Farewell to Viva and Jacky

Submitted by admin on Sat, 2010-11-27 21:16

Viva and Jacky's History with Umbrella
For our recent subscribers to the newsletter an introduction to the great work of Viva and Jacky is definitely in order.
Viva Bell co-founded The Umbrella Foundation with Irish friend Dave Cutler. Viva, a full time resident of Nepal was country director, house mother, teacher and friend to the children who were the first to come under the umbrella.
In 2005 Umbrella performed the first rescue, with the support of the Child Welfare Board, taking 7 children from a despicable home in Dallu. No one could have known then that Umbrella would grow to be the organisation that it is today. Back then Viva and Dave were merely reacting to the desperate needs of these children and doing what they knew they had to do.
The Child Welfare Board had confidence in the ethos of Umbrella and so came to Viva on many occasions with news of other homes that needed to be shut down, meaning there were more children who needed a home. So while many other children's homes might rescue two or three children at a time, every time Umbrella performed a rescue their numbers would increase by at least 20!
So evolved the growth of Umbrella. The first house was opened in 2005 and the latest house was opened in April 2009.
Jacky joined Viva in 2006, taking over as country director. Together, Jacky and Viva held the reigns in Kathmandu. Jacky was hugely instrumental in the realisation of many of Umbrella's dreams. As most of the children have rural backgrounds and as Kathmandu is highly over priced, over crowded and over polluted it became clear that Umbrella's future could not be in the country's capital.
With the counsel of long time friend and loyal supporter, Gyan Badhur Lama, the community of Gurje was the chosen location to relocate the Umbrella family. It was Jacky's tireless efforts that secured a donation of land from the Nepali government, won a bid to build a school for 500 students and a hostel for 300 children from the Indian government, the largest bid awarded by India to a project of its type in Nepal!