A Level students at Chesterfield College lent their support to a crucial relief and reconstruction project in Azad Kashmir after a major earthquake devastated the region in 2005.

On October 8, 2005 at 8.50 am, millions of lives were turned upside down as 80% of buildings were destroyed, including Bagh Girls’ College, the only facility providing education for 16-19 year old women in the area. The college was totally destroyed in the earthquake with over 300 students and staff losing their lives. A major reconstruction project supported by the Kashmir Education Trust has a three-year project to rebuild this college with a target budget for the re-construction of £300,000.

Students from Chesterfield College have been working with the Chesterfield Kashmir Earthquake Relief Fund (CKERF) to support the Bagh College reconstruction project and organise local fund-raising. This project has the support of Sheffield City Council, and the Bagh College reconstruction project is one of the Sheffield Lord Mayor’s official charity appeals. Humanities Lecturer James Eaden said, “I was impressed by the empathy the students demonstrated for another culture thousands of miles away.

“The students volunteered to support the project independently after gaining a sense of what it must be like to live in a community torn apart by natural disaster.
“Our students have worked on a number of projects to publicise the fund in Chesterfield. This has involved their working in partnership with members of Chesterfield’s Kashmiri Community, the Equality unit of Chesterfield Borough Council and the Derbyshire Library Service.

“Their work has mainly been around raising publicity (including two exhibitions in Chesterfield Library) and encouraging fundraising activities. It’s impossible to accurately state the amount of money they have helped to raise in Chesterfield for the fund, but certainly somewhere just short of £1000 has been raised thanks in no small part to their efforts.

“In addition the students themselves have done some fundraising activities at Chesterfield College raising £460 for the Kashmir Earthquake Relief Fund.”
Appealing to staff and students across College for donations, the group said: “Please help us rebuild a residential girls’ college in the earthquake area, which we hope will be renamed Sheffield Girls’ College.”