Broadleaf Health and Education Alliance

Developing innovative approaches to community development through health and education in rural, marginalized areas in the Eastern Himalayas.

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Read the latest from Broadleaf in our November newsletter and signup to our mailing list.

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The Diwali in India SnapChat story today was pretty awesome, we especially liked this picture- lots of joy!

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Happy Diwali!  The festival of lights!

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The statistics are staggering when you look at the comparison between girls and boys in India and other countries within the developing world.#LetGirlsLearn #DayoftheGirl http://broadleaf.org/rules-world-day-girl/

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The balmy air of pre-monsoon summer hit my every sense as my tumultuous love affair with India began.

Welcome to India: Denna’s First Encounter with her Second Home : http://broadleaf.org/welcome-india-dennas-first-encounter-second-home/ 

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Learn more about the Kumari child goddesses of Nepal

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Startup, TeaBox, aims to bring Darjeeling tea distribution and sourcing into the 21st century.

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Tea is the lifeblood and main industry of Darjeeling and a healthy tea industry is great for the region.  Unfortunately, the tea industry as a whole has been left in the past and is ripe for disruption.  

Along comes Teabox: a startup with the goal of modernizing and streamlining tea sourcing and distribution- featured in this NYtimes article.

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NatGeo Traveler piece about a man's time in Darjeeling finding the perfect cup of tea.

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Broadleaf HEA: How Content Marketing Helps Us Improve Health & Wellness in India [Interview] - Scripted

In the latest installment of our non-profit interview series, we caught up with Broadleaf HEA to talk about how content helps amplify their mission and support a region near the Himalayans.

Board of Director, Matt Matergia, sat down with Scripted.com to discuss our organization and content marketing for nonprofits. We're excited to be participating in Scripted's nonprofit program and can't wait to share the great content that we create with them.

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Megan Casebolt, Broadleaf's AIF fellow, hosted her fellow fellows in Darjeeling. They visited some of our schools in Marybong and got to meet our community health workers in addition to some R&R in Kurseong and Darjeeling. Read more by clicking the link to the AIF.org blog.

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Facebook Is Throttling Nonprofits and Activists

So far coverage of Facebook's plan to squeeze the organic reach of Pages has focused on its impact on "brands" that spam us with ads and promotions. But nonprofits, activists, and advocacy groups with much fewer resources (and no ad budgets) are also being hugely affected. It's starting to look like Facebook is willing to strangle public discourse on the platform in an attempt to wring out a few extra dollars for its new shareholders.

We have seen a dramatic drop in the organic reach of our Facebook posts, especially over the last 6 months or so.  Furthermore, when we do make minimal investments in Facebook advertising, we are inundated with what seem to be likes from fake accounts or click farms. This creates a catch-22. Facebook needs to improve the algorithm and have different standards for not only non-profits and social causes but I would argue local businesses as well (you are probably genuinely interested in seeing the occasional post from your neighborhood business). 

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Looking for a way to support the Nepali Sherpas?

These five organizations and funds assist Sherpa families in Nepal.

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Follow up from a piece by Philippa Biddle we shared a few weeks ago on the ethics of voluntourism http://ow.ly/vjp93

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CHHIP Expands into Four New Schools

Broadleaf Health and Education Alliance is thrilled to announce that for the 2014 school year, which has just begun, we are expanding our reach from 7 to 11 primary schools in three partner communities! The additional schools, all of which have been monitored for the last year as part of our control group for assessing CHHIP's impact, will extend the program's direct reach to over 500 children.

All of these children will participate in a year-long health education curriculum, receive basic health interventions such as deworming tablets, and will be screened for health problems that require referral to the public health system.

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The Festival Of Colors Welcomes Spring

While many are celebrating St. Patrick's Day today, Hindus are celebrating the start of Spring with Holi, the festival of colors.

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CHHIP Exercise Day

Our AIF fellow in Darjeeling recently blogged about an exercise day held at one of our community schools.