Hiten Shah
Hiten Shah lives in the UK with his wife Jenny and 4-year-old daughter Simran; they are expecting their second child in October. His family means the world to Hiten, but he was willing to leave them behind and spend 18 days in painful, freezing conditions in the Himalayas to trek to Everest Base Camp in February, to raise money for Sandipani Muni School children. Previously, he took part in a charity run and raised more than GBP 1,000 for SMS; this time, the amount raised was GBP 6,121. He was accompanied by three friends, each of whom raised money for different charities.
Hiten told us that he had been ambivalent about supporting charities in the past because he felt that too much of their income was spent on administration. But seeing a presentation about SMS in London a few years ago convinced him that any money donated to this school goes to those who really need it. Hearing about the difficulties faced by SMS students made him realize how fortunate he was to be able to provide so much for his own daughter. By raising money for SMS, he wished to help less fortunate girls to have an education and establish a career to support themselves. Being of Indian descent, he also wanted to offer something to the people of his country of origin.
In preparation for the trek, he carried out rigorous training for 8 months. The 18 day trip itself involved 13 days trekking with around 8 hours spent climbing daily. However, it was not these hardships that Hiten found most difficult to deal with. The hardest part, he says, was being separated from his loved ones for so long. Sometimes, they could not even communicate for days. He only found out three weeks before leaving that they were expecting another baby, and then both Jenny and Simran fell ill, which even made him consider cancelling the trek. However, Jenny was very supportive of his effort throughout, and they both agreed that the trip should go ahead.
Hiten after the successful climb
Hiten celebrated his 40th birthday during the trek, away from his family, but felt really pleased that he managed to achieve his goal to help improve the lives of so many children. Sandipani Muni School students are very grateful to Hiten for his initiative and effort; for Jenny who helped and supported him; and for all those people who generously donated their hard earned money for the cause.
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“Ineke has found peace of heart in Vrindavan. Here, she is quite happy to see about 1500 kids engaged in studying and playing.” Says the article and it is definitely true, Ineke herself explains she takes the photographs of the kids to show their condition to the world. Thus, supporting FFLV’s project and helping inform in a larger scale, as she’s done on her website, where she points out we are a project close to her heart.
