With one registered charity for every 444 people in Australia, the task for small charities such as ours to find creative ways of supporting projects in Nepal can be a challenge.

Last year, Jack Carmody and Russell Tomlin, both WorkSafe Victoria employees and Xtreme adventures founders, met with our CEO to discuss our involvement in a Leadership Journey and Trek Program to Mt Everest Base Camp for WorkSafe employees and associates. The discussions were focused on the addition of a community assistance project in their Program so participants could experience a deeper engagement with Nepal, its culture and people.

We were able to identify a project at the Shree Bal Mandir School and orphanage that would solve a water shortage issue. In addition, it was through Russ’s and Jack’s connections that we were able to secure a donation of 22 Lenovo laptop computers from WorkSafe Victoria. Along with our computers in stock, we were able to install a computer centre at Bal Mandir and an additional two schools in the Syangja District.

Gorkha was the epicentre of the devastating earthquake that struck Nepal in 2015. The disaster disrupted water supplies to the area and the volume of water available during the dry summer months is a serious problem. The issue is not just with providing safe drinking water, but also the availability of water for personal hygiene. There was therefore a perfect opportunity for members of the group to help alleviate this problem by installing a water capture and storage solution at the school.

The journey began in April this year and the group, including our CEO, completed the base camp trek over a 12-day period. The group then travelled to the school in Gorkha. With the funds raised by the team and the equipment donated by WorkSafe, the three-day project culminated in the installation of an 11,000 litre water storage and pump system and a computer centre.

Jack reported that “by aligning ourselves with our charity partner, we have been presented with the wonderful opportunity to make a difference to the community, and more importantly its children, by providing them with more hygienic living conditions and greater prospects for learning. It was an opportunity too good to miss. We left the children in Gorkha in a better position than the one in which we found them. A great sense of achievement was felt by the group. We had done something special and created an experience that will stay with us always.”

We are encouraged by the wonderful relationship struck between Xtreme Adventures, WorkSafe and our organisation. It’s a good example of how a business, government department and a charity came together to make a difference to the lives of children in need.
 
 
Thanks to our project partners:

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