Dear All,
Here we would like to inform you about the current situation in Nepal and the latest news from Laxmi Support.
The situation in Nepal remains alarming. The rebuilding of the country after the devastating earthquakes of April and May was first hampered by the heavy monsoon rains and second the country is now facing a huge shortage of gasoline which is caused by blockages at the Indian border after the long-awaited new constitution.
It is a complicated political situation, but the fact remains that due to the huge shortage of gasoline, a new national crisis has arisen. No fuel means less local buses and taxis, many items are scarce and food prices going up. Schools have threatened and have had to close their doors and also, relief work to areas where people still sleep in tents is more complicated.
Further Laxmi Support has school materials ready to be distributed to two primary schools in the Nuwakot district; however, at the moment there is simply no gasoline for the jeep and we will have to wait until the situation improves.
Meanwhile, we did manage to complete a few projects:
Handing out school supplies at the primary school of village Narjamandap:
During our stay in Kathmandu in July of this year we purchased school sweaters, sandals, blue hats, notebooks and pencils for 45 pupils of the Suryamati primary school, Narjamandap village, Nuwakot district. The items were stored at the home of our contactman Ram with the plan to bring materials to the remote village after the monsoon rains stopped. All this was done with great success!
In the second week of October, Ram and his wife Saraswati traveled by local bus and taxi to the village of Narjamandap. At five o’clock in the morning they began their journey but because many local buses were cancelled due to the current petrol crisis, it took more then an hour to catch a local bus to the main bus station. From there they took a taxi, which they had reserved upfront and after four and half hours of travel they arrived at the school. The children were extremely happy with the school clothing and stationary and Ram and Saraswati have managed to make beautiful pictures of the children and the smiles on their faces.
New football boots for the team Newarpani:
On the October 25th, there were two important football matches scheduled for the football team of the village Newarpani. As we had provided relief work to the families of Newarpani after the major earthquakes, it seemed right and proper to sponsor the young boys’ football season with new football boots, socks, two footballs and gloves for the goalkeeper. Ram purchased the equipment. This donation money was delivered by the father of Alex, who was in Kathmandu last week. The boys were thrilled with their new boots. Unfortunately, the team lost the game at the penalty shoot out, but it was certainly very exciting.
We would sincerely like to thank all sponsors for their support. Without your support we can not provide assistance to children in Nepal. It remains difficult to describe by newsletter how much joy and appreciation your donations bring, but we do hope that this is also reflected in the accompanying photos.
Sewing for Laxmi Support:
The green blazer of my daughter Anneloes’ school uniform required to be adapted to a new style by sewing on a white/ green braiding to the collar and lepel. It took an hour of sewing to complete and during this tedious task Samantha came up with the idea to offer this job to all mothers of the primary school in exchange for a ten pound donation to Laxmi Support. Many hours of sewing further we can now report that we raised a wonderful amount of £120!
Staverton Fete and Winter Market:
On 31 August Laxmi Support was again present at the annual summer fete at Staverton. In the afternoon the sun came out and it turned into a glorious day. Many people from the area visited to take a look at the dog races, old classic cars and the many stalls. There was also huge bouncy castle and slides for the children. Laxmi Support sold various things on their stall and raised a fantastic amount of £183.
In addition, Laxmi Support maintained a stall at the monthly Staverton Winter Market which takes place every third Saturday of the month. The local village market is open for only two hours, but nevertheless we raised a total of over £200.
For more information and photos please visit our website and follow us/ like us on Facebook for background information about Nepal and projects of Laxmi Support.
That’s it for now. If you have any questions, please do let us know.
Best wishes,
Laxmi Support team