Gyabaree Appeal

Thanks to many generous contributions the school has now been rebuilt and was officially reopened in May 2004.

A full report was published in the Jersey Evening Post ("JEP") on 28 May 2004 and can be downloaded here:

• JEP page 14 (pdf, 150Kb)
• JEP page 15 (pdf 150Kb)

History of the Appeal

Duncan Barette, a Jerseyman living in India, asked the trust to launch an appeal to help rebuild a primary school destroyed in a landslide disaster which claimed 25 lives.
The school was lost when the combined effects of deforestation and monsoon rains created a landslide on the steep slopes of the Gyabaree Tea Estate in Darjeeling. The slide, on 8 July 2003, destroyed four villages and left more than 1,000 people homeless.

Mr Barette, an Old Victorian and former St Brelade resident who has specialised in teaching in the Bengali community in both London and Bangladesh and has also broadcast on Bengali affairs, moved to India earlier this year. He has been helping to organise relief for Gyabaree, whose school rebuilding project is being administered locally by the educational charity Shayog.

To download the full article published in the Jersey Evening Post by right click here (PDF, 342kb).