The date was set and the programme planned, the CYF x KTM ROX Fundraiser was going take place on 21st March in Feltham. Friends of CYF Nepal, consisting of former Tracing Nepal members as well as volunteers and close friends of the Nepali charity had circulated the invitation and blocked the date. Unfortunately, it was on 14th March that Haushala Thapa, founder of CYF Nepal and we decided to call the event off due to the rapidly changing environment (Covid19).
Unsurprisingly, on the 20th March – pubs, bars and clubs in the UK shut down indefinitely. A day before our fundraiser. Haushala who was in the UK for a course/event flew back to Nepal to reach before the ‘air lockdown’ came into effect.
Fast forward to today, the fundraiser online has raised £1,445 UK pounds. CYF Nepal provides education (high quality at that) and accommodation facilities for over 80 students in Lalitpur. The students come from East to West, North to South – representing different backgrounds and caste groups. The charity also happens to be the longest running partner of Tracing Nepal.
The fundraiser event was originally planned to support the costs of text books/school materials. However, with Covid-19 affecting all and having a direct hit on charities such as CYF Nepal – Haushala has shared the plan to spend the money on food supplies for the young people. If you visit @CYFNepal on Instagram, you can see more on how much it costs to feed the organisation per month.
On 21st March, Haushala joined me live on Instagram from her room (as she was self-isolating) to talk about her organisation followed by beautiful live music from Nitika Budha Magar from Hampshire. After the two guests, I was joined live by senior students of CYF Nepal. This was our big feat. Our last-minute virtual event brought good engagement, more support for CYF and in total, we had over 900 unique viewers joining in and out of the live session.
With only a week left till the fundraiser closes, I wanted to update you through this post. £1,445 is a huge amount and I’d like to thank all who have donated – especially at a time when we’re having to think more about ourselves and our immediate needs.
Your generosity won’t be forgotten.
