2010 was a good year for the charity thanks to an increase in all financial areas – one off and regular donations. We held our third Harrison Trek at Castle Howard in June generously sponsored by S. Harrison Developments. The Yorkshire Art Exhibitions and sales, organised by Colin & Sandra Culley, were also a great fund raising success. Artists from North Yorkshire generously donated their work to raise funds for New Futures Nepal. We were sponsored by schools, churches and Rotary during the year as well as by individuals and our loyal regular donors and sponsors of individual children.
We generated funds from green fund raising by recycling printer cartridges and mobile phones (see the website for details).
We again held a walking weekend and open meeting at Ilam YHA in the Peak District which was great fun and will be repeated next year. These weekends give the trustees the time and opportunity to talk to supporters and sponsors and to exchange ideas as well as raising funds.
In 2010 we also welcomed a new Patron – Doug Scott CBE the well known mountaineer and tireless worker for Nepali people and charities.
We updated our DVD by making a new film in Kathmandu and Kalimpong – see the website for details of how to obtain a copy.
In Kathmandu we support another two young girls who are severely disabled. In April 2010 two sisters were brought to the Hope centre. Aged 7 years and 5 years old they had been abandoned by their mother after their father’s disappearance several years earlier. Both girls have disabilities and on arrival were unable to walk due to deformities and weak muscles. Both girls also have visual problems. They have settled into the Hope centre well and are enjoying their new surroundings and being with the other children. This gives us 22 children resident in the Hope Centre with 2 young adults at college. We added one more member to the support staff in Kathmandu in order to help cope with the extra work required.
The two older girls Nirmala and Anita both achieved excellent results and graduated from High School. They started college courses during 2010.
In Kalimpong the children continue to thrive and achieve good results at school. Bishal, the oldest boy, left school in September 2010 and has started a motor mechanics course.
In April 2010 Trustee Helen Crook and long-term supporter Tracey Burge undertook a Health Project on behalf of New Futures Nepal in Kathmandu and Kalimpong. Helen, a paediatric nurse who currently works with children with complex health care needs in the community in her local area and Tracey an experienced physiotherapist who lectures in physiotherapy in the UK, successfully applied for funding from the British Medical Association Humanitarian Grants scheme to enable them to undertake a specific project in Nepal for New Futures Nepal. Despite logistical problems thrown their way by volcanos erupting in Iceland, power cuts in Kalimpong and general strike in Kathmandu the project was very successful and the majority of its aims were met in full.
Three Trustees visited Kathmandu and Kalimpong during the year to undertake audits and to start to network with other charities in West Bengal with a view to forming long term working partnerships.