About Us

Pauline and Jo  both have strong links to Nepal which have driven them to try and make a difference by organising a series of major fund raising events in September.

Pauline Sanderson: Co-founder & Director of IYH

Pauline's love for Nepal and its people came from living and working there for four years. She worked with Mahendra Thapa at Equator Expeditions an adventure company and lived with his family for the whole time. The Thapa family are now her family. This should go some way to explaining her determination to help.

Jo Pawley: Co-founder & Director of IYH

Jo had made several trips to Nepal. The first was in 1995. In October 2014 Jo travelled there withher three children, Josh (14), Sophie (12) and Xanthe (10) to stay with a Nepalese host family and to volunteer in a primary school for some of Nepal’s poorest children. It was an incredible and really enriching experience for them all of them and they made some wonderful friends.

Jo has been a practising lawyer for over thirty years and involved with various charities for just as long.  The opportunities to help improve education for children in government schools in Nepal are huge.  In Your Hands and its goals to achieve this has become a real passion for Jo.

Mahendra Thapa - Director of The Mandala Organisation

Mahendra as well as being a long term friend of Pauline is the Director of The Mandala Organisation NGO. His team were very fast to lead rescue efforts to those affected and organised shelter for those in villages north of Kathmandu.

He is a respected leader in the adventure industry and is one of the key people guiding us when it comes to where our help is most needed. He has a great team with Milan and Shanta whom have been at the coal face of making the IYH projects come to life. Our projects could not happen without them. we are partners!

Jane Halsall - IYH Teaching Guru Extrordinaire

Jane has been a teacher for 26 years (crikey!), teaching languages in both primary and secondary. It is through her current work at Liverpool School Improvement that she has been able to introduce primary schools to the project to fundraise  for IYH and form curriculum links.  She trains teachers and other practitioners to teach French and Spanish using visuals, song, games and drama. Techniques that can also be used when teaching English as a foreign language to young learners. 

Her style of teaching is fun, interactive and totally immersive which we all witnessed when she came to Nepal this year and was part of helping IYH open the first two schools. She had the children laughing, singing and playing in ENGLISH! Amazing woman with a huge heart and lots of energy for helping others. She has taken the lead in training our volunteers before they go to Nepal and will be running a one week training course for Nepalese teachers in Kathmandu in Spring 2017.

Jane started with IYH by offering to help introduce schools. Now she is an integral part of the team. What a woman!

Sue Adlam-Hill: Women's Health & Hygiene Project Coordinator

We are delighted that Sue has agreed to coordinate the women's project that we are driving in partnership with Rotary Canada. 

Sue has become a great friend of the IYH team since visiting our school communities in February 2018. She brings strong organisational skills from a long corporate career as well as a passion for working in different cultures and supporting third-sector organisations to make a difference. Sue is especially interested in projects that support the empowerment of women and girls so this is an ideal fit for us and for her! 

Lamin Tamang - TMO Project Manager

Lamin joined our family in 2018 when she kindly offered to be our translator on a three week trip to visit the schools we support. WOW! She is amazing. Lamin has spent 15 years working in the charitable world of Nepal so is no stranger to adversity. Her passion and vocation became obvious when she managed to communicate to our target audience and captured all of them. They listened and we watched on as she held them transfixed. Not only that, she has worked as part of a perfect team with Sue and Days for Girls to continue the implementation of the Women's Project and continues to do so.

Did I mention Lamin is also married to the wonderful Milan so she really is part of the family.

Lamin can turn her hand to anything and we are lucky to have her as part of TMO and therefore our team too. 

Sanjeev Singh

We are so pleased to announce hat Sanjeev has agreed to become part of our IN YOUR HANDS team. He will be project managing the next stage of our strategy in both the Community Self Funding & Women’s Group as well as an extended Health & Hygiene Program. Please see our blog for details. His is experience is everything we could have hoped for. Every day is a school day for us but with Sanjeev as part of the team we are excited for a huge learning curve. He will be key in helping us to understand the best way to achieve our end goals When supporting the communities we work with. 

Here is what Sanjeev has to say about himself and why he is keen to join us:

“I am Master degree holder in Media Communication with an emphasis on Advertising and Marketing Communication from Webster University; American University.  I have a decade years national and international experience namely in Thailand, Vietnam and Nepal in the field of Humanitarian and Development. Having worked at the national and international levels, I have gained experience and knowledge of working in a diversified and multi-cultural environment which has made me more equipped in understanding people coming from different backgrounds.  

I love travelling and meeting different people. I like to help people who are in need because of this nature, I am willing to work with the IYH team.  I hope I can play an important role to accomplish IYH’s objective. 

Regards,

Sanjeev

Royal Beach Camp & SUMMIT ADVENTURES - Director :Ram Silwal

Ram was one of the best kayaking and rafting guides ever to come from Nepal. That possibly makes him one of the best in the world! Pauline, Mahendra and Ram worked together at Equator Expeditions for 5 years in the 90’s so there is a big history or respect and trust.

Sue and Pauline visited Ram at Royal Beach Camp he explained his program for training westerners to become guides in the Himalayas. He also explained how he ran a Nepalese program alongside this to ensure he was helping young people into an industry that has given him so much. His philanthropy was inspiring and from that moment the seed was sewn. IYH wanted to support his endeavours but we are adding another necessary element by sponsoring women from difficult backgrounds. Ram will be leading the project to support 4 women from challenging backgrounds through a 2/3 year program to become outdoor guides. Please see our blog for details.