Written by Philip Holmes on
Tuesday 9th November 2021
Retired Head Teacher and prominent Soroptimist Mrs Rayner Rees joined our Board on 1st November for a three-year tenure. I have had the great pleasure of working alongside Rayner on our projects for the past five years and am delighted that her passion for empowering girls and women has received this recognition. I invited Rayner to introduce herself:
I was delighted and honoured when Philip asked me to join the board of trustees for Pipal Tree. I have worked closely with Philip and fully support the amazing work that he undertakes in Nepal. I am a proud Soroptimist, a charity whose aims are 'to improve the lives of women and girls locally, national and internationally' which fits in beautifully with the work that Lily is carrying out in Kathmandu.
I have always been interested in developing my understanding of cultures that are very different to my own, which is white British with a touch of Scottish, Welsh and Jewish! My interest in differing cultures and my role as a head teacher led me to visit a Navajo school in New Mexico. I was able to share these experiences with the children in my school and to help develop their empathy and understanding of how our world is made up of very different people who ultimately want to live safe, happy lives for themselves and their families. It was an amazing experience where I made Welsh cakes and they made Navajo Fry bread. No Welsh cakes left - they were eaten as they left the griddle. It brought home how lucky we are to live in the UK where as a head teacher I could provide the children in school with virtually everything they need. When I showed the children, some of the photos that I had taken all they saw was the play frame. When I asked them to look beyond that they said - 'there's nothing there' and there wasn't - no trees, no flowers, no grass, just a barren landscape which was under threat from the US government because of the rich minerals underneath. A little girl gave me a stone, which she had picked up in the yard as a parting gift - I still have it.
I qualified as a teacher in 1968 and began my career in Coventry. After I married in 1970, I began working Mid Glamorgan. I was appointed as a teacher, a Deputy Head Teacher and finally as a Head Teacher. I have two children and two grandchildren - boys, one who is 27 and the other who is 4. In August 2015 I finally retired and when I am asked if I miss working I can't answer as I haven't had the time to think about it! However, I miss the children and I loved every minute of my career. I am an avid reader of historical novels with the Tudor period being my favourite and I enjoy seeing new places and meeting new people. I have been on exchange visits with teachers to Sydney, Australia and to a Navajo school in Naschitti, New Mexico. Both were wonderful experiences but meeting with the Navajo teachers and children will stay with me forever and helped to develop my understanding and respect for very different cultures.
I knit, sew and crochet and one Christmas I knitted dozens of Father Christmases for our Nepal appeal. I enjoy watching the television…anything really! I regularly visit the theatre and enjoy both serious and light hearted productions including musicals but most of all I like ballet and I enjoy 'surfing the net' and catching up with friends on Facebook and Twitter. I have joined the local sports centre and attend Zumba, aqua Zumba and circuit training …do I enjoy this? The truthful answer? Sometimes!
I support many charities and in particular Ty Hafan (a children's hospice), Air Ambulance, the British Legion, Tenovus and the Bridgend Alzheimer Society of which I was president for four years from 1996 to 2000. I was asked to investigate a charity in Nepal for the purpose of awarding a grant from the Soroptimist International charity appeal in 2016. This became a turning point for me, meeting with Philip and discovering how he has helped many underprivileged and desperate women and girls (and boys) in Nepal was a revelation and just made me want to offer support and help. And so we come to today hopefully emerging from COVID-19, at least the developed world is! What about those underprivileged people in developing countries like Nepal? This where Pipal Tree is stepping in with grass roots projects which include environment and climate change, education and community support, vulnerable and abused children and empowering girls and women. Each project is as important to this developing country and as a retired head teacher, my particular interest lies in education and supporting the women and girls through Lily's project - Empowering girls and women.
I am delighted that Lily is leading a project very close to my heart and I offer my wholehearted support to what she is undertaking. Empowering girls and women who lack the skills and education are the most vulnerable in all societies but more so where they are trapped by poverty and stigma as in South Nepal. Lily's Leaves offers a solution to some of these problems and will eventually become self-sustaining. The intention is to use natural forest products for weaving and jewellery making. The training offered will provide these women and girls with hope for the future for themselves and their families. I personally cannot wait to get my hands on the silver jewellery and the bracelets designed by the girls using the seeds of the Pipal trees.
Finally, I offer my wholehearted support to Pipal Tree and the wonderful work that is being undertaken by Philip and the grass roots workers in Nepal.
All of our Trustees are appointed on a three-year tenure. As it happens, this coincides perfectly with our goal of Lily's Leaves becoming self-sustaining by the end of 2024. I have no doubt that with her proven commitment, not to mention enthusiasm for craft products (!), Rayner will be a very hands-on Trustee in regular support to our day-to-day work alongside her responsibilities towards the good governance of the charity. Welcome!
Today, we left the city of Janakpur, driving out into the sticks to visit the village of Bhatighari. Stopping off at Dev's reforestation projects along the way, we also went wildlife spotting on a dried-up river bed.
Touchdown in Janakpur! We've finally arrived at our home for the next few weeks. Not wasting any time, Pipal Tree partner and social activist Dev Narayan Mandal took us out for a history lesson and cultural experience.
On 28th May 2022 we will launch our ambitious ten-year Gurkha Memorial Forest project, a living memorial honouring the Gurkhas who have served in the British and Indian armies since World War 2. This is one of our series of reforestation projects that will see us plant at least 1,000,000 trees during our Decade of Action in response to the Climate Emergency.
Welcome to the first entry of our blog. Over the next month, Dan and I (George) will be working with various individuals representing organisations aiming to better the lives of the citizens of Nepal, also endeavoring to protect and reinvigorate its diminished ecosystems. Here is our first impressions from touching down in Kathmandu.
Pipal Tree's main thrust is the response to the climate emergency, with our initial focus being in Dhanusha District, southeast Nepal. After an enforced two-year absence because of COVID, I was able to spend three weeks in Nepal in February and here are my impressions.
Following our tremendous success in the 2021 Big Give Christmas Appeal, we have been able to deliver immediate help to children at a community school that we are supporting in south Nepal.
Since March 2021, in partnership with Our Sansar, we have been operating a girls' refuge in Janakpur, southeast Nepal. It is the only one of its kind in a region where gender-based violence is endemic.
Our colleagues at the Bhatighadi Community Forest Users' Group (CFUG) have been awarded the prestigious Ganeshman Singh Outstanding Forestry Award for 2020/2021
Pipal Tree will be holding its annual charity dinner at the prestigious Victory Services Club on 30th November to coincide with the launch of our Big Give Christmas Appeal week.
Pipal Tree is delighted to be able to offer two guaranteed places in the exclusive 2022 Holy Island Marathon - you can be one out of just 25 runners in return for raising (at least) £1,000 in sponsorship towards our Nepal projects.
The Dhanushadham Bird Park is a new joint initiative by Pipal Tree and The Mithila Wildlife Trust through which we will merge art, education and the rapid-growth reforestation "Miyawaki Method" to create a forest that will provide a focus for birdlife, ecotourism - and inspiration for the next generation.
In our school capital development project in southeast Nepal, we are using eco-bricks to protect the environment, construct stronger and cooler buildings and reduce building costs.
This is an update on our reforestation project that has become a highly successful model for engagement with the local community and the Department of Forestry in Nepal.
Pipal Tree is taking part in The Big Give Christmas Challenge 2021 - it's your opportunity to double or even quadruple the value of your gift in support of our Big plans in Nepal for 2022 and beyond.
Pipal Tree has joined forces with Our Sansar and Guy's Trust to ensure that we met the needs of the poorest people during the latest COVID lockdown in Nepal
Pipal Tree offers you a chance to donate to either Education or Women's Empowerment projects (or both!) in Nepal with the chance of your online donation doubling in value through matching pledges available in The Big Give.
The actress Amrita Acharia, who has Ukrainian-Nepalese roots, appeals for donations towards a Pipal Tree appeal for emergency COVID relief in Nepal. Through The Big Give, all online donations can automatically double in value.
Pipal Tree is working in collaboration with the Gemma and Chris McGough Charitable Foundation, the Nepal Department of Forests and the Mithila Wildlife Trust to restore a community forest at Bhatighadi, Dhanusha District, southeast Nepal.
We are inviting your support through The Big Give to Lily's Leaves, our partner social enterprise in Nepal. A Kathmandu project, this wonderful new initiative is already making a difference to the lives of vulnerable young women - female empowerment in action!
Teacher and teacher-trainer Caroline Milne joined our Board of Trustees in October 2020. She brings a wealth of experience within the education sector to the table, but also a compassion and commitment that has been forged and focussed through a tragedy in her own life.
I was very pleased to receive these pictures this morning of our school extension project underway, as implemented by our local partner NGO, the Mithila Wildlife Trust.