Kathmandu:

All the men who had gathered at the roadside teastalls near the Standard Chartered Bank at New Baneshwor to enjoy a hot cup of tea on a chilly morning were pretty surprised to see so many people around. They even enquired with the other onlookers while more people wearing similar tee shirts joined the gathering.

This huge crowd of people had come together to participate in the Standard Chartered Nepal Walkathon 2007 — A Walk for a Brighter Tomorrow. The annual fund raising event of Standard Chartered Nepal, which was held on November 17, saw the participation of 400 people including the staff, members of organisations that had partnered the event and the visually challenged students from Technical and Skill Development Centre for Blind and Disabled (TSDCBD) in Kirtipur.

Despite the cold, everybody looked upbeat as they got ready to walk the five kilometres to support the major social initiatives of the bank. The fund generated from the event will be used for the global initiative of Standard Chartered group named ‘Seeing is believing’, which was launched in 2003 and ‘Living with HIV’.

The walkathon, which began at 8:30 am from the head office at New Baneshwor ended at around 10:45 am at the Lazimpat branch. The ribbon cutting ceremony marking the inauguration of the walkathon was done Sujit Mundul, CEO Standard Chartered Bank Nepal. The procession was headed by a group of people playing the traditional musical

instruments, which was followed by the visually disabled students of TSDCBD and other participants. Mundul presented a vote of thanks to the participants after the completion of

the walkathon.

The main sponsor of the event was Tara Management and the other sponsors were National Insurance Company Limited and United High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). World Distribution Nepal, Union Money Transfer Company Limited and Sharma and Company Private Limited had supported the event.