Who we are
Nómadas Solidarios works with local community tourism initiatives. Our volunteering skills-exchange trips help to nurture economic independence in remote rural areas of Nepal and
Uganda. We believe that this kind of authentic grassroots travel and cultural exchange is one way of ensuring better access to education and healthcare in areas with few resources.
Heather Galloway
Founder
I am a journalist with El País and Euronews former SOS Racismo Volunteer, an occasional English teacher and mother of two teenagers.
A significant part of my life has been taken up with travelling and working in various parts of the world, including Nepal, Uganda, India, Pakistan, Senegal, South Africa, Israel, Turkey and Morocco.
My travel experiences have helped me to nurture resilience and empathy and have shaped the person I have become. They have all been authentic and, in this era of selfies and virtual reality, I
feel that authenticity is something that needs to be cherished.
Nómadas Solidarios was inspired by my desire to share my enthusiasm for all things authentic and grassroots – an antidote to the corporate machinery of the 21st century.
Other experiences include collaborating in the setting up of a primary Waldorf school in the Sierra of Madrid, now known as Artebán, and volunteering at Soto del Real prison.
I have a Red Cross diploma in First Aid in nature.
Toya Pariyar
Nepal Community Trek coordinator
Toya Pariyar is a teacher at Nangi High School in Nepal’s Myagdi region and also the coordinator of the exchange program for volunteers who wish to teach or participate in the community while supporting the area’s community tourism initiative.
Toya is also a member of the community tourism initiative committee and is always brimming with new ideas.
Something of a human dynamo, Toya brings warmth and energy to any of the projects he is involved in and is a joy to work alongside.
He is open to any ideas that may help this community move forward either educationally or environmentally and makes sure that the volunteers are very much a part of what’s going on around them.
Ednah Vyabali Vyalemi
Founder of Boomu women's community tourism
I first met Ednah in 2016. She was running Boomu, providing grassroots accommodation for tourists entering the park and selling baskets and jewellery made by local women.
Aware of the power of community, Ednah has involved a number of local characters in her initiative, providing them with an extra source of income.
The remaining proceeds have gone towards setting up a primary school with a children’s home for students
who had either lost parents or did not have the right conditions at home to study in the pipeline.
“The people here eat what they grow around them,” Ednah told me as she explained that the community gets little benefit from having the park on their doorstep. “They rent an acre of land and that can be enough to feed them, but sometimes the baboons from the park eat the crops. The children can’t study because they have no electricity. They speak about aid, but we never see it.”
Nómadas Solidarios Mission
Nómadas Solidarios is not about charity. It’s about supporting small initiatives and those brave enough to embark upon them with limited assets through authentic grassroots travel.
It’s also about the chance for both the volunteer and members
of the host community to see the world with new eyes. Regarding the volunteer, we believe the experience will develop your capacity to adapt to a wide range of circumstances, nurturing flexibility, independent thought and the confidence to set up your own initiatives in the future.