19.11.2003
GM Daewoo Challenge donations help home in Nepal

A group of seven children in the mountain kingdom of Nepal now have a home thanks to the efforts of GM Daewoo and the two British adventurers.

Richard Meredith from Newport Pagnell and his co-driver Phil McNerney from St Helens in the UK raised enough money to build a house for the youngsters by driving a Daewoo Kalos family hatchback from Luton to South Korea this summer.

Their epic trip – which took them through 25 countries, frequent brushes with danger and across 19,000 km of some of the world's toughest roads – raised 60,000 euros for SOS Children's Villages, the international child welfare organization.

The new house, complete with a host "mother" for the youngsters and those who follow them, was opened at a special dedication ceremony last week in Bharatpur, a new SOS village in the south of Nepal.

Meredith, an author from Kitchener's Lane, cut the opening tape accompanied by Helmut Kutin, the organization's president, and a large gathering of invited guests from Europe and Asia.

"This has been a very proud day for GM Daewoo and for everyone who worked so hard to make the Challenge such a success," said Meredith. "Nepal is one of the poorest countries in the world and our efforts will help some of the few children here who are in great need - but at least we feel we have done something very positive to help."