26.6.2003
Nepal kids get cash help from Austria

A message of support to take to the children of Nepal was handed to Daewoo Challenge drivers Richard Meredith and Phil McNerney on Sunday June 22, at a presentation in Austria.

The intrepid travellers, who are driving halfway round the world in a family hatchback to raise money for SOS Children's Villages, received the letter when they visited Imst, the alpine village near Innsbruck where Hermann Gmeiner began an idea more than 50 years which has grown into an international organization caring for the needs of many thousands of children.

Wilfried Vyslozil, Executive Director of the Austrian association, made the presentation after himself receiving a cheque from Mr. H.S.Han, President of Daewoo Austria.

The party then toured the original village high up in the Austrian Tyrol, met with some of the resident children and staff, and visited the garden memorial to the oganization's founder.

The British adventurers, who are attempting to drive 16,000 kilometers from the UK to South Korea in a near-standard 1.4-liter Daewoo Kalos, are dedicating the money they collect to the construction of a new family house at an SOS Children's Village in Bharatpur, high up in the Himalayan mountains of Nepal, which is officially one of the world's most impoverished countries.