Meeting the Gurkhas helping the recovery effort in Nepal
Last week, five days after the Nepal earthquake, I travelled to Everest Base Camp.
It was a desperate, isolated place after the tragedy of the weekend. For someone more into weekend walking than high altitude climbing, it was as if we had arrived on another planet - a deserted one at that.
And then from over a ridge came a stream of people. As they came closer the union flag glinted in the sunlight. In this most barren of places strode the Gurkhas. They had been on the mountain when the avalanche hit.
Uninjured, they were heading down having helped in the rescue and recovery as best they could.
The Gurkhas' story is only a tiny chapter in the tragedy that has engulfed Nepal, but it's an important one.
This is not least because of their wish to honour the 200-year Gurkha/Army connection, but also because of their wish to help Nepal recover.
If you want to help they ask for donations to Gurkha Welfare Trust.