Wednesday 27 May 2015

Fundraising for Nepal

27th May 2015

Hi everyone, Lydia here again with an instalment of our fundraising efforts for the Nepal earthquakes!

Since flying back from Nepal, we have been working hard to raise money to support all victims of the Nepal earthquakes. We now have donation pots in our shop, which were set up whilst myself, Ele and Robby were still in Nepal by our Elefairies. These have been very successful so far and we have been humbled by our customers kindness!

The donation pots in the shop 
Also, while we were away, we had a Kiosk set up outside the shop, giving people a space to donate anything to be sent directly to Nepal. They have requested, most importantly: waterproofs, tents and blankets, but anything you can offer is greatly appreciated as these people have lost everything!

Unfortunately, we no longer have the kiosk anymore, however we are still taking donations of absolutely anything inside the shop.

Our donation kiosk outside the shop
Following our return from Nepal, I attended a fund raising event in Rotherham, where my mum works in a health centre. We held a cake sale, where all the proceeds have now been sent to victims in Nepal. The results were fantastic and even though the event only ran through the morning, we managed to raise a lot of money and it felt good to meet people who were interested in supporting the cause!

Me at the fundraising cake sale in Rotherham
In addition to this, Ele and her parents have been doing alot of fundraising of their own! Ele has set up a specific bank account especially for all Nepal Earthquake funds, these funds are being sent DIRECTLY to people Ele knows and trusts in Nepal, who are distributing aid in the worst effected areas. If you would be interesting in donating to this fund, the details are as followed:

HALIFAX BANK ACCOUNT: Account Name: Mrs E Corriette (Corriettes Nepal Earthquake Relief Fund) Account No: 01383659 Sort Code: 11-03-94

Ele's parents, Marilyn and Phil Walker, have also been working hard with their fundraising efforts and have set up a 'Go Fund Me' page where people can donate and keep up to date with the situation in Nepal, they have been very successful so far and have already raised over £2000! Details of this page are as followed: www.gofundme.com/nepal-needs-you

In the shop, we have been brainstorming ideas for fundraising activities regularly! Today we are holding a cake sale, where you can buy a cupcake and a drink for the small fee of 50p, with all proceeds going directly to Nepal! So please feel free to pop by if you'd like to help!

Our cute cupcakes are on sale in the shop TODAY
We are also holding a competition in store, where you could win an adorable hand carved wooden duck made in Bali! All you have to do to take part is to come into the shop and try and guess the name of the duck for a small fee. Once again, all money raised by the competition will be sent directly to help the people of Nepal, so feel free to come in store and get involved if you would like to help.

Our prize duck with his birth certficate!
That's all for now everyone. We hope that our lovely customers and friends will continue to help us in our mission to support Nepal! We are very grateful and appreciative of everyones efforts so far and we hope to progress further to help Nepal rise again!

Lydia x

Tuesday 12 May 2015

Earthquake hits Nepal!

12th May 2015

Hi everyone! Lydia here again with a little update on recent events.

By now, I'm sure you are all aware of the devastating earthquake, that measured 7.9 on the Richter scale, that hit Nepal whilst we were there just over two weeks ago. We were at a friends house drinking tea when it happened, the building began to shake and our cups of tea flew off the table. It was very scary but at the time it was hard to process what was happening. We made our way out of the building, noticing on the way that a water tank had burst and a fish tank had almost emptied, causing the floors to be very wet and slippery. Needless to say, we made our way down from the fifth floor to the bottom as fast as we could.

People gathering in the streets after the first earthquake
Once we got outside we found people gathering in the road, understandably many were very upset, whilst others were still in shock. All the phone networks were down and there was no internet or TV available so we were completely unaware of what was going on around us until people started arriving with images on there phones of the destruction, this was when we started to realise how bad the earthquake was but even then, it was hard to process what had just happened. We sat in the road with everyone for a couple of hours before making our way back to our hotel to see what the situation was there. On the walk home, it was clear that a lot of damage had been caused and we started to notice more and more destruction the closer we got to our hotel. Luckily, our hotel was fine, but the managers were very worried and told us they were going to close to hotel until 1am.

Some destruction we spotted on our walk back to the hotel 
Fallen buildings near our hotel 
We went back to our rooms to get changed, before heading out into Kathmandu to try and find somewhere to eat and to see if we could find out any more news. It seemed like a ghost town, certainly very different from it's usual busy, bustling vibe, it was rare to find anything open at all but luckily we found a restaurant that had stayed open, so we sat and ate there whilst watching the news! It was a very surreal time as we finally got more of an understanding of what had happened, however, throughout this time aftershocks were happening constantly and you never knew when the next big one could come.

After this, we went to a little shop that was open (but was just about to close) and stocked up on water and snacks. From here we headed to another hotel which had been kept open and had many people gathered in the downstairs bar, where we could get drinks and watch the news. People were resting after a long and stressful day, but it was very hard to rest as the aftershocks were frequent. By about 1:30am we decided to head back to our hotel, to find that they had opened again, although reluctant as another big quake was rumoured! We headed in our rooms to get some much needed rest, however, a few hours into our rest, another quake measuring 6.6 on the Richter scale hit, awakening us and I headed outside for a while to find people gathering in the street to seek safety. In the morning we all got a knock on our door telling us they were going to close to hotel and head to an open air camp. We packed all our things away, although, with Ele being pregnant and unwell we weren't keen on the idea of sleeping outdoors! This is when Ele had the idea to head down to the British Embassy to see if they could be of any help.

As soon as we got to the embassy, we were reassured that they would look after us and send us to a British base camp where we would be provided with food, shelter and safety. We were all so relieved, so we headed back to our hotel to collect our things and headed straight back to the embassy, where we were put on a bus to the camp! We spent the next 5 days in the base camp where we were fed and looked after. We ventured out in the day times to catch up with our friends and to check they were all okay, many of them are homeless now and many of them are working in the rescue teams, even having lost their own homes and family! We were so glad that we got time to see our friends before arranging an earlier flight home, but it felt so bad leaving them in this condition. We ventured out into Patan and Kathmandu and saw lots of destruction around us which was pretty shocking to see. By the time we saw this destruction, people were already attempting to clean up the rubble and we saw people working in the rescue teams, despite having lost their own homes and family. Although some of the scenes were sad to see, it was good to see the Nepalese people working together and supporting eachother in this time of need and we found many open air camps that had been set up by the Nepalese where people felt safe and secure.

A fallen temple in Patan 
A rescue team working in Patan
A camp set up in a forest where we found a lot of people staying
On the Friday we flew back to the UK, although reluctantly and still not fully registering what had happened, we felt very lucky that we could jump on a plane and escape but many are not as lucky as us and they need our help. Since we have been back in the UK, we have been doing our best to raise awareness and fundraise as much as possible for Nepal. We have already had a lot of success but we urge people to support the appeals every day. We have left Nepal in a state of desperation and they need as much help as they can get before the monsoon season hits in June! Also today, we have been saddened by the news that another earthquake, measuring 7.3 on the Richter scale, hit Nepal this morning. This has only made matters worse and has taken even more lives, along with causing more destruction in and around Nepal! We hope that people continue to support Nepal as well as they have been doing so far, as even though it may not be covered as widely on the news anymore, it is still a huge problem where our help will mean so much to this beautiful country and it's beautiful people! So please keep up to date with the facebook page where you can keep updated with all of our fundraising ideas.

Thank you guys for reading my post! Hopefully my next post will be a more positive one with news of some of the results our fund raising has enabled! In the mean time, we'd like to thank you for all your kind words and support so far and we feel positive that we can make a huge difference with your help and support to Nepal.

Lydia x