From January through March 2015, we sponsored a number of medical camps in villages in Nepal. In early April, Narayan led a group of 13 medical volunteers from Colorado and California to Bhutan. The group provided medical care and education at the Punakha Hospital under the auspices of the Bhutan Ministry of Health. The trip was so successfulthat the Ministry of Health invited Helping Hands back in October to tour the country and formalize our relationship with the Bhutanese government.
In October, a group of Helping Hands volunteers visited Bhutan. At that time we donated $7,000 to the Bhutan Health Trust Fund, which supports the country’s immunization program. Bhutan is dedicated to providing free primary health care to all its people, and Helping Hands is proud to be a part of this effort. We have invited the Minister of Health to Colorado in 2016 to raise funds for the Health Trust Fund.
Earthquake Devastation
Narayan traveled to Nepal from Bhutan in late April, when he planned to take a group of Surya Boarding School students to Japan. But two days after his arrival in Kathmandu, the devastating earthquake of April 25 hit the capital. Narayan was staying at a hotel in Bhaktapur, an ancient city about 8 miles east of Kathmandu. Bhaktapur’s Durbar Square, a worldheritage site and home to many beautiful temples, was heavily damaged, as were many homes and businesses. With chaos and destruction all around him, Narayan knew Helping Hands had to help, and that what the people needed most was housing. Millions had been left homeless, and Narayan vowed to make a difference for as many as he could.
Donations and offers of assistance immediately started coming into the Helping Hands office in Boulder. In addition, Shumei International, who sponsored the Surya School students’ trip to Japan, invited Narayan to Japan to speak about the earthquake at their annual May celebration. Narayan traveled to Kyoto with five Surya School students in early May. He spoke to large crowds of people and raised thousands of dollars for the relief effort.
Narayan returned to Nepal on May 13th, the day after a major 7.3 magnitude aftershock hit Nepal, just east of the Kathmandu Valley. Families were terrified to return to their homes for fear of being trapped by another aftershock. People were living in tents with little access to clean water or sanitation facilities. Narayan immediately began organizing groups of volunteers and collecting supplies to build long-term temporary shelters in Bhaktapur. He vowed at that time to build 500 shelters by the end of 2015, and 2000 shelters total.
Rebuilding Efforts
By June, the building had started. Over the course of the month, Nepali and American Helping Hands volunteers built 85 shelters in Bhaktapur and the Kavre District, just southeast of Bhaktapur. The first shelters built were constructed of a metal framework, corrugated tin walls and roofs, and concrete floors. These shelters have three rooms, a toilet and a bath. They will last 15-20 years, but they areexpensive and not very well-suited to the hot, rainy climate of Nepal. We are now building shelters using bamboo framework, bamboo and mud-plastered walls, and tin roofs. These shelters also have three rooms and a toilet. We have also built a small number of corrugated tin “quonset hut” style shelters in the Harishiddhi area south of Kathmandu.
