Fundrasing in Rome for victims of Nepal earthquake.

Each year during the six weeks of Lent, Churches Together, an ecumenical fellowship comprising 11 mainly English-speaking churches in Rome, raises money for the Rice Bowl Appeal.

This year the annual campaign is raising funds for the victims of the Nepal earthquake which claimed more than 8,800 lives and resulted in over six million people losing their homes after the 7.8 Richter Scale quake struck on 25 April 2015.

All funds raised from this year's Rice Bowl Appeal will go directly to the World Mission Council of the Church of Scotland which is helping to rebuild communities in Nepal. Working with its partner organisation, the United Mission to Nepal (UMN), the plan is to build structurally sound houses, which cost approximately €670 each.

The UMN is overseeing the construction work in Dhading, a fertile agricultural region extending high into the mountains and on to the Tibetan border, located a three-hour drive west of Kathmandu. The Christian international non-governmental organisation has been working exclusively in Nepal since 1954 and has been established in the Dhading region for over ten years.

The idea behind the Rice Bowl initiative, which has been in operation for more than three decades, is to encourage people to eat less for one meal a day during the 40 days of abstinence leading up to Easter and to donate the money saved.

Donations can be made until 27 March at the 11 participating churches:

All Saints’ Church, Via del Babuino 153B.

Church of Sweden, Via Bertoli 1E.

German Lutheran Church, Via Toscana 7.

International Christian Fellowship, Via XX Settembre 88.

Ponte S. Angelo Methodist Church, Via del Banco di S. Spirito 3.

Rome Baptist Church, Piazza S. Lorenzo in Lucina 35.

St Andrew’s Church of Scotland, Via XX Settembre 7.

St Paul’s Within the Walls, Via Napoli 58.

St Patrick’s Church, Via Boncompagni 60.

St Silvestro Church, Piazza S. Silvestro.

St Susanna, Via XX Settembre 15.