East Finchley resident Shampa Nath soared to earth in a hair-raising skydive for deaf children worldwide on Sunday 11 October.
Shampa took on the challenge for Deaf Child Worldwide, the charity where she works as head of the charity’s work in South Asia. Shampa wanted to raise funds for the charity’s vital work enabling deaf children and young people to be fully included in their family, education and community life.
Deaf Child Worldwide is the sister charity of the National Deaf Children’s Society, which is dedicated to creating a world without barriers for the UK’s 50,000 deaf children and their families.
Shampa has exceeded her fundraising target of £1,000 for the charity’s vital work, with £1,111 raised to date.
Shampa’s skydive took place at Sibson Airfield near Peterborough. She flew from 13,500 feet in a tandem freefall jump with a qualified instructor. One of Shampa’s co-workers at Deaf Child Worldwide, Al McLeod, head of the charity’s work in East Africa, also took the plunge on 20 September.
Commenting on her experience, Shampa said:
“It was without doubt the most exhilarating thing I’ve ever done. As soon as we touched down I wanted to go up again!
“I work for Deaf Child Worldwide, so I know about the struggles of deaf children around the globe to get a decent education. I felt I wanted to do something more for the deaf children than just my usual work and thought a skydive would be great way to raise extra funds for this fantastic charity.
“It doesn’t cost much to train a teacher to be deaf aware or, to support young deaf people gain in self-confidence and access job opportunities in South Asia, but it will make a huge difference to a deaf child or young person’s life. That’s why I wanted to do this.”
