Many thanks to Ollie, Andrea, Maddi and Clarice for the insightful presentation. It has been a great journey and a mutual learning experience for past few months.
We are very humbled and proud to have been able to deliver Community Group Placement at The Gurkha Centre for the second consecutive year despite limited human resources and busy work schedule.
We are grateful to the Imperial College London for continued partnership and support. We would also like to thank all of our staff, volunteers, and participants who have contributed positively for this placement to be a success.
We wish all the very best to our students for their rest of the studies.
A group of BSc. Global Health Students from Imperial College London present their findings from Community Group Placement (CGP) with The Gurkha Centre.
The presenting group were the first cohort to choose The Gurkha Centre as their placement. The placement started in October 2020 and was completed in December 2020.
We are very humbled to have formed a partnership with the Imperial College, London and we are very pleased that we have been able to provide placement to the students despite challenges and uncertainty faced by the nation due to Covid-19 pandemic outbreak.
It has been a challenging few years for most of us. Yet, we have been fortunate to see some remarkable deeds of compassion, dedication and generosity from our staff, volunteers, teachers and partners – both statutory and third sector. We are grateful to our funders, well-wisher and those who have believed in our cause and donated generous amount. We are also thankful to our beneficiaries for the trust and cooperation during our support work.
I would like to say huge THANK YOU to all of you for supporting our community during these challenging and uncertain times. It is with your dedication and hard work, we have been able to meet our charitable purposes and deliver our support for the Gurkha Veterans and families across West London and beyond. Our hopes for the future are even higher. We look forward to working with you all in a better co-ordinated environment and we hold you all in our thoughts and minds.
21157299 Retired Warrant Officer Class 2 (WO2) Hari Pun shares his knowledge, experience and views in a recorded voice message about The Gurkha Centre and the support it provides to the Gurkha soldiers, veterans and families in the United Kingdom.
On Saturday evening of Remembrance week, we completed two referrals for assistance to The Royal British Legion for a retired Gurkha Warrant Officer (WO2) from Bracknel and his co-tenant, a Gurkha widow.
The veteran served in the Brigade of Gurkhas for 22 years before retiring in the rank of WO2. During his service, he had the honour of serving and representing the Queen globally that included Honk Kong, Malaya, Borneo, Singapore, Australia and United Kingdom. His late father was a Queen’s Gurkha Officer (QGO, Captain) in the Brigade of Gurkhas and so are his two brothers, who now live a retired life.
The veteran has limited mobility due to Parkinson’s. He is wheel chair dependant for going out and has multiple health issues including neurological conditions, incontinence, back pain, stiff neck, constipation and sinusitis.
Both the veteran and his wife are in their mid-seventies and have been relying on their daughter from personal care to social support. The daughter has been off work for nearly two years since the beginning of Covid-19. She has no recourse to public funds despite having a family visa under the Immigration policy for the Gurkhas retired before 1997.
The family has been relying on the couple’s pension credit payment and attendance allowance for a living and to pay the rent since their housing benefit stopped in May 2021. Hence, they have been forced to cut down their nutritional intake and lower their living standard to make up rents.
The veteran and his family approached benefit advisers and charity workers for advice and support but nothing seemed to be working and the housing benefit officer appears to be either completely unaware of the crux of the matter or has failed to comprehend the gravity of the situation.
Once we spoke with the veteran, his wife, daughter and the co-tenant on a video call, it did not take us long to imagine how hard it must have been for them and how the family might have been coping.
Without any further delay, we called the Legion for help and made referrals for assessment and support via three way conversation. The family is advised that an area case officer will be allocated from the Legion in due course of time and they will receive appropriate assistance and support.
At the beginning of the conversation, the family was seemed to be stressed out, however, seeing smile at their faces before ending the call made us feel proud of our work and effort.
At The Gurkha Centre, we strive to make a difference for our veterans, widows and families. We believe in rapid action and immediate support. Do you know anyone who might need our help? Please feel free to call us on their behalf or signpost them towards us.
No one should suffer in silence. Do you have time, energy and willingness to be part of our grouwing team? Are you passionate aobut making a difference for our veterans and widows? Please do get in touch. We have plenty of volunteering opportunities.
On this Remembrance Sunday, we express our gratitude to all service members, past and present for their service and sacrifice. #lestweforget #Gurkhas
On Monday the 8th Nov 2021, we had the honour of welcoming a group of BSc Global Health Students from Imperial College London as part of their Community Group Placement (CGP) with us.
The students will remain with us for another 5 weekly sessions to learn about the socio-demographic profile and health and disease profile of the Gurkha community.
The sessions are expected to help students map the needs of the Gurkha community and the services available to them, both inside and outside The Gurkha Centre.
We will be sharing our organisational goals, values and mission as well as the services we provide and the challenges we have faced or will potentially be facing in the delivery of service and support for our beneficiaries.
By the end of the sessions, the students will be able to analyse challenges we have faced or are facing and provide suggestions and strategic advice on how to overcome these challenges and improve our services.
We are looking forward to the future sessions and hope that the students will have invaluable insights of the community and its health.
Tirtha Maya Rai is one of the Gurkha widows that we have been supporting since she arrived in the UK for settlement in 2020. Her husband, late Kul Bahadur Rai, served in the Brigade of Gurkha for nearly 16 years and was retired as a Non-Commissioned Officer (NCO) in 1964. Late Kul Bahadur Rai has an exemplary service record who served in India, Malaya, Hong Kong and Brunei.
Mrs Tirtha Maya Rai showing her newly arrived Freedom Pass.
Mrs Tirtha Maya Rai has a literacy and language barrier which makes it hard for her to access health, welfare and other public services. She has no close relatives or friends who could have assisted her in her daily living. Therefore, she relies on our support on a daily basis from simple as reading mails to contacting health and welfare services.
We are proud to be supporting her and ensuring that her needs are met. She attends our drop in sessions every week and is forming friendship with other elderly Gurkha widows, wives and veterans.
Mrs Tirtha Maya Rai (front row far left) taking part in a weekly functional fitness training session.
Mrs Rai is praying for her sons’ appeal for settlement visa to be successful. We wish her all the very best that her sons get their settlement visas and be united with her soon in the United Kingdom.
The UK armed forces runs deep within our charitable purposes, particularly the Brigade of Gurkhas; therefore, we are extremely proud to announce that we have signed the Armed Forces Covenant.
Our declaration is a pledge that together we acknowledge and understand that those who serve or have served in the armed forces, and their families, should be treated with fairness and respect in the communities, economy and society they serve with their lives.
We are committed to supporting the Gurkha veterans and their families in their transition to the UK civilian life and in access to health, welfare, benefits, education and in finding a new career.
The Gurkha Centre Covid-19 Community Response Project Receives £7200 cash boost from Heathrow Community Trust and the National Lottery Community Fund
A community project set up to deliver a much-needed social hub for our beneficiaries and support our volunteers with specialist fundraising and organisational skill has received a £7200 grant from Heathrow Community Trust working in partnership with the National Lottery Community Fund.
The Gurkha Nepalese community in West London has become fractured and isolated due to Covid 19. With this generous grant funding we will be running our weekly drop-in centres consistently for the next 15 weeks in Hayes, London Borough of Hillingdon starting from 9th September 2021 to provide a safe space to reconnect for our beneficiaries, mainly the elderly Gurkha Nepalese community. The sessions will be delivered by paid positions providing specialist expertise from qualified health professionals and an exercise class facilitator.
The Gurkha Centre is at a critical milestone and the scheme will enable us to benefit from specialist input to create sustainable options to rebuild and reconnect our community. The scheme will help our CEO delegate the delivery of the project (with occasional welfare visits) and adopt a more strategic viewpoint, providing a strategic plan based on projected fundraising and seeking ways to upskill the volunteers through partnerships with other community focused groups and Local Authorities including Hillingdon Council.
The organisation was awarded the donation under Heathrow Community Trust’s COVID-19 Hillingdon Response Programme which is funded by the National Lottery’s Community Fund.
Responding to the announcement, our Chief Executive Bhim Tamang said: “The Gurkha Centre urgently needed this investment to deliver a much-needed social hub for our community and support our volunteers with specialist fundraising and organisational skills. As a fledgeling charity, our current resource intensive support is not sustainable and grant funding such as this will enable us to deliver this essential social activity whilst upskilling the team and enabling our trustees and CEO to benefit from an experienced approach to fundraising.”
The Gurkha Centre 