Chairman's Statement

My interest in Nepal first started when I was studying for a research degree at the University of Bath in 1988 where I shared an office with Surya who became a close family friend. When Ava joined Surya to complete her own studies she brought their two boys from Nepal and this gave my family the impetus to visit them when they returned home. I had always been interested in serious trekking and so we waited until our children were old enough to combine this with seeing Surya and Ava.  In April 2000 we all set off for Nepal and had a fantastic time, the highlights of which were trekking part of the Annapurna circuit, taking in many breathtaking views and experiencing some of the culture of the warm hearted Nepali people. It was also obvious that the country was extremely poor and many of its people struggled to survive on meagre incomes with the inevitable consequences that children either worked from a very young age, often in dangerous activities, or went hungry.

By coincidence John, who I had not met before, was working in Nepal at the time of our visit and over dinner with Surya and Ava we found out that he lived only 20 miles from us in Somerset! We realised that with Surya and Ava in Nepal, John working there for several months each year and with my access to some resources from my consultancy work in the UK, that we might have the basic ingredients to bring, in some small measure, targeted support to street children in Nepal. Our aims were to avoid duplicating unnecessary bureaucracy by carefully selecting embryonic or struggling organisations in Nepal that were seeking to bring relief to children who lived and worked on the street and those in danger of being trafficked into India for prostitution.

My role was to register The Street Children of Nepal Trust with The Charity Commission in the UK and then set about raising funds for causes vetted by Surya, Ava and John. Over the years we have organised many events including, charity balls, concerts and golf days. I have also spent time ‘on the road’ talking to organisations such as schools, Rotary Clubs and the Lions. I have been back to Nepal several times since to visit projects that the charity supports and in 2005 we took a party trekking to the Everest region which was a great adventure for everyone involved as well as a very successful fund raiser. My next visit will be in October 2009 when we are organising a trek to the Annapurna base camp.

Mike Carter
Chairman of the Trustees
October 2008