Back in the year 2000, we, like so many other charities, were searching for ways to raise money to enable us to provide all of the services that we knew D/deaf people needed.  At that time we had never thought of working overseas. 

One of the ways in which we saw other charities raising money was through running international challenges.  These were usually challenging treks or walks in various parts of the world which participants were sponsored to undertake.  The company we happened to contact to arrange a trek for us was run by the British mountaineer Doug Scott, and the country he suggested we trek in was Nepal.

As people began to sign up for the trek, we started to research the situation of D/deaf people in Nepal - and the more we researched, the more we became concerned.  The situation facing D/deaf people in Nepal was very bad.  The vast majority of D/deaf children were receiving no education and there was little or no support for D/deaf adults.

Having discovered this, we felt that it was inappropriate to use the beautiful country of Nepal to raise money to support D/deaf people - but to spend it all in the UK.    We therefore proposed to our Trustees that we split the proceeds of the trek 50/50 - i.e. that we spend 50% in the UK and that we use the other 50% to support D/deaf people in Nepal.  They agreed.

This is how all of our work in Nepal began.  After the trek, we met with the NFDH (Nepal National Federation of Deaf and Hard of Hearing People) in Kathmandu and with GAD (The Gandaki Association of the Deaf) in Pokhara and began partnerships with both of these organisations which have lasted to this day.  The first project we undertook with the NFDH was the ‘8 Regions‘ project and the first with GAD was the Shrijana School in Pokhara.  You can read more about both of these projects elsewhere on this website. 

To donate to our work in Nepal, text NEPA02 and the amount you want to give to 70070.