Distinctive Nepal Community Outreach Program – 2015/16

This small blog is dedicated to all those Earthquake Victims and all the donors who contributed in our relief movement. This blog is not intended for any kind advertisement nor any direct appeal for donations. It is limited to the story of our relief efforts that we want to share with all well-wishers who have contributed to our work directly or indirectly.

 Sabin Lal Shrestha

I am Sabin Lal Shrestha, Founder of Distinctive Nepal, specializing in Hotel Management and Tour Operator from Nepal since more than 15 years.

Everyone is aware of the massive earthquakes that hit Nepal on 24th April, 2015 and 29th April, 2015 which were above 7magnitude with numerous aftershocks.

It was on Saturday 24th April, 2015 at mid-day when I felt terrible shaking of my home where I was with my family (my mother, pregnant wife, and 5 years daughter). I was about to leave home to participate in one of the programs of consumer co-operative meeting in Patan. The shaking was so terrible, worse than I had ever imagined. We could not decide what to do, so we just stayed calm together with family as there is no possibility to run away from such massive shaking. I was already remembering God as I was sure that it must be a last day for all of us. The shaking was so big that the water filter jar fell down and broke into pieces and most of the things were scattered in our room. After sometime it stopped shaking and all of us went out of our home in search of safe ground near to my home. I found a large crowd already there and everyone was scared and horrified with their cell phones in their hands trying to locate their respective family members. There is no way to connect as the network was not working but fortunately internet connection was there. All of us immediately posted on facebook with the status that we are fine and most of our friends and relatives got the news accordingly to know the situation of each other.

For the whole day there were continuous aftershocks and no one dared to return home. We got news from the ground that there had been massive damage in Kathmandu, Bhaktapur and Patan and lots of houses, temples and monuments had turned into rubbles. The news was terrifying. Slowly, we got the news about the destruction of other remote areas of Nepal and human casualties. We are very thankful for all our friends abroad who sent me lots of emails and for the love and care they communicated during that adverse situation.

With Mrs. Sandy Colony – Personalized Odysseys, USA

I am able to write this blog because of Ms.Sandy Colony, Founder of Personalized Odysseys, USA with whom I work as Tour Operator for Nepal Section and for her kind effort of sending relief to Earthquake Victims along with the aid of several big hearted American people who are in touch with her.

It was 24h April when we have earthquake and the very next day from 25th April, Sandy started to communicate with me by email sending her entire thoughts to Nepal while we were sheltering on the ground in open sky. We were sheltered in open space for about more than a month. In between, Sandy proposed me to assist from her part to Earthquake Victims and I simply sent her the Bank address of one of the Organization who is actively organizing relief movement. I remember it was the bank address from one of the big media house from Nepal. But she, not only wanted to take the responsibility to send the funds but she wanted to make sure that it goes to really needy people, ones who were truly affected. That is how all our Community Outreach program started from Distinctive Nepal in support of Personalized Odysseys, USA. After her proposal, I gladly accepted to take the responsibility to distribute the funds to needy people. I was too glad that she trusted me to handle such a huge responsibility and a community outreach program is the one I was dreaming to include along with my company “Distinctive Nepal”

To be honest, I did not have any prior experience in handling relief activities but what I thought was that I did not need any experience to help needy people, I just needed to contribute my time for research, identification and distribution in an organized way and have a systematic record keeping to update Sandy and Donors. And we would simply move ahead with relief distribution the best way we could.

I needed helping hands to carryout relief distribution. I was sure that I would not be able to carry out this relief activities solely. I discussed with my trustworthy friend “SUNIL MAHARJAN” if he would agree to help me in my mission.

        Mr. Sunil Maharjan with Sabin

Sunil is from Patan and he is very energetic and enthusiastic. He is basically by profession – associated with Consumer C-operative of Patan somewhat like Finance Company who wanted to learn and earn from Tourism for which we are working together for Distinctive Nepal for tour operation since few years where possible. And Sandy is the one who kindly agreed to include him in her group movement for Nepal Tour even though she realized that he is not experienced in handling tour. I am glad for Sunil that he has got exposure in Tourism within this short time. And the positive part within him is he can keep our guest happy with his exceptional smiling face, trustfulness and dedication. And still some of our guests remember him and keep in touch with him. Keep it up Sunil !!!

Now, we did not have time for lengthy meeting and discussion, together we moved out in search of earthquake victims to whom we could distribute the funds directly that we had in our hands. I wanted to be 100% sure that our funds went to real victims and needy families.

In the beginning, when we went to field, I was confused as to whom to distribute as there were lots of victims and there were many many families who were desperately in need of relief. And at the same time large International Aid Organizations NGO and INGO were also massively working on relief distribution. We could not distribute such a huge relief materials/supply in mass with the budget that we had in hand and we did not have resources to manage such organized activities. In this confusion, I decided to work together with small community based organizations, ones actively engaged in relief distribution. And I provided some amount to them to help carry on their relief movement. I selected “Maa Banglamukhi Consumer Cooperative.” Sunil is associated with this organization and he was fully aware of their relief movement, thus I wanted to start with one I knew I could trust. This organization was organizing relief movement in various ways by sending doctors and running health camps, distributing food packages, etc. They utilized our fund in their relief program where Sunil was also in the field.

Next, I went to Bhaktapur to identify victims and again, met with many survivors. I chose one family who had lost two members from the same house and were temporarily sheltered in one of the relative’s house at the corner and the situation of that family cannot be described in words. One can imagine the situation of losing house and family members. With no further questioning, we helped that family “Mr. Rajesh Lakheju” with some direct monetary assistance so they could survive the immediate situation by buying essentials to fulfill current needs. They were so grateful while receiving the help. At this point I realized that I could not take pictures of the activities. We have not taken any pictures. How can one take pictures in such grief ? I decided that I would not take pictures where not appropriate.

After that I returned to the tent where we were living with my laptop. I went through the news and portal sites where there are tons of news on earthquake, relief distribution and rescue team from various countries. It made me sad to watch news where they showed the destruction as if whole Nepal turned to rubble which was not true and secondly it is disappointing to see the whole lots of pictures with earthquake victims receiving relief where it can be clearly seen they are not in the mood for any shoot in such grief. I feel strongly that any humanitarian activities has to be done unconditionally and not for any kind of advertisement or self serving style. That’s the point where I dropped my plans to post pictures of our activities on our wedsite and on my Facebook page. Till now, I have not posted a single picture for this relief movement. I just don’t like it. But yes, I have taken pictures where appropriate when I am sure that I can do it without hurting anybody and for the purpose and record for our donors and their activities. But not for advertisement purposes.

During the first week of our relief distribution, we did a lot of research and observations in various spots and found that lots of wealthy people and non victims were receiving the relief distributed by big organizations but the real victims those who were in grief and staying in corner and not able to come forward were not receiving any kind of help. Thus, I decided not to work with these bigger organizations who simply distribute the materials without identification of real victims. I thought that even though it was time consuming, I needed to distribute the relief based on my own identification directly for those who were in real need of relief.

We continued to explore the spots where there was extensive damage with human casualties but we were limited to the periphery of Kathmandu not beyond 25 K.M. as we had limited resources on transfers and frequent aftershocks which made it dangerous to travel in hilly regions.

Instead of working with bigger organizations, we moved ahead to communicate with the local community leaders who were actively working as social workers in their respective areas. They are the most knowledgeable and trustworthy people who have correct identification of real victim of that particular local area as they were continuously working on it.

We identified several victims who were in real need of relief. We allocated our budget in small several parts to enable us to distribute to a maximum number of families yet not too tiny relief. On average, we distributed Rs. 10,000/- to 20,000/- per family depending upon the situation. In coordination with local community leader/social worker we also provided food packages of 30KG of rice, 2 KG of Lentils, 2 Ltrs of edible oil and a packet of salt as these are the basic food items of Nepalese that they consume to survive.

At this time, I was in continuous touch with Sandy who sent me another email stating that she wanted to send some more amount for the relief as a 2nd part. I was also planning to send some of the updates and stories that I have encountered. I was aware that Sandy wanted updates on our activities and some stories of the families to share with the donors. I selected some families to write down their story and sent it to her. In fact, I planned to write down stories of all the families to whom we have distributed the relief but the stories of all the families were all very similiar as they had lost their homes and some members of their families. Thus, I just selected a few families to send their stories to Sandy. The response from Sandy from that few stories that I sent her were very encouraging and I could simply imagine how much she loves and cares about Nepal. Sandy’s initiation in sending relief was a real human soul and unconditional love towards Nepal and had nothing to do with business or any benefit in return which is simply a divine. I can never be thankful enough for her deeds to our country and Nepalese people. I was already looking for the appropriate way to thank her and entire donors who supported for this humanitarian cause.

One of the story that I would like to include in this blog which I had sent to Sandy – one of the earthquake victims Mrs. Mohan Maya Napit from Sindhupalchowk who survived from this earthquake as reported below:

Meet Mohan Maya N. age 78. Donations from some caring Americans and distributed to victims of the Nepal earthquake by a small group of humanitarian Nepali’s are helping her recover from her injuries and the loss of her home. This is her story as recounted by Sabin Lal Shresta.

Mrs. N. is living alone in small cottage in a village where major earthquake epic center strike left 98% houses in rubble. This is the place where too many human casualties have been recorded as well.

On the day of 1st earthquake on 25th April, 2015, she was busy doing her household work. In this age she is still active and earn herself to live independently. She works in one of the local hospital where she performs her duty of cleaning clothes and linens along with her colleagues. In Nepal, at the age of 78, it is very hard to see people working independently and living alone. As per our culture and society, at this stage of life, they should be living with the children and to receive care from family member. But she is exceptional case.

At the first quake, her small cottage was completely destroyed and she was under debris and helpless. Most of her neighbors are collapsed and died at the same time. But Mrs. N. has a strong power within herself and she was lucky enough to get out herself from debris without help of anybody. The situation was chaotic with everybody running to save their own life and there was nobody to rescue the people who were trapped. Mrs. N. was trapped inside her home completely with one left hand out from debris. She struggle for hour and hour and finally she helped out herself to get out from debris. She was completely injured and was rescued thereafter to safe place.

Now, she is getting temporary shelter in one of her daughter’s house in Bhaktapur and she is taken care of by daughters. We felt very good to have opportunity to help Mrs. N. though it’s small. Our eyes will be on her and we shall keep in touch with her and shall assist her if there is anything that we can do from our part. She is now slowly recovering from her injury and she nicely explain to everyone how she manage to fight with death and success to live this life from devastating earthquake.

A big blessing and heartfelt thank you to all donors for their humanity and generosity.

Above is just a representative story of the earthquake victims to whom we have helped from the funds that we have received from Ms. Sandy Colony, Personalized Odysseys, USA.

 Below we have some list of the Community Organization/ Earthquake Victim and the Area from where they belong.

All have similar tragic stories and we were able to distribute our funds directly into their hands . As the time passed, we have taken a few pictures for our records which I would like to share from this blog as well.

2/5/2015 Maa Bangalamukhi Community

4/5/2015 Rajesh – Bhaktapur

4/5/2015 Shiva K. Shrestha – Bhaktapur

5/5/2015 Kumari Waiba

8/5/2015 27 Family – Sankhu (1st )

7/5/2015 Saraswoti Barahi

7/5/2015 Gyani Maya Maharjan

7/5/2015 10 Family – Sankhu (2nd )

7/5/2015 Sarita Bajracharya

8/5/2015 Kopan Manastry

8/5/2015 Tashi B. Khadka

9/5/2015 Padma Pradhan

9/5/2015 Tej Raj Bajracharya

10/5/2015 Ramesh Bajracharya (Kumari)

10/5/2015 Roshan Bhandari

13/5/15 Shiva Shrestha – Sindupalcwok

17/5/15 Malpi Point

20/5/15 Phil Hunt (Animal Walfare)

20/5/15 Manag Marsyangdi Club

21/5/15 17 Family – Bungamati (1st)

21/5/15 39 Family -Bungamati (2nd & 3rd)

26/5/15 Via Sunil (2 bill) Selena

1/6/2015 Maa Bangalamukhi Community

1/6/2015 Mohan Maya Napit (1st & 2nd)

1/6/2015 Rajani Napit

2/6/2015 Juju Kaji

3/6/2015 Subahal Tole – 5 Family

3/6/2015 Nani Maiya Maharjan

5/6/2015 Kaya Maharjan

6/6/2015 mimi Amatya

6/6/2015 Rekha Nyachon

7/6/2015 Build one School (Dolkha)

8/6/2015 Surendra Bajracharya

8/6/2015 Chaitya Raj Bajracharya

9/6/2015 Sunakoti 20 family

20/6/2015 Luvu 25 family (RICE)

5/7/2015 Subahslma (sunil contact)

10/7/2015 Saraswoti additional

2/8/2015 Subha Ratna Bajracharya

10/10/2015 Through Rabina Didi

Sunil and I devoted lots of time in identification and distribution of funds till the first week of October which slowed down as the funds in hand were decreasing and we wanted to retain some funds to distribute to someone who is really in need for the relief in the near future .October is considered as high season in tourism for Nepal where we have lots of tourist visiting. By this time I had been notified by Sandy that she would like to volunteer for 4 days along with the group members in affected areas and expressed her desire to do volunteer and distribution of the relief. The relief distribution by me and the team was far different than arranging for an organized trip to carry out volunteering program with guests. I had to be more concerned with the security of the guests, distance, selection of the effected spot etc. for which I did extensive surveys, held numerous meetings with Local NGO/INGO/Community leaders and visited several schools/families/affected areas to gather the information needed to finalize the destinations for volunteering purpose. The tough part was to visit various spot as most of the villages did not have good roads. Secondly I need to be aware of the time frame that our guest should be able to return back on the same day in the evening before it get dark as we have senior guests in the group.

Finally, I chose 4 affected areas to take our guests for volunteering and relief distribution which were: 1. Shramic School, Nuwakot, 2. Lubhoo, Patan, 3. Kirtipur, Kathmandu, and 4. Baghbhairab School, Lele, Chaughare.

I informed Sandy about these affected areas and she advised me about the budget she would be having with her. Now, I had to decide the most useful materials to purchase and distribute to the victims in current situation.

For the school part we had discussions with School Management and asked them for the suitable relief that we could offer rather than making our own decision what to distribute. First we discussed with the school management of Shramic School at Nuwakot. The situation of school was so terrible. They lost their building (several small cottages), computers and much more school equipment. They put forward their needs for corrugated roofing, some computers for the teachers and student which we agreed to supply as well as stationary /toys for students.

Likewise, in the Bagh Bhairav School at Lele, Lalitpur, they informed us that some organizations were working to help for the construction of buildings thus directly to help to individual student might be more beneficial. We have decided to distribute tracksuit to each student along with stationary/toys.

For the affected families in Lubhoo and Kirtipur, we have decided to distribute a good quality sleeping blanket, shawl, powerful emergency light and small package of food including rice, lentils and oil.

After deciding what to distribute, Sunil and myself constantly devoted our time to arranging for the volunteer tour for our guest in coordination with local social worker/leaders of respective area. And after conceptualizing the plans and making preparations, we were ready to inform Sandy of these arrangements. She trusted my judgment gave her consent to move ahead.

However, during these period, we again experienced unexpected political unrest resulting in shortages of fuel and essential products in market due to unofficial border blockade by India. This situation put us in a very odd situation with mental stress on organizing flawless tour and volunteer activities. We did not have fuel in market and less than 20% of total traffic in road, scarcity of goods that has to be imported from India and dramatic price hike in all the goods in the market. Most of the restaurants were already closed due to lack of fuel and some shops were closed too.

In this situation to organize the trip was challenging but I have a confident to make it though. Thus, I sent my consent to continue to handle the tour for October, 2015 as well.

Finally, the time came when Sandy landed at Nepal Airport and we were very happy to welcome her as most other tour operators had cancelled most of their trips at this time and Sandy’s arrival along with the group was a good message to all tourism entrepreneurs and guests that still Nepal was safe to travel and manageable

Before our official tour starts, we have discussed with Sandy about the tour and the volunteer tour that we have arranged. We were happy that Sandy has approved all our arrangements for Volunteer activities and now we have to handle the tour and make final arrangement for volunteer tour as well.

During this time, we have taken opportunity to honor Sandy for all she and the donors  had done for Earthquake victims. Though it’s a small gesture we wanted to show her the importance of the help and to show our gratefulness to all good hearted people from America. Since we do not have much budget from our company, we made the program simple. We showed short video clips of earthquake activities that I had prepared and honored Sandy with Nepali Khada from the hands of one of the earthquake victim who have received our relief. We also handed out certificates and plaques as a token of love from our company to Sandy and all donors on behalf of all earthquake victims who had received our funds. At the same time I was sad since most of the invitees- Victims and coordinators were not present because of Dashain festivals and shortage of fuel. But I am thankful for those few victims and coordinators who had managed to spare their time to attend the function.

(Glimpses of Honor Ceremony for Sandy and donors)

(Short video clips that we have presented during honor ceremony for Sandy and donors) 

–Special thanks to my friend Mr. Subarna Shakya for compiling additional clips to my video —

Everything was arranged and as soon as we have finished our official tour, we headed for volunteering along with our guests led by Sandy Colony.

On 31st Oct, 2015 we went to Nuwakot “Shramic School” which took approx a 3 hrs drive through bumpy roads using four wheel drive vehicles. The students and the school management welcomed all of us wholeheartedly and our volunteer group handed over the corrugated roof, Stationary/Toys/Computers to school management/students. I was so glad to see the smile of each student, happiness that we saw in teacher’s faces and the satisfaction that we have seen in all our volunteers and donors. It was indeed a great day for all of us.

Mrs. Sandy Colony – Distributing Computers to the Student at Nuwakot School

On 1st Oct, 2015 we took our volunteers to the small village of Lubhoo where we had identified 50 families. We made a short visit to affected areas to show them the destroyed house and the situation of families and how they were living. After that we arrived to the home of a local coordinator where all families were gathered to receive the relief. We have distributed the supply that we have stocked in home as per the planning and arranged previously. It was very emotional day since our volunteers met and distributed the relief directly to the earthquake victims and the experience was full of tears. It was so heart touching and I am very thankful to all donors who helped unconditionally to these families. That’s why I cannot thank enough to a person like Sandy which may not be possible without her to bring smile to these poor families.

Volunteers distributing relief to families – Lubhoo

On 2nd Oct, 2015 we went to Kirtipur and the program was quite similar to Lubhoo where we distributed the same relief supplies to 50 families.

Volunteering in Kirtipur

On 3rd Oct, 2015 – it was our last day for the volunteer movement and we took our volunteer group to Lele, Chaughare “Bagh Bhairav School”. As planned, the students and the teachers from school welcomed our group whole heartedly with flower garlands. Here our volunteer group distributed the stationery/toys to students and Sandy made the announcement that each student and teacher would receive a track suite considering the winter season was coming. Here too, I am glad to see all of our volunteer group’s satisfaction and the smile on students and teachers.

I thought that was the end of all volunteering activities but again, Sandy and the other members specially, Harjinder Malone had seen the bare feet of the students without shoes. So, they made the commitment to assist to provide shoes and shocks for the students. Finally, Sandy sent the fund for shoes and socks which we distributed in the beginning of January, 2016 along with a tracksuit to each student and the teachers.

Stationary distribution to students of Bagh Bhairav School, Lele

Track Suite, Shoes and Shocks distribution to Kids

(After we have distributed relief materials in Lubhoo on 1st oct, 2015 which was proved to be a very emotional day to us and our volunteers as they all ended up with tears and with a big hugs to each other between our volunteers and earthquake victims. One of our guest/volunteer MRS. KIM CANNON had posted few pictures of today’s activities and short stories to share in her facebook page and the day after on 2nd Oct, 2015 she has received some amount in her account of around US $ 250 from her good hearted friends to utilize this fund in our relief program. Mrs. Cannon has handed over this amount to me in order to help Mrs. Sarita Shrestha from Lubhoo who has lost her both Son and Daughter. Her Son and daughter were just started their job and earning for family but unfortunately they died as they trapped inside home as of earhtquake of April, 2015. Below, we want to share few pictures with our donors that we have handed over Rs. 20000/- as additional relief to her on 19th Dec, 2015.)

We have donated Rs.35000/- to “Mother’s Home

Once again, Thank you Sandy for sending this relief of approx. US $ 29000/- in total, overall to distribute as relief to earthquake victims and giving me and my company an opportunity to operate “Distinctive Nepal Community Outreach Program – Nepal Earthquake 2015 in support with Personalized Odysseys”

God bless all Good-Hearted Americans !!!!