CHILDREN in a Nepalese school are the newest members of the Amber Army after a donation of Newport County AFC shirts.
Shree Sagarmatha Secondary School in the village of Bung, received the shirts thanks to Richard Jenkins from Newport and the Classrooms in the Clouds Nepal (CITCNepal) initiative.
Around 70 pupils are now wearing County’s colours at the roof of the world.
Mr Jenkins, who works for Eastman Chemical Company in Newport, has been supporting the charity for the last ten years.
This latest Himalayan adventure was his third trip to Nepal.
His past challenges in support of CITCNepal have seen him helping to raise the funds used to build Shree Sagarmatha Secondary School.
In November, he and 13 friends, family and workmates hiked to Everest Base Camp in support of the charity.
“Eastman Chemical Company donated £1500 towards our challenge and we managed to raise £3380 online which was fantastic,” he said.
This past involvement was part of the reasoning for his footballing donation.
“One of my work associates, Darren Broadribb, is the [Newport] County Academy’s lead coach for the under 7 -16’s age groups,” said Mr Jenkins.
“The tops were just in storage and not being used so we came up the idea to take them to Nepal.”
Mr Jenkins contacted Dawa Geljen Sherpa, a trustee at CITCNepal, and told him about the idea.
“They were delighted,” said Mr Jenkins.
“I carried around 70 shirts with me and handed them over to Dawa, who arranged for them to be transported in to the Himalayas from Kathmandu.”
Mr Jenkins went on to express his pride at having “brought a smile” to the children playing football on top of the world.
“It was a great feeling,” he said.
“Looking at the pictures, the children look so proud of their new shirts.”
CITCNepal was created in 2006 and registered as a charity in 2007.
The charity exists to support education in Nepal.
It achieves this by building schools, supporting the employment and professional development of teachers and helping children.
For more information about the work being carried out by CITCNepal, visit citcnepal.org
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