Harry to stay on in Nepal to help charity rebuild school

Updated

Prince Harry has extended his tour of Nepal to do his "small bit" to help a disaster response charity rebuild an earthquake destroyed school.

Harry will spend six days eating, sleeping and working with Team Rubicon UK volunteers in a remote village whose makeshift classrooms will not stand the coming rainy season.

More than 100 pupils are being taught in a temporary school made of poles, tarpaulins and tin after the devastating earthquake struck the country last April killing almost 9,000 and damaging almost a million houses and buildings.

At a reception hosted by Britain's Ambassador to Nepal Richard Morris at his official residence in Kathmandu, Harry said: " The people I have met and the beauty of this country make it very hard to leave.

"Thankfully however, I'm not leaving just yet. I will be spending the next six days in a remote village with a charity called Team Rubicon.

"The team I'm joining will be working with a community to rebuild a school damaged in the earthquake. I'm so grateful to have this opportunity at the end of my official tour to do my small bit to help this beautiful country."

Harry joked that the tika dot - a symbol of welcome - placed on his forehead many times during his five-day visit, had become a permanent symbol: "If anything I may have been a bit too welcome. This tika is here to stay."

And in a sombre moment the Ambassador called for silence to mark the terrorist attacks in Brussels.

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