St Serf's News and Events

Rector’s Letter

Dear Friends,
Those of you who have seen us since we returned from Nepal will know that we are still feeling overwhelmed by the experience of visiting Ghunsa school and health post. The two of us were visitors there on the day the men of the community began the construction of their new health post and we were welcomed as VIPs with garlands and khata scarves. As trekkers linked with Community Action Nepal whose project it is, Robert and I had the privilege of representing the charity; something we had certainly not expected to be doing.
So Christmas came early for us and I am not being flippant in saying that. We were part of the joy of a whole community at receiving something they had longed and worked for over many years. There were excited and expectant children as well as their parents and grandparents, there were decorations and speeches but most of all it was the culmination of a series of acts of love and care for that community. Tej Tamang our guide throughout the trek and a local director of Community Action Nepal had a lifelong ambition to bring education and healthcare to the hill villages. Now he is seeing that ambition realised in places across the country. Fund raisers in Britain with a love for the Nepali people are seeing the amazing results of their efforts; much improved health among people where tuberculosis was endemic and excellent results in the field of education which have recently carried some of the young people through into further and higher education. This is indeed good news in a land so recently subject to the violence of Maoist insurgency and military retaliation. I ask your prayers for continuing stability and peace in Nepal, and for the small Christian church in Ghunsa.
Yours in Christ
Val Nellist

Preparing the ground for the new health post.

The old health post in part of the school with the two nurses and their helper.

Ghunsa with the blue roof of the school building.