When the first Nepal earthquake struck the world was shocked, but perhaps none so much in the UK as CWU member Clive Smith who works in BTs Liverpool Business Connections Team. He and his family became personally involved in events in Nepal.
Here he reports on the situation and makes a plea for your help in order to be able to support the safety and health of the children of one area of Nepal that he and his family are inextricably linked with.
Clive writes:
'Most people will be aware of the turmoil in Nepal due to the recent earthquakes.
When I first knew of what had happened it became a personal problem to myself and family because my daughter, Jenny, and her husband are teachers at The British School in Kathmandu.
The first few hours with no news were a nightmare but later in the day my daughter phoned me to confirm they were both ok.
They had been mountain biking in the hills a couple of miles outside Kathmandu, with friends, one of the group was from the British army on secondment to the local Ghurkha regiment specialising in crisis management, his skills and experience would be needed.
When the earthquake first struck, they were where on a gentle hilltop with no danger from mountain avalanches or buildings nearby, just about the safest place to be. They initially started moving downhill then quickly realised how much the ground was moving around them so just dropped to the floor and waited. They could see people running from nearby village buildings one of which collapsed within minutes. When things settled down they went to the house and between them managed to move some of the rubble to release a man trapped inside.
The days since then have been focusing on contacting colleagues and children from the school, amazingly their school has re-opened. At this stage they know all the staff are ok, not all of the children are back yet but they are hopeful all will return. By coincidence, my other daughter Claire, who is a nurse, was due to visit her sister in four weeks’ time for a family get together, she is now hoping to meet up with an NGO medical agency and help in the local hospital in Kathmandu.
The school has close links to the local community and has decided to devote all of its charitable activities to help rebuild schools nearby which cater for children with special needs, blind or disabled.
If you’ve not already made a donation to help the people of Nepal, can I ask that if you are thinking of doing so you visit my daughters school’s website where you can see the scale of the tasks ahead and the good work they hope to do. All the funds received will go directly to their supported projects.'
You can visit the website for more information adn in order to donate, by clicking the pic above.
Editor’s Note:
The website explains exactly where 100% of your donation will go,l with none of it being spent on administration and wages. The organisation issues regular reports of the work being done by their volunteers:
“We would like to take this time to thank you for the donations that are coming in as we speak. The funds are going to be used effectively and wisely to directly support the excellent projects we are working with. We do not take any administrative costs from the funds which you give us and all our time is voluntary.”
