Monday is the anniversary of the devastating earthquake that struck Nepal, killing nearly 9,000 people, destroying over 600,000 houses and pushing an additional 1 million people below the poverty line. In the year since, the destruction and loss caused by the earthquake have been followed by landslides and floods; border blockades causing severe fuel and other critical supply shortages; over 400 aftershocks; and 12 months later, over 100,000 people are still waiting for the government to distribute long promised grants to support rebuilding.

In what has been, and sadly remains, a very difficult environment, as a small organisation we are very proud that our post-quake work directly benefitted 2,220 children and adults, the highlights of which include:

• Providing emergency support to 227 of the very poorest families forced to migrate to the slums of Pokhara after losing everything in the disaster
• Enrolling 353 migrated children in school, providing school fees, uniforms, books and helping them settle in.
• Building 12 Protection and Learning Centres that
  • Provide Early Childhood Development classes to 315 children, the majority of whom were from marginalised ethnic groups and previously had little or no access to education.
  • Provide a separate classroom so that 564 older children can continue their education.
  • Facilitate Parents Groups and Nutrition Programmes, which have been so successful that members and a local NGO have agreed to continue to run these after our project is completed.
  • Have been praised by donors and other agencies for their innovative design and construction method, which has now being adopted by UNICEF.

To highlight this work, but more importantly to bring attention to the ongoing suffering and poverty in Nepal, we are co-hosting a multimedia exhibition called “Aftershock” with social documentarist Chris Gravett. The exhibition depicts stories of survival and resilience in the aftermath of the quake, and will be open to the public from Tuesday 26^th April 2016 – Sunday 1st May 2016.

I, or a member of Kidasha staff, will be at the exhibition all week and would love to see you there. You can also help by spreading the word about the exhibition, either by forwarding this email, sharing the Facebook Event Page or tweeting about it.

Finally, thank you for your support over what has been a very difficult year and I hope to see you next week.

With kind regards