On behalf of our beneficiaries and the Gurkha communities, we would like say “thank you” to Veterans’ Foundation for providing us with the much needed grant of £10,000.

This generous award will help us in our organisational development and in continuation of our bespoke around the clock outreach work in support of the Gurkha communities at grassroot level.

If you play Veterans’ Lottery or make a donation to the Veterans’ Foundation, you will be supporting the armed forces communities and smaller charities like us directly or indirectly.

Please follow the link to know more about the Veterans’ Foundation https://www.veteransfoundation.org.uk/

Thank you for the generosity and support.

The objectives of The Gurkha Centre (CIO) are: 

For the benefit of members of the Gurkha Nepalese communities in the UK by:

1)    Relief of poverty, in particular but not exclusively by providing advice, support and information to individuals in need

2)    Protecting and preserving public health by delivering regular health workshops on relevant health topics

3)    Advancing education and training, including but not limited to English language classes

4)    Providing or assisting in the provision of facilities in the interests of social welfare for recreation or other leisure time occupation of individuals who have need of such facilities by reason of their youth, age, infirmity or disability, financial hardship or social circumstances with the object of improving their conditions of life.

We signpost individuals and families to and liaise with partner charities or food banks to facilitate delivery of grants and/or food items.  

We also raise funds to provide the much-needed financial support to our beneficiaries in case of urgency.  

We support the Gurkha veterans and families to finding suitable accommodation and support them in housing benefit claims on request. 

We assist them in house moves and provide with mobility support to ferry their belongings.

We support the Gurkha veterans and families in their application for social security benefits such as Pension Credit, Universal Credit, Personal Independence Payment (PIP), Housing Benefits and so on. 

We liaise with government departments and charities to ensure our beneficiaries are supported throughout.  

We also assist the members of the Gurkha community in opening of new bank accounts in collaboration with local banks. 

Since our Gurkha Veterans and their wives and widows are getting older, they need extra care and support in monitoring their health and wellbenig more than ever. Through our outreach services and home visits, we regularly check their health needs and ensure that they get appropriate level of support in accessing health services.

Our beneficiaries cannot read letters and have a language barrier. To overcome this barrier, we read letters for them and we ensure that they do not miss their health appointments. We provide linguistic and mobility support in their health appointments and consultation.

Through our volunteers and support group, we provide reassurance and friendly voices to the elderly and the most vulnerable who otherwise be facing loneliness and isolation.   

Throughout the difficult times of Covid-19 rapid infection, we worked around the clock to monitor health and welfare of our beneficiaries and to ensure that no one suffered disproportionately because of the barriers and lack of skills and confidence in seeking help and support.

To protect our beneficiaries from rapid infection and potential deterioration of their underlying health conditions further, we formed a good working relationship with local GPs and hospital wards and emergency services in West London. As such, we helped the government and the NHS reduce infection and protect public health and saved lives.

We set up COVID-19 Community Support Group to tackle unprecedented challenges and uncertainty faced by the Gurkha Nepalese communities in and around the boroughs of London.

During COVID-19 pandemic outbreak, we ramped up our remote, round-the-clock outreach services to provide hundreds of Gurkha veterans, wives, widows and adult children with relevant advice, information and practical support in accessing health, welfare and benefits. 

Throughout the national lockdown, we have been supporting the elderly and the most vulnerable who were shielding in prescription requests and pick-ups as well as in shopping and delivery of essential food items.

In collaboration with relevant agencies, we also provided bereaved partners and families with information and support in reporting deaths to relevant departments, arranging funerals and applying for funeral grants as appropriate.

We are proud and humbled to have been providing placements for students of BSc Global Health (fourth year 2020/21cohort) from the Imperial College London as part of their Community Group Placement. 

It was a unique opportunity for both the students and the Gurkha Nepalese community to understand where health inequities lie, why they exist and to better understand the strategies and approaches that are most effective in mitigating harm and disease.

We are the first Gurkha Charity to pick up the need for and to offer free of cost English language training opportunities to support newly arrived adult Gurkha children in the UK.

Language Matters! is our initiative to empower Gurkha communities through English language workshops tailored for basic to advanced levels and run by qualified volunteer teachers through zoom video sessions. 

We support our beneficiaries with CV writing, job searching and mentoring.  

We provide health, wellbeing and education support to Gurkha veterans and their families.