OREANDA-NEWS. Good luck to SSE Enterprise’s Adrian Mayhew who is flying out to Nepal on Sunday with a team of Gurkhas to help restore the infrastructure knocked out by the recent earthquake.

Over 6,000 people are known to have died in the 7.8-magnitude quake and 14,000 were injured. The world has been shocked by the television images of devastation, so when the call for help came to Adrian he had little hesitation in saying ‘Yes.’

Adrian, a business development manager with SSE Enterprise Energy Solutions, lives in Wivenhoe, near Colchester in Essex and has close friends in the Gurkha community from the army barracks there.

Many Gurkhas have lost friends or relatives in the Nepalese disaster. When they decided to get a team together to help directly with the relief effort they sought Adrian’s electrical skills to help rebuild the infrastructure.

Adrian explains: “I’m going because some good friends from the Gurkha community asked me to join their team as my background in electrical and mechanical services might come in handy. When they asked me I immediately said yes. I’ve never been to Nepal before.

“I’m a qualified welder and fabricator and I’ll be taking out some basic tools to help restore power and communications which will be the next phase of the relief effort. We’ll be doing all we can to help get Kathmandu back on its feet again. If something is broken, I’ll fix it, which is probably what’s got me onto the team.”

Adrian has become good friends with the Gurkha community thanks to living and working near Colchester for 20 years, including a job running the building management systems of the army barracks.

Adrian, who will celebrate his 50th birthday this year, says that his wife and three children are all very proud of what he is planning to do. He adds that SSE has offered him “amazing support” in ensuring he can take the time as paid voluntary leave, and will match some of his fundraising efforts.

He is flying to Kathmandu via Istanbul, for two weeks hard work alongside ex-service personnel from Team Rubicon charity, which works in disaster-affected areas.  As many as 130,000 homes have been destroyed by the earthquake in Nepal.

“I’ll be taking the bare minimum in terms of clothes,” adds Adrian. “We’re going with ex-soldiers so no-one will mind if we smell a bit! I’m taking things like my screwdrivers and electrical meter so basic tools and we’ll also be taking our own food rations so we can be self-sufficient and not draw on the already exhausted supplies.

“I’ll also be taking my SSE gear so I’ll wear that when I’m out there. I’ve looked after the management systems of all sorts of buildings from army barracks to Stansted Airport but this job will be about getting basic things working again. I reckon we’ll be totally flat out but I’m really looking forward to it.”