Dinner - Nick & Caroline Cowan - Arughat Trust

At a meeting of Penrith Rotary Club in the town’s George Hotel, members were treated to an excellent colour presentation by retired Cumbria GP Nick Cowen, supported by his wife Caroline.

The couple had enjoyed a lifetime interest in visiting and trekking in Nepal and over the years have become closely connected to families in the Arughat area. At one time Nick had volunteered for a 3-month medical secondment at the village hospital with Caroline teaching English in the school. Any notion of Western ideas of a hospital and a school were soon dispelled when they were shown on the screen, hospital capacity was 8/ 9 seriously ill patients and 2 nurses withaccess to a doctor and a midwife. The school catered for 4-11 year olds; education was free but uniforms had to be bought. Caroline gave an interesting account of the pleasure the children had using children’s story books with colour pictures. ‘The Tiger who came to Tea’ was a firm favourite. They also helped with hand threshing rice wheat as well as collecting soya beansand obtaining their water from a standpipe.

This ongoing liaison worked well with the couple helping to send modest funds and equipment, in one case replacing very old dental equipment. The Nepalese earthquakes of 2015 were a game changer for the people of Arughat with widespread devastation reducing both hospital and school to rubble. This became a major challenge for the community in which Nick and Caroline had enjoyed so much of their time and they undertook to actively fundraise in Cumbria to help the rebuilding effort.

Their presentation charted subsequent progress; they have raised over £26,000 pounds in recent years. Self sufficient villagers have now rebuilt the school and the hospital, simply done by our standards but providing essential services for the local area. The charitable fund was cleaned out when the couple provided an ultra sound capability for the hospital. To continue their work they have formed a small charity, the Arughat Support Fund, and seem keener than ever to help this local area so far away from their Cumbrian home.

In thanking them for their fascinating talk David Harrison the Rotary Vice President presented them with a cheque from the club’s International Fund.