Meet the ESC Team – Deevas Gurung

Posted on 10/01/2019

In our first “Meet the ESC Team” article, we will be sharing an amazing story about a young ESC consultant, Deevas Gurung, who has been with ESC since January 2018.

Meet Deevas Gurung

Prior to joining the company, as part of his master’s dissertation, Deevas conducted a detailed technical investigation into hydrocarbon prospectivity of the Sofala region, offshore Mozambique, using software such as Schlumberger’s Petrel and Techlog, and gained an insight into the exploration and upstream sectors of the oil and gas industry. He has an MSc (Hons) in Exploration Geophysics from the University of Manchester and a BSc (Hons) in Applied Geology from the University of Birmingham.

In December 2018, Deevas visited his native country, Nepal, to volunteer for an outreach project – ‘Glasses to Gorkha’, a programme led by a team of Nepali optometrists and opticians who now live and work in the UK.

The project – solely funded from donations – aims to provide free eyesight/health checks, diagnose eye conditions and distribute prescription glasses in Chipleti (Gorkha), a rural village located near the epicentre of the 2015 Nepal earthquake, which took nearly 9,000 lives and left 3.5 million people homeless. The village itself was hugely affected, and Nepal as a country is still recovering from this devastating earthquake.

“Over the three-day eyesight camp, we saw 456 patients of all age groups. Over 100 were diagnosed with various stages of cataracts, which were referred to the nearest hospital. Glasses were freely distributed and prescribed to everyone who needed but could not afford them. How a simple pair of glasses, that we take for granted and can easily be accessed in the UK, can make such a huge difference in someone’s life in rural Nepal is incredible. Whether it’s reading books, feeding cattle, doing house chores, sewing or cooking, the positive impact and daily difference it can have is immense. Apart from a few minor setbacks, ‘Glasses to Gorkha’ was a huge success. The sense of gratitude and beautiful memories made along the way goes without saying.”- Deevas

Definitely a busy but rewarding trip. But before his volunteer expedition Deevas completed a 12-day winter hike into the Dolpa region (near the Nepal-Tibet border), which is one of the most remote and poorest parts of the country. During the trek, he crossed four mountain passes over 5,100 metres above sea level (MASL) and visited a number of ancient Tibetan and Bon settlements. Here are some amazing pictures.

“It was bitterly cold in Dolpa. At night, temperatures dropped below minus 15 Celsius.  Rivers and waterfalls were completely frozen. Imagine hiking 9 – 12 hours per day with a 15kg rucksack for 12 days to brace the cold winter in one of the most remote regions in Nepal, which has an average altitude of 4,500 MASL. It was definitely tough. We camped outdoors for four nights and took refuge with the locals for the remaining nights. The nearest roads were six days away, while the nearest phone reception could be reached by walking for four days – we were literally cut off from the outside world. However, the beautiful scenery, extreme landscape, cultural experience and the people I encountered made it worthwhile. It was truly amazing!” – Deevas

If you like Deevas story and would like to hear more about his project and trip just get in touch through the comments section below or via info@esc.uk.net

• Contact ESC

• Phone: +44 (0) 20 3206 5200 (Environmental Resources Management [ERM] switchboard)
• Email: info@esc.uk.net

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