SAMAJ BACKGROUND
Before 2004 there were only few Gorkha Zilla ‘gurungs’ living in the United Kingdom but the Home Office historical announcement in October 2004 and in May 2009 allowing all retired Gurkha who served for four years or more from 1948 onwards along with their families has seen a huge surge of ex-Gurkhas in the UK. This has obviously increased our zilla population as well and this has necessitated us to establish a Samaj to provide welfare and morale
support to those falling into serious predicaments and to celebrate our notable religious and auspicious festivals. In addition, we also felt the need to preserve our customs, traditions and culture to enable our younger generation to follow it in the hope that they will pass it on to posterity.
The seed of Gurkha Zilla Gurung Samaj UK was sown in 2006 when few families gathered together to celebrate Lhosar in Aldershot and Farnborough. During this time, Tamu Dhee UK was the only large Gurung organization that organized Lhosar celebration where all the UK Gurungs converged into to celebrate it with gusto. With Pye Lhu Sang UK sadly parting company with Tamu Dhee UK and with large number of Gorkha Gurungs now settled in the UK, we finally decided to establish our own samaj on 29 Mar 2008 naming it ‘The Gorkha Zilla Gurung Samaj UK’ with Mr Thamparsad Gurung being elected as the first Chairman to lead the Samaj. Since then we haven’t looked back and our Samaj has gone from strength to strength. It is through the hard work and devotion of each of our members that we stand proud today of our Samaj and its achievements.
CONSTITUTION
To help maintain control, fairness, impartiality and good governance of any Samaj, it is a very important that a constitution is produced to meet its aim and objectives. To that end our Samaj constitution came into effect from April 2008 and since then some amendments have been made to meet the wishes of our members. Members are encouraged to bring out comments and suggestions to the constitution during the Annual General Meeting (AGM). Once proposals to constitution amendments have been fully agreed by the committee, it is amended accordingly. We always ensure that the aim of our Samaj remains unchanged to help us achieve our set objectives. We now have a comprehensive Samaj constitution that provides an excellent guide to help the Executive Committee to run the Samaj in a professional and efficient manner.
SOCIAL EVENTS
Our Samaj mainly celebrates two annual events: Lhosar at the beginning of the year to bid farewell to the old ‘Lho’ and to usher in the new ‘Lho’ and the AGM and Summer BBQ Party that takes place simultaneously.
Lhosar.
As you know, Lhosar is the main festival of our Gurung community and we celebrate it with real gusto and passion featuring many of our Gurung tradition and culture. We also appreciate and recognise our members through felicitation and presentation of our Samaj Recognition Certificate to those who have provided outstanding contribution to the Samaj and to those who have done exceptionally well in their profession and education.
Annual General Meeting & BBQ
Annual General Meeting and summer BBQ are usually held in the summer time. Due to many other social events taking place during the summer months, our Samaj usually combines both of these events to take place simultaneously on the same day. AGM is held first followed by the BQ party. The main aim of the event is to update our members on Samaj’s activities of the whole year and to get constructive feedbacks from member for the betterment of our Samaj. The other reason is to have a convivial social gathering in an informal way to relax and unwind from our everyday work and to provide a platform for everyone to meet and greet each other and build a stronger family bond.
MEMBERSHIP ELIGIBILITY
Membership
At present, the total number of our membership stands at 251 with about 75% of them being Life Members. Membership has been increasing each year and this proves that many recognise our good work and have a positive view of our Samaj.
Eligibility for Membership
All Gurungs from Gorkha Zilla living in the United Kingdom are eligible for Samaj membership regardless of their settlement status or religion. If daughters and sisters (chelibeti) from Gorkha Zilla are married to people from other districts, regardless of any caste, they will still be eligible to apply for membership; if they so wish. All those married and over the age of 25 years are eligible for membership but must apply individually. Only dependents under the age of 25 years and living with their parents in the same house will be covered by the ‘Head of family membership’. All serving personnel in the Armed Forces from Gorkha Zilla are eligible for membership. Regardless of their tour of duty outside the UK, they will still retain their full membership unless they have joined as ordinary members and fail to renew their memberships on time.
MEMBERSHIP TYPES
Life Membership
Life Membership came into effect from 30 September 2009. Life Membership means that it will be for life and members will not have to pay for it again. The fee of a Life Membership is £200 for a married couple and £100 for single. A married person membership will include all unmarried dependents below the age of 25 years. The term ‘dependent’ means those siblings who are living with their parents in the same house. Siblings living independently or over the age of 25 are not included. To be eligible for a Life Membership, dependents must be aged 25 or over and must apply for membership individually.
Ordinary Membership
Ordinary Membership came into effect since the first Committee Meeting was held in April 2008. The membership is renewable annually at Loshar. The annual fee for an Ordinary Membership is £20 for new members settling in the UK. The renewal fee remains the same, i.e. £20. The membership also covers dependants of the family but they must be unmarried and under 25 years of age. Family members living independently and over 25 years are not included in the membership.
Senior/Elderly Membership
Membership for elderly people was also introduced since the formation of the committee. Membership fee for elderly people for Life Membership is £100 and for Ordinary Membership, it is £10. The term ‘elderly people’ applies to all those who are aged 60 or over and are in receipt of a Pension Credit.
WELFARE SUPPORT
Gorkha Zilla Gurung Samaj UK is always takes a fair and just action to member who require welfare support. Irrespective of the type of membership, all members receive the same level of treatment and welfare support from the ‘Samaj’. In times of serious ailment, a bouquet of flowers and a ‘get well soon’ card will be sent/delivered to the member concerned on behalf of the ‘Samaj’. Dependents of members who get married will be presented with a bouquet of flower and a card from the ‘Samaj’. ‘Samaj’ will also help in the organisation of the wedding should they seek help from the ‘Samaj’.
In case of any family bereavement, the ‘Samaj’ provides an immediate financial support of £500 and ‘Seuwara’ of £25 is also be raised from each valid member. The ‘Samaj’ will also help in organising funeral and any other arrangement required for the bereaved family. Members from the Samaj have also kindly donated large sum of money to member’s relatives in Nepal who have pledged desperately for financial support to treat their life threatening illnesses. Thanks to your generosity that has helped some to change their lives completely and others to improve their health. Not a single penny was used from the Samaj fund to provide this kind of help. It was all made possible by our generous members. I strongly advise our members to renew their membership annually in order to qualify for welfare support from the ‘Samaj’. Please note that non active members will not be eligible for any welfare support.
SAMAJ FUND
Thanks to our devoted members, our Samaj stands financially healthy. Our Samaj’s main sources of incomes are generated through membership fees, members donation and any profit made from Samaj functions. Our treasurer from the executive committee is responsible for looking after the Samaj fund. At the present moment, the Samaj has no major plan to invest or spend the accumulated money, but we may need to think and plan judiciously in the future on how we wish to better spend it for the betterment of our members and the Samaj. I have intentionally not given the state of our fund here; but if any members wish to get the full information, they are more than welcome to contact me as the treasurer.
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE & MEETING
Executive Committee
In April 2012, selection of the third new executive committee members took place at the General Assembly. Youth members were also included in the executive body. During the general assembly, it was decided to increase the tenure of the new executive body from two to three years. Our next executive committee election/selection will take place in April/May next year during the General Asembly.
Meetings
In past two years, two AGMs and six executive committee meetings have taken place. Apart from this, four pre-AGM and other coordinating meetings have also taken place. All points and decisions made at the committee meeting is recorded in the Minutes of the Meeting and it is distributed by email to all valid members for their information and action where necessary.
SAMAJ WEBSITE
New home page and upgrading of the Gorkha Zilla Gurung Samaj UK website was completed and launched in 2012 Lhosar. According to our Meida Coordinator, Mr. Hari Gurung, the weekly visitors to our website are 380 and you will be glad to know it is getting ever more popular. Youths have also been allocated their site within our website and many Samaj activities including charity runs have also been uploaded on our website. It has been suggested that we should have enough space in our website to enable businesses and individual to advertise their businesses. We still need more articles and useful information along with photos to be uploaded in our website and we turn to our members for help – so please get started. We are still working on members log in procedure and to upload any Samaj confidential information for the eyes of our members only. If you have not yet visited our website, please log on to www.gorkhaligurungsamajuk.com
LIFE MEMBERS BADGE & CERTIFICATE
Nearly 75% of our members have obtained Life Membership and have hence received their Life Member Badges with some receiving certificate as well. Majority of members believe that presentation of certificates has no value and only waste’s our Samaj’s money but support the issue of Life Membership badges as it adds value. In view of this, the executive body has now stopped issuing of Samaj certificates and will only concentrate in issuing the badges. All members will be honoured and welcomed during the Lhosar Festival.
YOUTHS’ COMMITMENTS
We, the Gorkha Zilla Gurung Samaj parents, must be proud of our youths. Since the establishment of the Samaj, our youths have actively played their part and have given full support in almost all of our events. Without their much needed support, we would not have been able to successfully organise our events. Besides this, our youths have also done well in their education, personal careers, charity works and in many other different fields. It is encouraging to see our youths take such fervent interest in our tradition and culture giving us an assurance that this will continue well into the future from generation to generation. In the past years, our youths have organized charity dinners and helped raise funds to buy X-Ray machine for the Ampipal Hospital. They have also run health camps at Shreenath Kot VDC and Makaising in Gorkha and over a thousand people have benefited from this noble projects. No doubt, the executive body has full confidence in our active youths to lead cultural programmes in the future during the Lhosar festival. Seeing their remarkable contribution to the Samaj, the executive body has decided to further expand their role in our Samaj.
MESSAGE TO OUR CHELIBETIS
Please remember that even if you are married to people from other districts, regardless of their caste, you are still eligible to apply for our Samaj membership. As agreed in previous committee meetings, nine chelibetis have been sent formal letters including the membership application form inviting them to join our Samaj. To date, we are still waiting to hear from them. More such invitation letters will be sent to our chelibetis.
Conclusion
I am happy to report that the Gorkha Zilla Gurung Samaj UK is functioning well in accordance with our Samaj constitution and to the wishes of our members. Last few years were both very challenging and tremendous for the executive committee. The Samaj has clearly proved how much it can help our members in times of need. Members of the committee have to show their commitment, honesty and loyalty to the Samaj if we are to continue running our Samaj in a professional and efficient manner. We must learn from our mistakes and settle any misunderstandings, niggling disputes and grievances in a professional, calm and collective manner. Above all, committee members must be honest, dedicated and loyal in their dealings and set good examples to others. Members’ cooperation and understating is very vital in the managing our Samaj. We must all play our due part. We must not let thorny issues divide us but rather we must fight for our rights endeavour to build a strong and cohesive Samaj - ‘United we stand, divided we fall’.
Jay Gorkhali Gurung Samaj UK