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About Us

The Buwan Kothi International Trust (BKIT) is a UK charity with trustees based in London and Leamington Spa, Warwickshire.  BKIT set up in 2006 and was registered with the Charity Commission (no 1118484) on 22 Mar 2007 – just five days after the sudden death of one of our founding trustees Gilly Mundy. The charity’s governing Trust Deed sets out the following objects:

The promotion for the benefit of the public of rural regeneration in Haryana, India, by all or any of the following means:

  • The relief of financial hardship among people living or working in Haryana.
  • The advancement of the education of the children in Haryana by providing and assisting in the provision of facilities for education.
  • The creation of training and employment opportunities by the provision of workspace, building, and/or land for use on favourable terms.
  • The maintenance, improvement or provision of public amenities.
  • The provision of recreational facilities in Haryana for the public at large or those who by reason of their youth, age, infirmity or disablement, financial hardship, or social and economic circumstances, have need of such facilities.
  • The protection or conservation of the environment.
  • The provision of public health facilities and child care.
  • Such other means as may from time to time be determined subject to the prior written consent of the Charity Commissioners for England and Wales.

NB: BKIT’s trust deed makes clear that we are legally unable to support charitable projects in India other than those based in the state of Haryana.

Our History

In December 2005, friends and relatives of Gilly Mundy and Debbie Quargnolo travelled to Buwan Kothi in Haryana from the UK in order to celebrate their wedding. They were overwhelmed by the warmth and generosity of the welcome they received from the village and resolved to put to good use the wealth of skills and experience they could draw upon, to develop and strengthen friendly links between people in the UK and Haryana.

On 28 March 2006, the Buwan Kothi International Trust was formed to raise funds for projects in Haryana aimed at rural regeneration and building closer ties with rural communities in the state, directed at all times by the priorities of the people living in these communities. The major objective of the charity was always to raise funds to build a primary school in Buwan Kothi, but this has been given an even greater impetus by Gilly’s sudden death on 17 March 2007, aged only 36.

After raising just over £52,000 in 2007-2008, the Trust worked with a newly created Indian charitable association, BKIT India, to fund the completion of the first phase of the The Gilly Mundy Memorial Community School in April 2008. The school now has over 560 primary age pupils and we now aim to raise a further £50,000 to complete the final stage of building work and start on the construction of a Community Resource Centre.

Our Major Appeal

Oure major appeal is to raise funds for the extension, sustainability and development of the Gilly Mundy Memorial Community School in Lehrian, near Buwan Kothi, in memory of our brother Gilly Mundy

Our Other Objectives

  • Create links between schoolchildren in the UK and Haryana
  • Set up education projects aimed at teaching about ealth issues, including nutrition and disease prevention
  • Installation of a filtering system to provide clean drinking water to the village
  • Set up art projects to develop young people’s creative and communicative skills