News From Nepal

30th May 2008 The end of the monarchy

Today this note arrived from one of our Nepal Operations team describing the current tense situation in Kathmandu.
If you want to read a BBC report click Nepal Protests

"Well yesterday around 11.30 PM our country is declared a Federal Republic and thus the King is from now on just an ordinary citizen of Nepal. He has been given 15 days notice to vacate the Palace, which is going to be turned into a Museum. CA meeting supposed to start at 11 AM, was delayed for 12 hours as the main political parties Nepali Congress, UML and Maoist started bargaining for power sharing rather than to start CA Meeting which indicates they have not changed and they are too selfish to think of our Country or the people. Most of the public are angry and upset with them. That is why thousands of people gathered outside CA Meeting Hall to pressurise CA members to declare federal republic as soon as possible, the masses became so impatient that they started throwing stones and scuffling with police and Police have to use tear gas.The masses stayed there even after the king loyalist expoloded two bombs around CA Meeting Hall.

Today, there is tension around Palace as people started gathering there to put National Flag in the Palace and as the Govt. has declared Palace area as prohibited zone, there is now fighting going on between public and police in Durbar Marg.

The way political situation right now I do not think Prachanda will become Prime Minister for next few weeks as there will be lots of wrangling between parties before they form the new Govt."

News From Nepal

28th May 2008

I wrote earlier that the party with the most victories in the national elections in April were the maoists, but a new government is still to be formed. Their new "Constituent Assembly" was inaugurated on May 27th with the swearing in of the 600 or so representatives taking place.

Today, May 28th, is the day that Nepal is officially declared a Federal Republic and the current ruling monarch, King Gyanendra is being given 30 days to vacate the palace. It is planned to turn the palace into a national museum.

All government financed schools have been officially closed for two weeks, reopening today, following a shortage of school textbooks. Once again the value of Nepal Schools Aid is highlighted with our five schools who received books from us two weks ago which had been ordered well in advance.

You can keep up to date with all the news from Nepal at Nepal News.

Events News

28th May 2008

Glynis's Big Car Boot Sale

Well, sad to report that the first attempted attendance at a car boot sale failed miserably. Thanks to driving rain and gale force winds in Gloucestershire, Bank Holiday Monday was not a good day for an outdoor market. We didnt even start to load the car. However a friend spotted a set of four paintings in our "pile" and bought the lot for £65 so we have a good start for the next time we decide to set off!

All you supporters out there remember this is a good way you can help us. Just empty your loft, get friends to add a few items then fill the car and toddle off to your local car boot sale. If you can't raise £100 for nepal Schools Aid, I'll eat my hat!

Challenge 08

This is our Trustee Chairman's (yours truly) personal challenge for the year and involves three seperate activities. First is the 174 mile Hadrian's Cycleway route up the Lake District coast then following Hadrian's Wall to South Shields which I hope to complete in 2-3 days. Second, the Lakeland Passes route which is a replication of the Fred Whitton Challenge involving all six Lakeland passes over a distance of 107 miles. Hoping to complete this in 10-12 hours. Lastly, a trek in the Alps, The Tour Mont Blanc which is a circular route of 100 miles through France, Switzerland and Italy. Hope to complete this in under 10 days.

The only problem is ....... I'm nursing a broken arm at the moment. Fell off the bike 3 weeks ago and will probably be in plaster for another 3-4 weeks. It won't stop me completing the challenge, I'll just be a bit later in the year completing it.

Still seeking sponsorship so click the "sponsor me now" button to the right to donate

Financial & Project News

28th May 2008

Our good start to the year has continued and we have so far banked around £5,000. We still have almost another £1,000 owed from our recent Gift Aid claim too but the Inland Revenue are a little slow at present.

We are on the verge of becoming the adopted charity of a Nepalese restaurant, The Gorkha Square, in Grantham who may run regular charity evenings on our behalf and share the profits with us.

In July we have a great opportunity to get some free strategic consultancy with a group of accountants going through a training programme who will "investigate" a project of our choice. I am asking them to explore how we can sustainably increase our core income from £2,500 to £5,000 per annum. I will report their findings here when I have the results, probably in August.