e2e Round Up

e2e Challenge - cycle Nepal 2017

Leadership Challenges is a Wiltshire-based social enterprise that uses adventure to inspire leadership.  In October/November 2017 and together with YYY Foundation they took 11 cyclists to Nepal to tackle 400 kilometres of tough off-road terrain between the epicentres of the two earthquakes. The route passed through the central hills of Nepal, traversing some of the areas worst hit by the 2015 earthquakes. As well as facing a tough physical challenge, the cyclists were directly exposed to the aftermath of the earthquakes and the appalling conditions in which many villagers are still living.  

e2e raised a fantastic sum of money that helped us to make some real differences to the lives of school children across the affected region.  We were able to build a second story to the secondary school in Likhu, there are now enough classrooms for all classes and the school is back to running full time.  One of the classrooms we built is a computer suite and we were able to buy 15 computers with a printer.  The additional computers for Shree Kalidevi school are thanks to e2e money as was all the funding for the first year of our teacher training program.

e2eChallenge17 was photographed by Sarah Gurung, Shanta Nepali and filmed by Tim Hunt, Hunt and Create. In testing and very challenging conditions the team produced a daily stream of short films that summed up the event brilliantly.  The final highlights film above encapsulates the tortuous journey each rider took to raise over £36,000 (plus GiftAid) for YYY Foundation. 

We are profoundly moved by their efforts and extend our heartfelt thanks to everyone for supporting this challenge of a lifetime.

Three years on

Today, 25 April 2018, is the third anniversary of the quake that shook our world and changed the lives of millions of people forever. We will never forget the loved ones lost and the numbing shock of watching familiar places crumble to dust. But for us today is a day to look back and see how far we’ve come since that day and thank the amazing people who have made it happen.

YYY Foundation has gone from strength to strength and yes we’ve built a lot of schools but it’s not the bricks and mortar that are the legacy. It’s the sense of pride and hope reconstruction has brought to whole communities . It’s over 700 children back in school in their community. It’s the chance meetings and lasting friendships that have grown out of disaster.

Thank you everyone who supported us and worked so hard, because of your efforts we will be able to continue building and equipping more schools in 2018/19. Sera Gurung, Arun Gurung, Manisha Gurung, Phil Rouse, Helen Keen, Bo Scalaway, Sarita Keen, Mahendra Thapa, Milan Tamang, Shanta Nepali, Sudip Poudel, Ranjan Rajbandari, John Hall, Jo Crow, the Staff and Children of Box Primary School, the riders of e2e challenge 17, the staff at Yak Yeti Yak & Phat Yaks in Bath and everyone who has donated big and small.  You are all amazing.

Kishoor's Story

Every once in a while, a story comes along that just has to be told, 10 year Kishoor had one of those stories when I met him on the e2e challenge ’17.  Although Kishoor was only with us for less than half a day he came to encapsulate the spirit of e2e like no one else could.

Financials update - August 2017

We have had lots of great news and success on the fundraising front since our last financial update in February.

We have received wonderful support over the last year from Pantheon, who donated £5,000 to YYY Foundation in May.

And in the same month we received £19,000 from the Mazars Charitable Trust to fund the building of a new Primary School and Community Centre in Hagam, Sindapulchowk, replacing the school which was destroyed in the 2015 earthquake.

Building work on the school will recommence once the monsoon is over.  More than 70 children from very poor backgrounds will use the new school when it is complete.  We are very grateful to the Mazars team for their generosity.

In all, the charity has raised almost £40,000 since last September, a fantastic achievement. Virtually all of that (98%) is being used for projects in Nepal, as our costs as a charity are minimal.  We are working with our friends at Mandala Organisation in Nepal, who co-ordinate all the school rebuilding work, to identify and plan our next school projects and will have more news later in the year.

Thanks again to Mazars Charitable Trust, Pantheon, Box School, Panache Picture House, e2e Challenge, the British School of Paris and the European School of Luxembourg 1, for their support and generosity.

Hagam - a village in need

During our visit in February 2017, we took a very difficult trip to Hagam, a village still in ruins.  We took a party from Leadership Challenges, who are heading up the first e2e Challenge cycle expedition in October November 2017. For all,  this was their first visit to Nepal and their first exposure to the destructive forces of the 2015 earthquakes and landslides. The jouney was especially difficult. The first two hours by road from Kathmandu were easy. The following three hours off into the hills took their toll on one of the vehicles that along with some of its passengers, returned to camp.  This track has been cut off for nearly two years but the welcome beyond was worth the discomfort, as the following personal account describes.

Financials update - Feb 17

In the time since we started raising money, immediately after the earthquakes in Nepal back in April 2015, we have now raised a fantastic total of almost £35,000.  Most of this money has been used to provide finance towards the rebuilding of four schools in Nepal, three of which have been finished; the fourth at Mangala Devi has been fully funded by the charity and is now substantially built.  We are genuinely able to say that almost all of every penny that we raise is spent on charitable projects – almost 95% of the money we have so far generated has been available for our projects.  YYY Foundation’s first year’s accounts, which cover the period from registration in October 2015 to the 30 September 2016, have been independently reviewed for us and are now fully signed; these should be available soon on the Charity Commission’s website.

Travelling through Nepal as a first timer

Well, it's everything you think it might be, and more. Nepal, for a first time visitor who embraces a challenge certainly pushes the experience to the limit! My initiation started the day after we landed when we repacked our bags with the basics and headed out for a 3 day road trip by jeep to visit Barpak - the first earthquake epicentre.  It is also the end of e2e Challenge, the inaugural mountain bike expedition between epicentres, which gets underway at the end of October 2017. The first few miles on tarmac were quickly behind us as we continued for miles on dirt tracks.  This is the norm here and the only way to reach communities that are quite literally off the beaten track, many of whom have been cut off for months post earthquakes. The scenery is of course breathtaking and the welcome we received on arriving at villages where YYY Foundation has funded projects over subsequent journeys makes a little discomfort quickly forgotten. Our journeys pale into insignificance when compared to those made by hillside villagers daily - mostly on foot.

Mangala Devi - our best birthday present

This little school was totally destroyed in the earthquakes.  Not a brick was left standing but dedicated band of children still came everyday to learn. Their teacher made do with a few tables and benches in amongst the rubble.  While the view is outstanding, this open air approach wouldn't see them through the harsh winter. By the time YYY Foundation reached its first birthday Mangala Devi had a temporary shelter. By spring 2017 the new building with strong room and toilet block will be complete.

A Week In Nepal - A year on from the earthquake

Two of our trustees travelled to Nepal in April; this was the first time Phil has been to Nepal for 25 years.  A year on from the catastrophic natural disaster that prompted us to establish YYY Foundation, the region's land and buildings still display the vivid scars of the earthquake and its aftershocks.  Little by little, organisations like ours are helping communities to rebuild their homes and schools.  During his visit, Phil and fellow trustee Sarah Gurung handed over land purchased for a school and looked up other projects.  Our trustees always travel at their own expense.  Read Phil's diary for his personal account of the trip.

Nature's brutality - Landslides, road blocks & the power of people

Sarah travelled to Nepal in March 2016, staying for two months to work on projects, visiting sites and working with our partners to push on with projects. Many of her journeys, already difficult thanks to the desperate fuel shortages, were hampered by the debris left behind by landslides the earthquakes triggered. This was never more evident than at the border with Tibet.  Read her diary entry here.