Pembroke College Cambridge

Pembroke and Nepal I

Following the devastating earthquake that struck Nepal on Saturday 25th April, this week's blog posts explore Pembroke's connection to 'the roof of the world'.

Sarah Howden (2013) & Ciara Rowland-Simms (2013) write:

'Even in the smallest of bubbles, the Nepalese earthquake probably hasn’t escaped your notice. What you may not know is that last summer eleven Pembroke students, ourselves included, continued the tradition of volunteering in schools across the Helambu region of Nepal - teaching the students, living with the families and being awed by the amazing mountains that dominate the landscape.

'As the death toll rises it is impossible for us not to see the children we taught, the schools we spent our days in and the homes which were opened to us, in the emerging images of the rubble that remains.

HELP photo 2 by Kathleen Gordon

'Our village, Ichok, was hit hard by the earthquake. Thankfully, our host family have messaged to say that they are safe, but they are now without food, clothes, and have lost the house that we loved so much. The NGO Helambu Education and Livelihood Partnership (HELP), which brought us to Nepal, originates and operates in the Sindhupalchowk district. It has the highest death toll of any affected region with over 2000 reported dead in this district alone: a chilling figure considering that many of the villages have not had any contact yet, not to mention aid. It took several hours walking from the nearest dirt road to reach our village. That road is now slowly being cleared of boulders that fell during landslides and stopped any aid reaching Ichok until more than a week after the disaster.

'But aid is, slowly, getting there. Mondo Challenge Foundation, a UK charity which has long worked closely with HELP, is coordinating and fundraising for HELP’s work - sending aid to the villages it has supported the past five years and beyond. The HELP team have been among the first to respond to the crisis: coordinating with local NGOs, and carrying food, tents and mobile phones to the villages on foot.

'News of the earthquake broke on the morning of the 25th April. As the extent of the damage became clear fundraising efforts began. Within an hour, the CU HELP JustGiving page had raised £1000. Over the next six days, we managed to fundraise an incredible £20,000. It’s a drop in the ocean in relation to the damage done, but it gave the HELP team in Nepal the funds to start providing aid and, soon, to rebuild stronger what has been lost.'

'We may have lost our houses, families and friends, but not our future.' Jimmy Lama, Founder and Director of HELP

HELP photo by Kathleen Gordon

Other members of the Pembroke community comment:

Ben Laird (2012) 'My lasting memories of Gunsa are of the kindness and warmth of all the families I met and the joy of all the children. It is awful to hear of the scale of the devastation and loss of life there and I can only imagine how hard it is going to be for the village to recover and rebuild after such trauma.'

Helen Denyer (2012) volunteered with HELP before coming to Cambridge and last year she was made president of CU HELP, a Cambridge-based society that works with the charity by raising money and recruiting volunteers. Since then over Pembroke students 15 students have been to Nepal to volunteer as English language teachers during the summer. Helen says: 'We are all devastated by the tragedy that has struck the communities we have grown to love in Nepal, however, we are heartened to see the progress HELP has made in getting aid to these remote communities and by the generosity of so many of our fellow students at Cambridge who have contributed to the appeal.'

For more on the CU HELP appeal, see their website.

Photographs: Kathleen Gordon (2013)

This is the first blog exploring Pembroke’s connection to Nepal. You might also like to read the second and third blog posts.

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