Australian Ambassador Visits Orange

The Australian Ambassador to Nepal Mr Peter Budd recently visited Orange to thank the various members of the Orange Community who have provided great support to Nepal over the past eight years.

Specifically, he met Rotarian Robyn Murray, Dr Nicholas Burns and members of their team who have been providing major support for the development of mental health programs in Kathmandu and also in the Maidi District in Nepal. They will be returning to Nepal in November to continue to support mental health initiatives in Nepal.

Also involved were members of the Rotary Club of Orange Daybreak who under the leadership of Rotarian Mary Brell OAM have provided essential training in health, education, agriculture and building techniques over the past eight years. President Ray Fleming said he was delighted that the Club had been able to support all these training initiatives which have made a significant difference to the people of Nepal. The education results in the Dhading District of Nepal have shown the greatest improvement of any district in Nepal.

Ambassador Budd was formally welcomed to Orange by Mayor Reg Kidd and while here, he explored further opportunities for Orange Daybreak Rotary and other business and organisations to be involved in Nepal.

Rotary District Governor John McKenzie said he was delighted with the contribution Rotary has been able to make in Nepal. John was a member of the agriculture team who visited Nepal last November to assist with developing improved nutrition in Nepal. This team under the leadership of Mary Brell and including Rick Colless past NSW MLC and his wife Geraldine will be returning to Nepal in November.

Over the past four years students from Orange who have completed their HSC have visited Nepal and been involved in service activities, on each occasion they have been met by the Ambassador to which it has been said how proud he is of them as young Australians rather than visiting resorts to celebrate the end of their formal schooling.

Whilst in Orange the Ambassador met with members of the local Nepali community led by Birendradeep Malla who are heavily involved in a wide variety of local industries.