Like many people I was horrified to learn of the Earthquake that struck Nepal earlier this year: and like many I dashed off a monetary donation to a charity through my friend Gaynor, who immediately launched www.ArtistsforNepal.com inspiring Artists (including me) to put on events. She has many friends on the ground in Nepal. (I think she raised over £2000 in the first week).

I then tried to learn of the fate of the family I have supported in Nepal since I visited in 1998 for Buddhist teachings in Katmandu...... no response, no electricity, no email contact.....

I got my news updates from the web, from Facebook, & from friends, once the main media dropped it as a story. Then I got just a little involved in a local benefit in Buckfastleigh Church. This great event mobilised the local community bringing together local churches and local buddhists and a raft of people in the local community. They made almost £4000 in an afternoon arranged at a couple of weeks notice. Then the thought arose ...... have to watch these thoughts, "you could do a gig for Nepal with the Gong - An Evening of Sacred Sound"........ So I set about finding a venue and came up with Hannahs at Seale-Hayne.

I met with a nice man called Ben and he agreed to go away and check if I could have the room for cost and I offered to spilt any profit between Hannahs and Rebuilding Nepal. I met him a couple of weeks later and by then it was a yes and the idea of doing a "Charity Auction and Concert" had popped in.

As I sat at the cafe at Hannahs, the vision began to arise of using its wonderful quadrangle and expanding the event in the afternoon with stalls and children's events ........still not quite sure who can organise all this...still need some help...... but at the core of my being is an absolute faith that this event is driven by Spirit and the need of people facing a potentially very cold winter in Tents.

The event is going to manifest as a sort of Mini Quest festival. The bands are put together to provide the music and some great musicians have stepped forward.......That was the easy part. PA's , rehearsals, that is the next challenge on that front.

My vision is delegation!

By a strange set of co-incidences I found out about a wonderful group of people who had already raised £30,000 for Nepal in Plymouth , who were forming a Plymouth-Nepal partnership and who had successfully involved schools in partnering a school in Nepal and who had worked closely with the local rotary. I went to the inaugural meeting of the Plymouth-Nepal partnership fund raising committee and met a few more people, (one of whom has offered strong practical help on the day,) and general support for processing the money to areas of greatest need and getting gift aid for it.

Another coincidence connected me to Nashir who was already doing fundraising dinners in Wimborne & who was about to visit Nepal .......when he comes back I hope he may come and talk and share some of his thoughts about rebuilding Nepal.

Each day something new emerges. It is a journey and a blessing for me to have the Grace to enable this and guide it into manifestation, and hopefully a blessing also for destitute families in Nepal and for Hannahs which works to inspire and empower disabled people to lead more fulfilling lives. The link seems important. There is so much that third world countries can learn about what is potentially available to help disabled people and empower them in the world. Nepal has this need. How are the disabled in Nepal managing living in tents? or with no money?

8000 dead in a poor country of 29 million is what they say ...that's at least 8000 families affected with huge shock and loss but also thousands like my sponsored child's family suddenly not getting any wages, because of the lack of normal business. Shree Krishna finally made contact to tell me this in a brief email between power outages. He and his family are at least alive albeit with an uncertain future.

Other tragedies have come -huge floods & heat waves killing thousands in Bangladesh and Pakistan...... Old problems continue with refugees from Syria and Africa striving for new lives. 80,000 Widows still in Sri Lanka with no means of earning a living. Local disabled people facing huge cuts to benefits. Climate change etc.....

Can one heart hold all this suffering? All we can do, is to do our little bit, so here we are, working on this fundraiser......(we'll do one for Sri Lankan widows in January maybe......). We can only do what we can do, Many are tired and broke in this country from trying to survive, but we do have our time, and an un-quentionable thirst for entertainment, community, and having some fun whilst we help. So here we go on this amazing fundraiser!

Please come, get involved , give what you can to the raffle or the auction. We need to work together on this and build sustainable links that will go on fundraising. There is a lot to rebuild in Nepal , a lot to rebuild in peoples lives and we do it by working together doing the small things together..........

Call me on 07969 181820 to offer help making signs, doing things for children on the day , helping with the auction, donating your promises..... or email: ammaprema@ammapremagrace.com

Hope to hear from you!

With love and Blessings

Ammaprema