Lepcha Cottage - this is where Sikkim’s most charitable soul lives. A former civil servant, retired teacher and social activist, Ms. Keepu Tsering Lepcha has devoted her life to the upliftment of her Lepcha community, a tribe indigenous to the Himalayan region of Sikkim. In 1989, Keepu embarked on a parallel role as a mentor for children of her community, by taking in 5 Lepcha orphan children to live with her in her six-roomed home, Lepcha Cottage. Having grown from strength to strength, today her humble cottage has 80 children.

‘’I have personally known Ms. Keepu since the last 48 years. She has sacrificed her life for providing home and education to the ethnic tribal orphaned children of the Lepcha community. She has set up a foundation which runs a school providing education from Class I to XII for orphaned and underprivileged children from Sikkim. She has been a motherly figure to me and was a close friend of my late parents.

Thanks to the tireless efforts of this 76-year-old lady who has made Lepcha cottage a home for the orphaned children aged 3 to 10.”- Meera