Blog 23.12.16

Festive Cheer: Siddhartha School Breaks Ground

At the end of October a Memorandum of Understanding was signed between village elders and Vigilance charity partner the Gurkha Welfare Trust, and ground was broken on 14th November. Deep trenches for earthquake resistant foundations are already dug, and the beginnings of footings, posts, and other key structures are being pegged out and emerging from the stony ground.

Vigilance operations director (and Chiuribot native) Laxman Pun is visiting the project as we write, and getting stuck into the building works. Most materials, including stone and aggregates, are collected locally in a daunting feat of community labour. In the pictures you will spot Laxman engaging in heavy lifting by traditional Gurkha woven 'doko'; a basket slung from a fabric belt and borne across the forehead. It's not a task for the faint hearted, or the weak-necked at Himalayan altitudes!

The first phase of building is scheduled for completion just before the 2017 monsoon takes hold in May. But there will still be much for us to achieve in terms of fundraising and legacy building. We can't thank you enough for your support getting us to where we are now, but we want to ensure the ongoing stability and sustainability of the Siddartha School, Chiuribot. And we want to do much more.

We are two thirds of the way to our fundraising target, and our 10 km Hyde Park Dashain Dash in October raised nearly £10,000 with a matched contribution from Vigilance and the kind assistance of our sponsors listed below. Any further assistance that you can offer in mind, body, spirit (or all important fundraising!) would be hugely welcomed.

For more information or to make a donation via our Just Giving channel, please follow the below link or contact Vigilance directly on 02034165340.

https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/VigilanceProperties

Huge thanks to our sponsors:

The Good Rubbish Co

Run and Become

The Gurkha Welfare Trust Hyde Park: A Royal Park