A Perthshire charity has begun work to rebuild a village devastated by the 2015 Nepal earthquake.
Less than three weeks after promising to rebuild the entire village of Archanbas, Bring Back the Smile to Nepal has put the wheels in motion on the project.
The charity’s founder, Anna Gurung, visited the remote village during her recent visit to Nepal.
She said: “Archanbas is an extremely remote village in northern central Nepal.
“It sits on the top of a steep hill and is very difficult to reach. The people there have received no help since the earthquake and had very little prospect of any.
“They still showed me so much warmth and hospitality though, it was amazing.”
The charity immediately set about sourcing the necessary materials and arranging the challenging transportation required to deliver to the village.
Within days, work on the first house had begun. The whole community, even the children, turned out to help.
Anna added: “KB, our project manager in Nepal has been busy with the villagers of Archanbas shipping materials, digging foundations, constructing steel truss frames and rebuilding walls destroyed by last year’s earthquake.
“The wifi is patchy and slow, so we weren’t sure how long it would be until we received some pictures.
“So we were delighted when the first photographs arrived. Work is well underway and we hope to have the entire village completed, before the advent of the monsoon season in late October or early November.”
Bring Back the Smile to Nepal was started following the natural disaster in April 2015, which saw a 7.8-magnitude earthquake rock Nepal.
Anna and her husband Sanu, who live in Kenmore, have relatives in the Darachok district of the country.
They initially faced an anxious 72-hour wait to find out if their family had survived.
The pair began raising funds to send to the country and were given charitable status in September.
