Nepal UK
A charity dinner in Welling raised more than £2,600 for Nepalese Doctors' Association UK (NDA UK), the latest example of how Britain's Nepalese communities have rallied after the floods that struck Nepal in August.
"Momos for Nepal" took place on Sunday 4 October at Kailash Momo in Welling, in the Greenwich and Bexley area. According to an account published on 25 October by its organisers, Dr Numa Thebe and Sobha Sharma Kandel, the evening was run by Swasthya Chiya, a community-led health initiative founded by Dr Thebe, in partnership with the restaurant. The guest of honour was Dr Arati Thapa, chair of NDA UK, who lit the traditional panas lamp with Dr Thebe. The programme included a minute's silence for the victims, live singing, Lakhe and Jhankri dances, a poem, a three-course Nepalese meal and a charity raffle. Guests included representatives of the Nepalese Nursing Association UK.
The organisers say Dr Thapa then presented a cheque to Nepal's Finance Minister, Dr Swarnim Wagle, on 12 October as part of wider fundraising. NepalUK has not independently confirmed the dinner's total or the cheque handover; both come from the organisers' own account.
The dinner is one strand of a much larger effort. Ekantipur reported on 22 September that Tamu Dhee UK, led by president Jumkaji Gurung, handed Mr Wagle, then acting prime minister and finance minister, a cheque headlined as Rs 111 million for flood victims. Other reports in September record donations from Tanahun Society UK and the UK Chhetri Society. These headlines give amounts only in summary, and the full articles were not all retrieved, so the figures should be read as reported.
The UK Government also responded. On 28 August it announced a Rapid Deployment Team to help British nationals affected by flooding along the Nepal-China border, and £5 million in humanitarian support. In the House of Lords on 1 September, a minister said 36 British nationals were unaccounted for at that time. That figure is a month old and may have changed.
Small-scale events such as this show how diaspora giving works in practice: local restaurants, health professionals and community groups converting social gatherings into relief funds, with professional bodies like NDA UK acting as a trusted channel. For readers wishing to give, the practical point is to check that a charity is registered and publishes how funds reach affected communities. NDA UK is described by the organisers as a registered charity; readers can verify that on the Charity Commission register.
The Nepalese-community calendar remains busy, with Tihar events and the Nepali Mela listed on community directories, and the weather alert for Nepal this week (see item 1) may prompt further appeals.
