SHEWD work

My daily work routine is pretty much governed by the load-shedding timetable which dictates what time we will have electricity … Thankfully I have a laptop (very kindly donated to me by my good friend Natasha) so I can work for a few extra hours when there is no electricity.

I have two big projects at the moment for SHEWD. The first is trying to establish it as a Charitable Trust in Scotland. Why, I hear you ask? Well, first of all, I think it will give it some sort of credibility in the West. During my research into which organisation I would volunteer with, I was always trying to figure out if the NGOs were real, reputable and whether they would provide a safe environment for me, a single young white girl, to work in. Personally, I had seen that one of them was a registered charity in the West, it would have given me a degree of assurance! (Arguably a rather superficial assurance but those were my thoughts at the time …)

Secondly, being a Scottish charity will allow for easier fundraising in the West. It will mean that I (and any other interested and willing people … hint hint) will find it much easier to raise money, especially in the modern day when sites such as justgiving.com are so important to raising money. It will also allow a certain amount of tax relief, including the possibility of GiftAid on any kind donations made.

With my total lack of experience in such projects, I have been a faithful reader of the very useful information provided on both the Scottish Charities Regulator and Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisation websites. I have been working my way through they guidance on writing a Trust Deed, and I am now waiting on a translation of our objects and main activities from Nepali into English so I can start writing our own deed. Good training for my future legal career!

My another current project is creating a brochure for future volunteers. Krishna is very keen to get a regular flow of volunteers to help with our work and I feel that a lack of concrete information on the website and from communication with Krishna, will put many volunteers off working with SHEWD. I’m going to write it in almost a question and answer style, based on my concerns and questions I had before coming out to Nepal.

Once I’ve completed the brochure, I am going to start approaching universities and volunteering organisations with the hope that they might be able to help in attracting regular volunteers. If any of you lovely readers have any ideas about suitable organisations please email me (eblackshaw_320@hotmail.com)

Apart from all this work, I am still enjoying Nepal enormously. Sarah and I have booked our trekking which will be 10 days (I know – eek!) in the Annapurna range, going to both Poon Hill and the Annapurna Base Camp. Very exciting!

Its also getting increasingly hot out here – about 30 C. Krishna says that by the time we go to Pokhra (from where we will start our trek) it will be about 40C! Ahh – I think I might melt. Oh well, maybe I’ll sweat off the HUGE quanities of rice they insist on feeding me!

Until next time … Take care XXxx