BBC Kent's Ed Cook has returned from a trip to Nepal, where he accompanied actress Joanna Lumley on her visit to meet Gurkha veterans and their families. In his blog for BBC Kent, Cook describes a varied and incredible journey, from witnessing the recruitment process for the British Army's Gurkha regiment to attending a ceremony renaming a hill in honour of Lumley's late father.
Cook writes of the intense selection tests for teenage hopefuls in Kathmandu, where around 13,000 candidates will compete for just 300 places this year. He observed pull-ups on a wooden bar and learned that recruits run 8km daily. One 19-year-old, Kush, told Cook he wanted to join to repay his parents, while others see it as a route out of poverty or a family tradition.
A particularly moving moment came in Pokhara, where locals renamed Mattikhan Hill to 'Mattikhan Lumley View' in gratitude for Lumley's campaign work and in memory of her father, Major James Rutherford Lumley, who served with the Gurkhas. Lumley plans to visit the site next year. Cook also interviewed her son, Jamie, who spoke of receiving Gurkha memorabilia from his grandfather and how meeting veterans helped him understand his grandfather better.
Cook's blog also notes everyday hardships in Nepal: monsoon flooding, power cuts lasting 18 hours a day last winter, and a rubbish collection dispute in Kathmandu. He visited a school rebuilt under the Gurkha Welfare Scheme in Pumdi Bhumdi, where class sizes can reach 60, and met elderly veterans, one of whom showed a war wound. The trip included a flight with views of Mount Everest and encounters with water buffalo and a wild monkey at his hotel.
