Welcome Back! New technology’s all well and good, but we’ve slightly overlooked that good old form of communication and information, the written word! So as we hurtle through May, (and before we start sending you Vlog after Vlog from the field) we thought we’d catch up in a more traditional way.
“ There's been a bit of a, how can we say… Blog-Hole? ”
We’re 4 years on and there’s still so much to do. The earthquake may be ‘old news’ but its impacts and the challenges it highlighted aren’t. In this time NERF has been slowly growing and developing. Projects that were pilots are now in their 2nd & 3rd phases of development and implementation. Staff who were newly minted volunteers are working on expanding NERF’s programs. Our revenue streams are still running sufficiently well to allow us to keep working, at a time when other UK charities that work in Nepal have down-scaled or closed offices. I mean, we’re still on the lowest tier in the Charity Commissions categorisation of income, but I guess it just goes to show what can be one with a little, when done well.
For example, running 10 days of Psycho-Social counselling sessions for 17 blind & partially sighted (BPS) students in a government hostel would cost, how much? Have a guess… A: Less than dinner & drinks for 6 people?
B: Less than a new 3-piece suit, shirt & tie?
C: Less than a reasonable quality acoustic guitar?
The answer? Less than each of them. For £215 NERF can provide a session in the Kathmandu Valley. We spend a little bit more when the team has to travel to one of the other earthquake affected districts. We spend a little bit more when the team finds there’s no road to the hostel, and we will spend a little bit more when we go back because we found out that some of the students don’t even have a slate & stylus to write with, or a white cane to walk with.
So for this re-introductory Blog we’d just like to reiterate how important what you give is. To us, and the people we work with. Its nice to be able to provide this reminder and more in-depth information on fund usage and application, something we’ll look to do more of in the future. Even more importantly, its our responsibility.
Keep your eyes peeled and glued to our social media feeds and future blogs, vlogs and interesting stuff… Also please share, like and comment on everything, because, um, why not? Whether you #trek with us, #donate to us or #volunteer your time for us this is our story. So let’s try writing that best-seller ;)