high school students to Nepal 6 times, and over 50 students have had the experience. Ten Friends will once again be taking a group of Central Oregon students to Nepal in August.  As part of the trip, students and their chaperones will be working on a library project in one of the remote villages of Nepal.  

Prior to leaving the US for Nepal, the students will be conducting a fund raising campaign to support the costs of developing the library,  supplying the library with books and constructing book cases.  You can help the students by making a financial contribution to their campaign.  All products purchased before September 2023 will be used to support their efforts.  

Purchase a Product  

Items purchased through your tax deductible donation will be provided to libraries, schools, or other locations in Nepal where they can best be used.