27 Sep Why I support Child Rescue Nepal: Trevor’s journey from social work to the Himalayas
Long-time supporter Trevor Moorers shares how his passion for protecting children and love of Nepal came together through Child Rescue Nepal. From first hearing an appeal on the radio to visiting our projects in Kathmandu and remote hilltop schools, Trevor reflects on the people he met, the challenges faced, and the hope he witnessed.
I had always been fascinated by the idea of Nepal; a Buddhist mountain kingdom in the Himalayas, yetis, rhododendrons and monks. I had retired from a career of over 40 years in social work mostly in child protection and when I heard an appeal on Radio 4 for Child Rescue Nepal, it felt so right to support the organisation. Different interests in my life were coming together. I went to the CRN dinner at a Nepalese restaurant near Euston and it was a pleasure to meet the staff; clearly this was a charity without a large bureaucracy absorbing its funds.
I subsequently visited Nepal with CRN to see their work with children and young people in Kathmandu but also the two school classrooms they are raising funds to renovate. The fire at Heathrow put paid to my flight so I joined the party a couple of days later. I was picked up from my hotel at 5am to catch them up on their way to the school. I had no idea what the roads in Nepal would be like…although I did think they would have been built. Everywhere takes at least five hours to reach; we travelled along choked tarmacked roads full of ‘Wacky Races’ style driving, bouncing along dry riverbeds between boulders and up steep sandy forest tracks with nothing between us and a straight drop back down to the valley floor. Having survived the full Top Gear experience, we arrived at the hilltop school.
The school was a rough stone single storey building with a corrugated iron roof, earth floor and no glass in the windows. Despite the poor physical environment, the children were delightful, welcoming us with flowers and songs. They were friendly and fascinated to meet us. For many, especially the girls, this elementary school may be their only experience of education. The nearest secondary school was about two hours walk away down the valley and many of these isolated farming families would need the teenage children to help on the farm. We bonded well as a group – helped by sleeping together in the school classrooms. Sleeping on hard wooden beds is good for the posture apparently. We also shared some very dodgy toilet blocks which I won’t go into here.
When we returned to Kathmandu to visit children’s homes, I was again struck by the friendliness and openness of the children and how optimistic they were for their futures. They all had timetables of their busy weekly regimes on the wall; cleaning, meals, school/college, homework, more cleaning and some time for play. They may not have access to the possessions and support provided in the UK but they all possessed a strong sense of self-worth and ambition for college or work. We were welcomed everywhere with introductions and on leaving we all joined in a group dance. Clearly a Nepalese thing! So, if you plan to visit (which I fully recommend) put in some dancing practice before you go.
After I left the group, I joined a trek up to western Nepal to hike around the foothills of the Annapurna mountains. It was a different and wonderful experience seeing the Himalayas close up. I did see the Himalayas, monks, monasteries and rhododendrons. And although I didn’t see a yeti, I did fly up to Everest on Yeti airlines which statistically is more dangerous than coming face to face with a Yeti.
It was a wonderful trip and my congratulations to all working with CRN both here and in Nepal.