The Gurkha Welfare Trust

A GWT 50th birthday celebration in Nepal

THE GURKHA WELFARE TRUST “Gurkhas Living Out Their Lives with Dignity”

Our success in 2018/19

Last year (2019) marked 50 years of The Gurkha Welfare Trust in Nepal. Thanks to the incredible and continued support of the British public, thousands of Gurkha veterans and their families now receive a guaranteed monthly income, have a roof over their head, have medical assistance and live in communities which have vital access to clean water and education.

As we continue to support Gurkha veterans, their widows and communities across Nepal we rely on your support.

With your help, last year: • 4,831 Gurkha veterans and widows across Nepal received our Welfare Pension. • 1,000 Gurkha veterans or widows were awarded

Emergency Hardship Grants. • 406 family members received a Home Carer’s Allowance. 227 disabled children of our core beneficiaries received a Disability Support Grant. All Welfare Pensioners received a Winter Allowance of warm winter clothing. 73,500 cases were treated by our medical staff. 2,817 people attended two medical camps. 48 vulnerable Welfare Pensioners received roundthe-clock care at our two Residential Homes. 30,342 people had clean water piped to their homes thanks to 101 build and repair projects, and 5,252 taps were installed. 28,647 children benefitted from our Schools Programme, which included six major refurbishment projects and two brand new model schools. 103 earthquake-resilient houses were built for Gurkha veterans and widows whose homes were deemed most at risk of collapse in the event of another earthquake.

Gurkha widow Aitamaya Limbu outside her earthquake-proof house

666 ex-Gurkhas received advice from our two UK Welfare Advice Centres. We were delighted to welcome bestselling author and Trust supporter Alexander McCall Smith CBE to Nepal

Other news from 2019

2019 marked our 50th year supporting Gurkha veterans and their dependants, which was cause for congratulation in both Nepal and the UK. Each of our 21 Area Welfare Centres held their own event in traditional Nepali style, while here in the UK we organised a celebratory curry lunch at the Gurkha Museum in April. This was well-attended by current staff and trustees as well as original Trust fundraiser Anthony Wieler, several of our former chairmen, and vice-patrons Field Marshal The Lord Bramall and Field annual monsoon season.

Marshal Sir John Chapple. in January to see first-hand the vital work we do. The author, who is best known as the creator of the No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series, visited Gurkha

Last year we took pre-emptive action by building 103 new earthquake-resilient homes for Gurkha veterans and widows. Studying the structural weaknesses of pensioners’ homes destroyed in the 2015 earthquake encouraged us to take this action to protect our most vulnerable pensioners. Our homes are built to an earthquake-resilient design and they are able to withstand the heavy rains and strong winds of the

veteran, and recipient of our Welfare Pension, Lal Bahadur Gurung during his trip:

“We met in the courtyard of his son’s house. He walked quite well for a man of 105, supported by a walking frame bought for him by The Gurkha Welfare Trust. He sat down, and I sat down opposite him, our interpreter at his side. He told me his story. After signing up, he had been sent to India, and from there to Iraq. Then he went on to Egypt, where he fought in the Western Desert. I asked him whether he had been under the command of Montgomery, and he said no, it was Mr Churchill who was in charge. Then he was taken to Italy, with the invasion, and he fought at the Battle of Monte Cassino. He said: “I lost many friends. Many of us did not come back.”

We were saddened to hear of the death of Lord Bramall at the end of 2019, at the age of 95. From his time serving in World War Two until his retirement in 1985, he was part of almost every UK military campaign, serving as Colonel of the 2nd King Edward VII’s Own Gurkha Rifles in the late 1970’s, then Colonel of the entire Brigade of Gurkhas and, finally, the Head of the British Military from 1982 to 1985. He became Vice Patron of The Gurkha Welfare Trust in 1999 and was a staunch supporter until his death.

2019 also saw the loss of one of the Trust’s most generous supporters, philanthropist Sir Michael Uren, who died in August aged 95. Sir Michael donated the funds which enabled us to build our two Residential Homes in Nepal. Thanks to his generosity, our most vulnerable Welfare Pensioners will receive essential round-the-clock care for the rest of their lives, a tremendous legacy to leave, and grateful residents at both homes in Kaski and Dharan held their own puja in his honour.

Field Marshal The Lord Bramall at the GWT 50th birthday celbrations

that both our Chairman and a member of our UK team had been recognised in the Birthday Honours list. Lieutenant General Sir Nick Pope KCB CBE was appointed to the military division of the Most Honourable Order of the Bath. Nick is Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the British Army and the official head of the Brigade of Gurkhas, as well as the Chairman of The Gurkha Welfare Trust. Mahendra Kumar Limbu MBE was made a Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire for services to Gurkha personnel and their families. Mahendra is our Welfare Officer in Aldershot, providing advice and support to Gurkha families choosing to settle in the UK.

We strive to provide our staff in Nepal with the very best training, to enable them to perform their roles to the utmost in a challenging environment. Working in partnership with the Institute of Advanced Motoring, we ran two motorbike riding courses to train 33 members of staff in 2019. This training will enable our staff to travel out to Gurkha pensioners in remote locations safely and quickly. Last year, we also partnered with Team Rubicon to deliver emergency response training to GWT staff across the country, using practical scenarios to help them

plan how to react in the event of a natural disaster. This vital training will be rolled out to more of our staff in February 2020, enabling us to better support our veterans and their dependants and communities, when the very worst happens.

Back in the UK, we have been humbled as always by the unstinting support of the public for our work in Nepal – and the lengths some will go to on our behalf. Trailwalker remains one of the highlights of our fundraising year and, in 2019, 232 teams completed the 100km challenge across the South Downs in aid of the Trust and our charity partner Oxfam GB, together raising close to £1m. The Queen’s Gurkha Signals were the first to cross the finish line in 10 hours and 25 minutes, beating reigning champions the Royal Gurkha Rifles. A further £12,000 was raised by six individual supporters who ran the London Marathon for us, three of them crossing the finishing line in under four hours. And we rounded off the year with a traditional carol service in St Lawrence Jewry in the City of London, the week before Christmas. The church was filled to capacity, and the stirring event raised another £8,000 for the Trust.

What next in Nepal?

OUR FINANCIAL AID

We currently pay a Welfare Pension to just over 4,300 impoverished Gurkha veterans and widows (as at 31 December 2019) who do not receive a British Army pension because they did not serve the requisite number of years. There are around 270 World War Two veterans still receiving our support. Just over half of our Welfare Pensioners are over 80 years old and more than 20% are over 90. Amazingly, 63 of them are over 100!

In July 2019, the pension was raised to 11,500 Nepali Rupees (NPR) per month, or roughly £82. This 5% increase ensures the pension continues to cover the cost of the shopping basket we use, so that its value is retained.

OUR MEDICAL AID

2019 was the first full year that all of our medical clinics were in full operation. Each of our 21 Area Welfare Centres now has a medical clinic available to Gurkha veterans and their families which offers world-class facilities, delivering a high-standard of free medical care for Gurkha veterans and their families. Each medical clinic is equipped with top-ofthe-range equipment, a pharmacy, and highly trained doctors and nurses.

Our Pensioner Support Teams will continue to visit and assess Gurkha veterans and widows in their own homes to provide medical check-ups and home aids, and other welfare assistance. We will also run four medical camps in remote areas of Nepal.

Our Residential Homes care for 48 vulnerable Welfare Pensioners, and provide intensive rehabilitation to others who have been left frail and immobile due to illness or injury in two new dedicated doublebedded facilities.

EARTHQUAKE HOMES PROGRAMME

We are again this year rebuilding 100+ new earthquake-resilient houses a year for our most vulnerable Gurkha pensioners.

WATER PROJECTS

In 2019/20, in partnership with DFID, we will build and repair 110 water schemes and bring clean water directly to the doorsteps of almost 41,000 people.

SCHOOL PROJECTS

We are building three new schools in 2019/20. Each of these major projects will include teacher training and library installation.

COMMUNITY CENTRES

In 2019/20, we will build two further community centres in remote rural areas, as a gathering place in time of both disaster and celebration.

Adam Bentham