£500's Donation - A Token Gesture
Yogendra Chhetri is a young man from Myagdi district in Nepal and runs a 'Cleaning Services' in Aldershot, Surrey, on the outskirts of London; Bibek Shreshta is a famous Nepali pop singer from the famous band, Kandara; so are Bhairaja Gurung of Lekali and Gagan Gurung from Madhyanna, all of whom are working and studying in London.
The three singers were keen to give a 'taste' of a live concert to Nepalis in and around London. However, they knew that their venture would involve a substantial financial commitment. Hence, they started to look for a sponsor who would be ready to shoulder the financial burden just in case the shows went in loss. It was difficult to find such a person. But as they say 'where there is a will, there is a way.' Ultimately they met Yogendra Chettri, who, according to Bibek, not only promised all the financial costs for the programmes but also bought the trio the necessary musical equipment. Manoj Gurung, also a businessman from Aldershot, took up the responsibility of managing the programmes.
Meanwhile, Bibek was contacted by HELP NEPAL Network to find out if they would be interested to donate certain portion of their proceeds to the Network. After discussing with Yogendra, the sponsor, Bibek informed the Network that they would donate £2 from each ticket sold and would also allow 'HeNN stall' in their shows. HeNN was much obliged to the group.
The group organised three shows in three different places in and around London. All the shows went well, said Bibek, however "due to the high cost of the programmes and not-so-fantastic attendance, expenses were higher than the income," he lamented. "Hence, we could not keep the promise of '£2-a-ticket' donation, but as HELP NEPAL has been doing such a wonderful work, I still wanted to make a contribution and here is the cheque of £500 as a token gesture," said Yogendra at a small function held in South East London. The cheque was then handed over to HELP NEPAL - UK's new treasurer, Prashiddha Pradhan. HELP NEPAL Network is sincerely thankful to Yogendra Chettri and all the other group members for their generosity.
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Nepalese Student runs the British 10K Open Road Race 2003
(July 13th, 2003) Mr. Anil Thapa participated in the British 10 Kilometre Open Road Race on July 13th 2003. He succesfully completed the race and raised 700 pounds for HELP NEPAL Network. He handed over the money at the Help Nepal Charity Dinner held on July 20th, 2003 and was presented with a Letter of Appreciation.
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HELP NEPAL International Day 2003
(August 2003) HELP NEPAL Network celebrated its annual HELP NEPAL International Fund Raising Day between July 19 and August 03 in various countries raising in total around £2,000 for the fund's future projects. On the occasion, HELP NEPAL Network-Australia (HeNNA) was formally launched at a ceremony held in Victoria. The program, attended by around 80 people, began with a poster display, presentations by invited speakers and HeNNA members sharing experiences and talking about the Network's concept and vision. That was followed by a short cultural program, luncheon, raffle, group photographs and interactive discussions. About £620 was raised on the occasion. One of the special guest speakers, a representative of Nepal Australian Link newspaper, published from Sydney, promised a permanent column for HeNNA's activities in the paper. Similarly, various functions were held in Austria, Italy, Nepal, the UK and the USA. In Nepal, the occasion was also used to donate money to HELP NEPAL' s two new projects. £2,000 was donated to build a health post in remote Mugu district and further £2,000 was donated to Sahara Group in Nepalgunj to support the children affect by the recent violence in the country. The Mugu project will receive further £2,000 upon successful completion of the first phase of the project.
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HELP NEPAL International Day 2002
(June 3, 2002) HELP NEPAL Network, a charity of Nepalese living in different parts of the world, organised a HELP NEPAL Day simultaneously in the UK, Australia, Italy and Nepal over the weekend, raising over £2,000 for future projects of the organisation. About 120 Nepalese gathered at the Doren Bazeel Hall in Central London to participate in a dinner and dance party, sponsored by Primus Telecommunications, UK.(Our special thanks goes to Mr Sashank Kansal, Vice President of Primus' Europe Department, for arranging the sponsorship.) In Kathmandu, about 300 people attended a cultural function on Saturday at Hotel Raddison where the organisers handed over £1,500 to the authorities of Chanaute Primary School of Lunkhu Garedi Danda in Parbat district. The school would construct a building to accommodate new classrooms. Also on Saturday, a lunch-cum-seminar was held in Victoria, Australia, to promote the cause of the Network. Similarly, a small get-together of Nepalese was organised in Italy. Julie Basnet, the co-ordinator of Help Nepal International Fund Raising Day, said the Network intended to mark the Day in as many countries as possible in the coming years. She said the Day was not all about raising money but generating a sense of responsibility towards the development of Nepal among the Nepalese. Since Nepal has been going through the most difficult time in history, it has been even more important for the Nepalese around the world to make a positive contribution towards their homeland, Basnet said.
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Charity Dinner in Support of HeNN
(January 2001) Three active members of the Nepalese community in London, Miss Julie Basnet, Mr Prakash Bhattarai and Samip Hangbang 'Jarjar' organised a 'get together with a purpose' in support of HELP NEPAL Network on 14th January, 2001 raising about £500 for the fund. The dance and dinner party, organised at a Nepalese restaurant Pooja Cottage, in northwest London, was attended by around 80 Nepalese youths and a couple of British people. Sapan Rai, the famous Nepali singer in London who has recently produced a Nepali album, Millennium Saugat, entertained the guests with his own and other Nepali and English dance numbers. Nalina Chitrakar, also a well known pop singer in Nepal who was in London for a show of her own, attended the party and sang some of her hit songs from the CD, Nalina. HeNN expresses special thanks to the organisers and Sapan Rai, who always provides free entertainment to support Nepalese charity programmes in London. Though all of the three organisers are involved in HeNN, the 'get together with a purpose' was arranged in their personal capacity. The Network as a group is planning to organise a grand fund raising gala in the near future.
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Nepali Donates $2,000 to HeNN
Nepal's Honorary Consul to Belarus and a leading businessman in this former Soviet Republic, Dr Upendra Mahato, has donated $ 2,000 to HELP NEPAL Network.
Dr Mahato, impressed by the Network's emphasis on encouraging Nepalese around the world to contribute to Nepal, has also decided to work as its Chief Co-ordinator in the former Soviet Republics.
The Network thinks that Dr Mahato's generous gesture is a major step forward in its campaign. Dr Mahato would like to see part of his donation used to legally set up HELP NEPAL as a registered charity so that it could benefit from its registered status which carries a lot of importance in the UK.
HELP NEPAL Network expresses sincere gratitude to Dr Mahato for his generosity and welcomes him into the Network.
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Nepali Student Donates £375 to HeNN
(December 2000)
A Nepali Student in Singapore, who wants to remain anonymous, has donated £375 to HELP NEPAL Network, UK. The Kind contributor, working on her PHD in 'Built Environment' at the National University of Singapore, had this to say in a message of support, " I always felt guilty that I had done nothing for the welfare of my country. Hence when I got an opportunity to work as a part time tutor at my university, I saved some money with an intention to spend on some charitable work in the field of educational in Nepal. After going through the web site of HELP NEPAL, I was so impressed by the idea, enthusiasm of the people involved and the achievements it had made in a short span of time that I thought it was only appropriate to support this noble cause. I wish you all, all the best and I promise to support your campaign in any way that I can in the future."
HeNN Dec 7, 2000 Ceremony
On December 7, 2000, HELP NEPAL Network - Nepal organised a small function in Kathmandu to hand over money for the third and fourth projects being undertaken by HELP NEPAL Network, which represents Nepalese in around a dozen countries. The fund for the two projects were jointly raised by HELP NEPAL groups in the UK, USA, former Soviet Republics and Russia, Australia, New Zealand, Thailand, Finland, Belgium, Austria, Italy and Nepal. £1,200 was handed over to the headmaster of Saraswati Primary School in Bijayanagar, Pyuthan, Mr. Jeev Raj Neupane, to reconstruct the building which was in a derelict condition. Similarly, £600 was handed over to Lion's Club, Lalitpur, to run a Hepatitis B vaccination programme at Sharada Secondary School at Pashupati in Kathmandu.
Our assistance will be matched by the recipients' participation through local fund-raising efforts and voluntary labour, which reflects our policy to encourage local involvement and discourage donor-dependent mentality in the projects that we undertake. Our encouragement of local participation was extremely successful in our first tow projects, the details of which can be found in the Achievements section. Also on 7th December 2000, the President of the Nepali Association in Victoria, Australia, Dr Raju Adhikari, handed over around £400 to HELP NEPAL Network-Nepal to help stock and furnish the library that HeNN built in Dunai, Dolpa earlier that year. HELP NEPAL Network expresses its sincere gratitude to the Association for agreeing to work together in Dolpa project and hopes that the partnership between the two organisations will go a long way in helping Nepal.
HeNN also used the occasion to announce that the medical equipment worth about £1,500 had been shipped from London to Kathmandu and was being distributed to suitable parties. The equipment was kindly received from the St George's Hospital in London.
The chief guest of the function, State Minister for Health, Mr Tirtha Ram Dangol, praised the efforts of HeNN to encourage Nepalese around the world to contribute to Nepal. Mr Arun Singh Basnet, Nepal Co-ordinator of HeNN, outlined the philosophy of HeNN and also pointed the difficulties in getting involved in such activities in Nepal especially mentioning the fact that the medical equipment sent from London were stopped by the airport customs and had taken nearly two months to go through the bureaucratic process before releasing them.
Dr Pranab Gyawali, Vice Chair of HeNN - UK, said this was the first time Nepalese in different parts of the world were networking to run charitable projects in Nepal and the organisation would continue to encourage more Nepalese to get involved in charitable works in Nepal. Dr. Raju Adhikari, President of the Nepalese Association Victoria, Australia, said if there were credible institutions like HELP NEPAL, expatriate Nepalese would do more for the country.
The function was attended by around 150 guests.
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How Nepalese Abroad can HELP NEPAL?
HELP NEPAL Network, UK, organised an interaction programme, How Nepalese Abroad Can HELP NEPAL? in London on 30th April, 2001. Representatives of three major Nepali organisations in the UK, YETI Nepali Association, Himalayan YETI and Nepal Support Society expressed their views on the subject and gave details of how their respective organisations were helping Nepal in different ways.
The interaction also focused on how different organisations could co-ordinate with each other in helping Nepal to make the contribution substantial. The programme was attended by community leaders, professionals, students and the Nepalese Ambassador to the UK, Dr. Singh Bahadur Basnyat and Her Royal Highness, Mrs. Jotshana Basnyat.
The Co-ordinator of the programme and the vice Chair of HELP NEPAL Network, Dr. Pranab Gyawali, expressed hope that the discussion on a topic like this would help expatriate Nepalese to think more about the ways of helping Nepal.
HELP NEPAL Night 2001
HELP NEPAL Network, UK, organised a HELP NEPAL Night in London on the 28th of May 2001 to raise funds for the Network's future projects. The Network raised about £1,000 from the event. As per our target about 130 people, mostly Nepalis, were present to enjoy the charitable night full of dance, music and delicious Nepali food. Live music was provided by Sapan Kumar Rai, a famous Nepali singer and DJ in London. Thanks to Julie Basnet, the Social Secretary, and Shamip Hangbang "Jarjar", an executive committee member, for the successful co-ordinating the programme. A brief financial detail of the event is given below.
| . |
INCOME |
EXPENDITURE |
| Number of Guests: 127 x £15 |
1905 |
|
| Drinks Sold: |
650.00 |
|
| Food: |
|
780 |
| Singer/DJ: |
|
200 |
| Drinks: |
|
345.15 |
| Cup/Plates: |
|
62.45 |
| Postage/Decoration: |
|
41.00 |
| Dry Ice/Bin Bags: |
|
8.70 |
| |
|
|
| Total |
£2555.70 |
£1575.30 |
| Net Profit |
£980.40 |
SE London Nepalese Donate £101
The Nepalese community in South East London, organisers of the Nepali New Year's Eve on 16th April 2001, has donated £101 to HELP NEPAL Network. About 400 Nepalese had gathered and HeNN had set up a stall with its banner and photographs of its projects. Many people enquired about HeNN and some of them immediate donations. Five standing orders totaling £8 per month and lump sum donations totaling £80 were received during the event. Many people have promised to send the donations later. The organisers gave a brief introduction of HeNN and announced that 25 pence from each ticket (£5) sold would go to HeNN. Many people, who already knew about HeNN, were also pleased to meet some of the faces behind the campaign.
It was a great opportunity to promote HeNN and the gesture shown by the organisers and others was great. Our special thank goes to the organisers of the evening. Messrs Durga Pandey. Motiraj Bhandari, Keshab Bhandari, and Bijaya Raut, HeNN executive committee member, who worked as co-ordinator.
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Nepalese in Belgium Raise £650 for HeNN
Nepalese living in Belgium have raised around £650 for HELP NEPAL's future projects. Special thanks goes to Mr. Khaganath Adhikari, Kumar Gurung and Bhaskar Basnet who co-ordinate the HELP NEPAL activities in Belgium. The fund was transferred to London in August 2001.
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HeNN's team-mate builds Library
One of HELP NEPAL's team-mates from Moscow, Mr Jiba Lamichhane, has helped build a library in Nepal Madhyamik Vidhayalaya, Ratna Nagar, Chitwan, from where he passed his School Leaving Certificate. The library, Khumlal-Harikala Lamichhane Pustakalaya, named after his parents, was built at the cost of around £3500 and was inaugurated by Vice-Chancellor of the Royal Nepal Academy, Mohan Koirala, on January 7, 2001.
On the inaugural ceremony, Jiba also presented 250 books on literature to the library. Similarly, Dr Upendra Mahato, HELP NEPAL's chief co-ordinator in the former Soviet Republics and Russia, donated £500 to buy other necessary books and stationeries for the library.
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Nelp Nepal Network organised an eye camp in November 2004 in Sarlahi and in association with BP Memorial Institute.