Kentish Express Ashford & District
Barbecue marks efforts to help Nepalese children
A barbecue and dancing marked the handing over of funds to support school children in Nepal.
The Gurkha Peace Foundation (GPF) had pledged to provide £2,000 for education initiatives in the South Asian nation and cheques were handed over to officials at the group’s annual barbecue on Sunday.
A cheque for £1,000 was presented to ex-major Deb Pun to pay for an English teacher at the Shree Shitolpati Secondary School, situated in the mountainous district north of Baglung, which will benefit about 200 students from five villages.
An additional £500 was provided for Shanjhana Rai, a 14-year-old girl with no arms who writes with her toes.
GPF members met her on a trip to Nepal and said she was intelligent and could speak and write in both Nepali and English.
Another £500 will go to 16-yearold Bal Kumar Rai whose father died when his son was a baby.
He has limited use of his arms but loves learning and gained top marks in his SLC exams - equivalent to GCSEs.
Five hundred pounds will pay a teacher’s salary for a year and contribute to the up-keep of the school.
Both cheques were presented to Purna Prasad Limbu, a former Gurkha army captain who now works as a welfare officer in the Nepal, by foundation chairman Brian Staley at the event at St Francis church hall in Cryol Road.
Foundation coordinator Prem Bahadur Limbu said: “Everybody had a good time and it was for a worthy cause.”