In 2004, Elephant Thoughts launched a pilot project for our cultural immersion programs. Fifteen Canadian volunteer teachers traveled to Mirik, India to help share their expertise with the Nepali teachers in our partner schools as well as helping us distribute basic school supplies and equipping the newly built, Elephant Thoughts funded, computer lab on Kishore Memorial School in Mirik.

The overwhelming success of this trip inspired us to organize at least one similar ‘skills exchange’ trip annually for Canadian teachers and students. Our Canadian travelers vowed their lives were changed forever given the experiences in Mirik and we became committed to opening this opportunity to as many people as possible in the future. In addition to providing an arena for sharing each others unique cultures, these programs will contribute to our school improvement projects and contribute to sharing expertise in the form of professional development workshops for indigenous teachers and more.