On 25 April 2015, a 7.8 magnitude earthquake hit Nepal killing over 8,000 people and demolishing half a million homes. On 12 May 2015, a second quake, measuring 7.3, caused further devastation to an already damaged country. With 40% of its population living in extreme poverty, the road to recovery for Nepal will be a long and difficult one.

Within 72 hours of the initial earthquake, All Hands Volunteers, a US-based charity that harnesses the energy and power of volunteers worldwide, had its experts on the ground evaluating how best to help. Now, over a year on, All Hands Volunteers have helped to rebuild almost 400 homes and schools in Kathmandu, Sindhupalchowk and Nuwakot but the communities in these areas are still in desperate need of more help and whilst the volunteers continue to give their time and energy to this cause, funding is needed to provide the infrastructure that enables these people to work for the benefit of the Nepali people.

Julian had the opportunity to spend a week volunteering with All Hands in Sindhupalchowk in November last year and it was a genuinely life changing experience. We would wholeheartedly recommend anyone who has a spirit of adventure, a strong constitution and, most of all, a desire to help others, to make time to do something like this at one of the All Hands sites which are now actively helping communities in the Philippines, Ecuador, Malawi and, of course, Nepal.

Amber will shortly be travelling to Nuwakot to spend two weeks as an All Hands Volunteer helping to clear and rebuild ruined school buildings schools in that district and, within a week of her return, she'll be in a double kayak setting off to raise money for the continuation of this amazing project.

We hope that you will feel able to donate what you can to this tremendously good cause and are all looking forward to the challenge of kayaking 75km of the River Thames over two days in order to persuade you to help.

Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving - they'll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they send your money directly to the charity. So it's the most efficient way to donate - saving time and cutting costs for the charity.