About Us
Our Mission
Looma Education develops affordable, technology-based solutions to bring modern, engaging education to everyone in Nepal, with particular focus on children in rural communitites.
History
Looma Education began in 1996 as EcoSystems Nepal, founded by David and Haydi Sowerwine. While living in Nepal, David and Haydi found that simple technology-based solutions could ease the daily challenges faced by rural communities. EcoSystems Nepal created the WireBridge, a human-powered river-crossing system, which has facilitated over 3 million trips across the deep river gorges in Nepal. In 2008, Skip Stritter joined as CEO, and the nonprofit was renamed Village Tech Solutions (VTS), and in 2019 renamed Looma Education (LE), to emphasize our focus on Education for All. The overarching mission of EcoSystems/VTS/LE has been to create affordable technology-based solutions to help rural communities in Nepal and other developing countries. Learn more about the success of our past projects.
Looma In The News
World in a Box
- Stanford Magazine, March 2020
Looma Team
David Sowerwine
Co-Founder & CFO
Diksha Manandhar
Communication Officer
Skip Stritter
Co-Founder & CEO
Nabina Lama
Workshop Operator
Haydi Sowerwine
Nepal Advisor
Rohit Ghale
Field Officer
Kabindra Manandhar
Program Manager
Nanda Lal Bhandari
Program Coordinator
Looma Partners
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Looma Volunteers
Looma has benefited from over 400 volunteers including:
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Capstone engineering projects at Dartmouth College, Stanford University, Santa Clara University, UCSD, and Colorado School of Mines - 100
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High school summer interns from Menlo School - 200
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Retired teachers around the U.S. - 15
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Peace Corps Volunteers who served in Nepal