Baby or no baby, I’m off to Nepal on mercy mission

Jonathan Slegg has today (Thursday) pencilled in his diary for his wife to give birth to their first child.

And he hopes it happens then as he is off to Nepal and India on a month-long charity mission.

“My wife, Jessica, is already a week overdue,” said Jonathan, 30. “I’ve told her that I have space in my diary on Thursday!”

Baby arrival or not, Jonathan heads off to Kathmandu in the next few days with 200 Aquaboxes for victims of the Nepal earthquake.

He then travels to India to meet up with 10 tons of aid which will be transported to eastern Nepal for distribution.

The Tenterden Rotary Club member, of Lime Close, Godinton Park, Ashford, works in international development and has put £10,000 of his own money into the project, Operation Lekhali Tiger, which he hopes to recoup through fundraising.

Supported by the humanitarian organisation ITAP (Infrastructure, Training and Assistance Projects), he is running a Rotary Club mission distributing aid donated by Gurkha community groups and Rotary.

Before the earthquake which devastated parts of Nepal in April and killed over 8,600 people, Jonathan had already identified the country as needing assistance with emergency services.

“Part of my job is needs assessments and we were already working on a project to create a platform for emergency services to operate from, including training,” he said.

For the aid mission, Jonathan is in charge of 10 tonnes of medical supplies, tents and other items collected locally and by Tenterden and Folkestone Rotary Clubs.

There are 16 pallets, plus two fire engines and two ambulances going out.

He is co-ordinating the distri- bution with local Rotary Clubs and the Nepalese organisation Maiti Nepal.

Jonathan is also in charge of a training programme for the fire engines and ambulances, which will involve using accident equipment, flood response, firefighting skills and medical technician training, delivered by ITAP, before the vehicles are handed over to local authorities.

Search and rescue teams from ITAP will instruct locals how to respond to landslides as well as undertake assessments for future development projects.

To make a donation, go at tw.gofund.me/ym6kcg

Rotary Club member Jonathan Slegg, who is leading a charity aid trip to Nepal