Roof of the World Rally
Launching 12th July 2008
Site menu:
SWORDE-Teppa
What is SWORDE-Teppa?
SWORDE-Teppa is a small charity based in Quergon-Teppa, Tajikistan. Sworde-Teppa runs as primarily an English and Education Centre. The charity was founded by an English man called Paul Marchant, from Tonbridge, UK and Shurat Khodjaev, a Tajik national. Paul keeps the Centre running with a dedicated team of staff and volunteers.
The Sworde-Teppa Centre has some of the best facilities and teaching staff in Tajikistan. SWORDE does more than just teach English (for which there is a huge demand), but also aims to provide education in other fields, e.g Malaria Prevention and Environment and Climate Change. Sworde develops and implements sustainable development projects and works with the local community to develop outward bound courses and activities. Click here to view a PDF brochure with a whole load more information on SWORDE.
In the words of SWORDE...
SWORDE-Teppa is a reconstruction and development organization and is committed to sustainable projects, with the emphasis on encouraging and supporting people to do things for themselves and not to rely on the UN, INGOs and others for relief. SWORDE-Teppa projects can provide much needed economic opportunities for the local community and are vital for urban and rural regeneration and development. Many SWORDE-Teppa projects are to be handed over to local groups, with continued SWORDE-Teppa backing at the end of funding periods. We believe that this long-term commitment is the only way to ensure long-term success. Although SWORDE-Teppa projects benefit all of the community, we are particularly focused on children and young people, the elderly and infirm. Children and young people are the future and the elderly and infirm the most vulnerable in society.
Tajikistan
Tajikistan is the poorest nation in Central Asia. It is estimated that over 60% of the population live below the poverty line. Tajikistan is also one of the most remote and little known countries in the world. It is under developed, lacking in infrastructure and investment - primarily due to a civil war that ended in 1997. Investment has also been hampered by Tajikistans physical landscape, which is extremely mountainous (93%) and much of Tajikistan is on a plateaux no lower than 3,500m. Whilst the visual landscape is both stunning and unusual, the climate tends to be exteme throughout the year. Temperatures regularly drop below -25°C in winter, with many homes having very little or no electricity. In those conditions much of the country is inaccessible for large parts of the year, and severe food shortages are common. In summer, Tajikistan is one of the hottest Central Asian countries - with temperatures usually edging towards 50C. Most of the roads in Tajikistan are unpaved. The main road through the country (mostly unpaved) goes by the name of the Pamir Highway - this is the second highest 'highway' in the world and is only possible to cross in summer. Tajikistan has virtually no tourist infrastructure but is starting to be recognised as being one of the most exciting places to venture to. The current LP guide states that Tajikistan is on the cutting edge of adventure travel and the National Geographic Society has just pegged it as one of the top adventure destinations of 2008.
Why we support SWORDE
After launching an exploratory mission to Tajikistan during the 2007 Mongol Rally, we paid a visit to SWORDE. During our short trip we had the chance to meet and chat to some of the kids learning English, aiming to give themselves a better start in life. We got to know Paul and gained some understanding of the great difficulties faced by such a small charity, as well as directly witnessing some of the really important work being done at the centre. We vowed to return with further help and support.
YouTube has a short video of our time spent at SWORDE in 2007(2 parts).
How will we help?
Sworde-Teppa does not currently own a vehicle of any description and would benefit greatly from having something that could be used by the staff. We hope that this year we will be able to deliver a vehicle that can be used for the childrens educational trips as well as another vehicle for the staff to use in the general running of the centre. We hope that cars that can be sold on by the centre will also help in the raising of funds. Through establishing ROTW as an event and helping raise money for the center we aim to provide further facilities to enable the survival and expansion of the center. The short term funding aims are primarily to help generate the means for Sworde-Teppa to buy a generator and fix the piped heating system, which was destroyed by the unusually cold Tajik Winter of 2007/8. This last winter was Tajikistan's harshest winter in 50 years and it has resulted in Sworde-Teppa losing all their independent electricity potential, at a time of severe power and food shortages. More details of the projects we aim to support can be found here