Two weeks ago, a magnitude 7.8 earthquake rocked the Himalayan nation of Nepal. These days, everywhere you look in Kathmandu, people are organizing and stepping up to help the country get back up on it’s feet. There are countless stories of people raising money for relief supplies, crowd-funding campaigns and helping each other in ways big and small.
Many rescue workers and foreign journalists have experienced Nepali hospitality first hand, where even people who have lost their homes have offered them a cup of tea.
These are three such stories of compassion and resilience.
Little Sister’s Fund
Usha Acharya, Co-Founder & Executive Director, of the Little Sister’s Fund has worked tirelessly for years to foster a sustainable educational environment for Nepalese females and increase female literacy in Nepal. Since the earthquake struck, Mrs. Acharya has stepped up effort to support the communities around her schools. She is feeding 30–40 students in their school in Nagarkot everyday, and has continued to carry on classes for the students. The students not only get a warm meal for the day and shelter, but also a sense of normalcy in life with school in session. Mrs. Acharya has also been instrumental in helping Dr. Fahim Rahim MD FASN successfully organize and run a large earthquake relief effort of international medical professionals, including food and shelter drops offs via private chartered helicopters deep into the remote villages of Sindupalchowk District.
Support them at LittleSistersFund.org.
Car Wash at Bhat Bhateni Shopping Center
Neha Shakya (above) and 5 other volunteers are raising money for the people in a small town on the outskirts of Kathmandu called Malta. “Many families have lost their homes and have not yet received any aid,” Neha said. The volunteers are cleaning cars in the Bhat Bhateni supermarket’s parking lot, with a smile on their face, knowing that they’re working to put a tent over someone’s head, and food on someone’s plate. They’ve successfully raised more than 70,000 Nepali Rupees ($700) in the first two days.
Rasuwa Relief
A small group of passionate academics with years of experience conducting ethnographic research in the Rasuwa District have stepped up as coordinators of relief efforts in the region. Austin Lord and Galen Murton, U.S. Fulbright Scholars and doctoral students, are helping to coordinate a team of other scholars, development workers, and volunteers who are familiar with the area. They’re crowd-funding to buy tents and food for the region, and also sharing daily updates about relief supplies, road blocks, landslides and other critical information with others at QuakeMap.org and the larger coordinating efforts in Kathmandu.
Follow Rasuwa Relief on Facebook.
The story of the earthquake is not a story about the rubble. It’s the story about compassion from the people who have suffered so much, but continue to smile and continue to look out for one another. That is and always has been the story of Nepal.
If you enjoyed reading this article, you should follow me on Twitter at @amrit_sharma.
