MESSAGE FROM OUR FOUNDING PRESIDENT (2019-21)
I am extremely delighted to share my glorious journey as an elected Founding President of ‘NRNA State Co-ordination Council England’ and the vision, values and principles implemented by the Executive Committee 2019-2021. I had the opportunity and the privilege to serve our Nepalese communities in the UK ensuring active engagement and contribution from millions of non-resident Nepalese towards the development, prosperity and socio-economic growth of our motherland Nepal. The committee played a pivotal role in aligning essential resources, both financial and technical including but not limited to the deployment of talents from multi-national organizations, leadership and skilled-resources to implement robust plans, policies and programmers to support the development of Nepal. England is considered as the birthplace of the NRNA movement, which was an outcome of the historic conference in 2005. England is home to thousands of Nepalese communities and successful Diaspora’s engaged in broad spectrum of professions, opportunities and businesses.
With over 200 years of Nepal-Britain relations, UK is the home to our proud Gurkha soldiers. Their contributions have created an incomparable respect for the Nepalese in the British society.
As a Founding President of the NRNA UK State Coordination Council England, I left no stone unturned during my two years of tenure. In coordination with more than 150 Nepalese community organizations in the UK, we successfully delivered Census 2021 campaign over an intensive 2-months period. This was an extremely significant initiative to ensure there was formal recognition of Nepalese Nationality status in the British socio-political area. I would like to express a heartfelt thank you to the Nepalese community leaders in the UK for partnership, engagement and coordination in this historic campaign during my Presidential tenure. With support from our Founding Executive Committee members and advisors, I was able to intensify a successful interaction programs for the continuation of Nepalese citizenship for Nepalese living abroad.
Furthermore, we successfully delivered a Charity event that involved 100km cycling rally between London and Brighton. The event was hugely appreciated with over two dozens of cyclists participating and contributing more than £5000 in donation funds, which were handed over to registered charities committed towards providing good education to children in Kavre Nepal and elderly care in Kapilbastu Nepal. As a leader of the COVID-19 Relief campaign, I was able to accumulate a huge donation fund of £27,000 to support the Nepalese communities affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Funds were utilized towards distribution of essential Personal Protective Equipment’s such as a face masks, gloves as well as health commodities. We were actively involved in ensuring wellbeing of Covid-19 infected families by arranging deliveries of essential supplies, medications and ready-made meals; specifically to the vulnerable senior Nepalese residents and to those who unfortunately lost their jobs due to pandemic. We also launched a meditation and psychological relief initiatives to support the most vulnerable in the midst of Pandemic. This was an important initiative to ensure emotional well-being of people in our Nepalese communities.
I would like to express my sincere gratitude and appreciation to all the executive members 2019-2021 for their support in making this possible and their help towards achieving our common organizational goals. I would like to extend my best wishes to the newly elected Executive Committee and future Executive members of the NRNA UK State Coordination Council England. I am confident that the team will continue to make a distinct impact towards the evolution of NRNA movement and Initiatives for the betterment of Nepal and the NRNA Communities. As Lord Buddha said “One moment can change a day, One day can change a life and one life can change the world”. I am proud of the change that we brought in people’s lives; however I believe there is more to do – my work towards the betterment of Nepalese community will continue to thrive in the coming days.
Thank you
Deepak Shrestha
(Founding President)
NRNA State Co-ordination Council England
(2019-2021)