Explore the journey with Kaye Mathew, Northcote’s Marketing Director, as she shares her poignant experiences from a recent expedition to Nepal. For years, Northcote and the dedicated charity, Eye Nepal, have joined forces to uplift the lives of underprivileged children. Kaye provides an insightful glimpse into their ongoing partnership and the impactful strides taken to raise essential funds for EYE Nepal’s cause.

EYE Nepal is a small charity dedicated to enhancing the life opportunities for the poorest children in rural districts of Nepal, through better early years education. As a charity we believe that education unravels the chains of poverty and our mission is to seek and retain children at school at a young age, to properly prepare them for later years of education and to improve their chances of success once there. Northcote has supported the children in Nepal for over five years, and in 2018 I had the great privilege to visit Nepal, firstly taking part in a 4 day trek across the lower regions of the Annapurna range and then working on maintenance and painting of the schools, that year Northcote raised £10k through various activities, to help build new classrooms.  My time in Nepal was transformative, I created life-long friendships with my fellow trekkers, I relearned the value of patience and acceptance, but above all my perspective of life was challenged for the better. For the first time in many years, I didn’t have my phone, I wasn’t checking emails or reading the news, all that existed was the moment I was in…and I fell in love with Nepal and the people, through admiration, inspiration and the intoxication of the values they possess.

I became a Trustee of EYE Nepal in 2021, working with Mike Smith, Nick Howe and Debra Boer, all industry peers all with the one aim to make a permanent difference to the lives of these young children, teachers and the communities they live in. Each year through activities and donations we raise funds to enable schools to deliver early years education. In the last two years we have grown EYE Nepal to a family to 20 schools, a teachers training centre and two after school Learning Centres.

I have just returned from a 9 day trip, with fellow trustees, where we visited all the schools and met the children, teachers, community officials and the Mayor! All keen to meet with us and showcase the improvements that have been achieved through the funds we have raised. Creating classrooms with learning materials and giving teachers the opportunity to receive valuable training. The main purpose of our visit was to discuss the progress of the programmes, discuss strategic priorities we need to focus on the future along with assessing the development of the children. There have been some excellent improvements which was so satisfying to see, and some who needed more direction and help. Each Head of these Schools, put forward their cases for how they felt they could improve further.

Visiting the schools was a challenge over mountainous tracks to rural areas all in need of some help. Every day we were greeted at each school with the cutest and warmest smiles, hugs and giggles that absolutely stole your heart, this country may have some of the highest unemployment; poor health and education, yet the World Happiness Report 2022 ranked Nepal as the happiest country in South Asia. Many of these children will have walked one or two hours to get to school, often hungry, but getting to school is important to them, hopefully they are not needed to work in the fields, which happens many times. We were presented with garlands of marigolds, the children sang to us in Nepalese and some in English, many of the villagers were there to watch the events, it is clear how important school is as part of the community. They served us some of their local dishes with pride and the sweetest of teas and surprised us with small gifts, such as self-made paper roses, they have very little and always ready to share.

It is a simple life yet complex, children belonging to marginalized castes, ethnic and linguistic minority groups, from poor households accessing any education is difficult for these families. At EYE Nepal we recognize that early childhood years significantly affect development of a child’s health, behaviour and learning, they are the foundation of their lifelong well-being. Our mission and focus for 2024 is to provide young children with the best possible start for their lives and educational journey, to develop critical skills early on to succeed in school and then less likely to drop out, becoming adults who will contribute to peaceful societies and prosperous economies. An essential part of this success is convincing parents who may have never been to school themselves how important it is to encourage their children to go to school and working with the community is an important part of our strategy. The child, teacher and parent form the three corners of a triangle we will concentrate on to make the sustainable difference needed.

There have only been few times in my life that I felt were really mine, and my time In Nepal was definitely one of them, it’s a precious experience ever time I visit, Nepal is famous for the mountain ranges and Everest, the country is breath-taking in so many ways, but it’s the people and the children that make you want to return and be a part of their lives.

Read more about EYE Nepal on their website.

Marketing Director, Kaye Mathew, November 2023