Nepal Earthquake fundraisier EN

Nepal Earthquake fundraisier

On 25 April Nepal, one of the poorest countries in the world was hit by a serious earthquake measuring 7.8 on the Richter scale.  This natural disaster and its countless aftershocks led to chaos, destruction and desperation in most parts of the country. With up to 500,000 buildings destroyed, countless more uninhabitable and thousands of deaths the survivors are struggling to get basic supplies such as water, electricity, medication and tents.  In all this mess children are the most vulnerable being petrified by ongoing aftershocks, without shelter and exposed to the elements due to the incoming rain season.

I, Peter Beiner, happened to be on a trek to Everest Base Camp at the time the earthquake hit and had to live through this extraordinary scary experience.
Thanks to our mountain guide, Narayan, who made the impossible possible we eventually managed to get out of Kathmandu some 8 days after the quake.  I will never forget what I saw and felt during those days and I feel it is time to do something for these people rather than go back to a normal life.

Narayan’s family live close to the epicentre northwest of Kathmandu and lost their house, jobs and pretty much all hope. One could argue he simply did his job as tour guide in leading us to safe places and help to simply ‘survive’. It was more than that.
Immediately after the quake hit we agreed to assist this badly affected family wherever we can.  With all of us having to go back to our families and jobs active help in Nepal was regrettably out of the question  so we decided to put the family in a position where they can put their future into their own hands.
The best way to go ahead is to contribute financially as they are the ones who know what’s best and how the funds are used most efficiently.

 

Village of the family and the (former) residence after the quake:

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Current temporary shelter without water, electricity and toilet:

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Why just support one family ?

The commendable support measures provided by many international aid organisations did not convince us that this was the way to go. Right now many aid deliveries and supplies remain unused and stranded at Kathmandu airport (some are even still in Dubai due to the lack of space) mainly due to poor infrastructure. The distribution of urgent goods and medication is currently done by a limited number of helicopters while the majority of building supplies and food needs to be carried by porters. It takes weeks to reach remote areas and many goods will never reach their destination due to a lack of organisational and monitoring skills and systems.

Bearing in mind the degree of destruction, the number of affected families, the remoteness of the countryside and ineffective infrastructure this ‘problem cannot be solved by international aid organsations, regardless how hard they may try. After almost 3 weeks since the earthquake not one  government representative has visited Narayan’s village.  It’ll be naive to think that the aid organisations will stay forever. At some stage (probably in a few weeks) most of them will be gone to assist in other disaster areas around the world. The locals are then left in the dark and without insurances or goverment assistance the only option available is to start again from scratch with the limited funds available. This is where we are trying to step in and help.

What exactly do we have in mind:
Rather than distributing donations with a watering (like most aid organisations do) we’d like to help one multi-generation family.  The family consists of a total of 8 family members who are affected equally. As an instant aid we would like to ask for donations for (waterproof !) tents, solar power and a water filter installation. These items shall be available before the beginning of the annual rain season (late May until September). After that we would like to provide a long-term education fund for the two children, currently 3 and 6 years of age. Nepal is #20 on the list of poorest countries in the world with an average monthly income of around NZ$ 80.00.
Education can only be accessed by ‘wealthy’ families and certain members of higher casts and we aim to cover the private secondary school fees which are currently about NZ50.00/month.

 

 

 

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To our delight many ex-clients, friends, relatives, all members of our trekking team as well as an entire school class of the Steiner School in Uberlingen/Lake Constance in Germany have donated or offered to take on a long-term sponsorship.

So far we have collected around NZ$ 2,300.00 (late May 2015) which will enable us to purchase the immediately needed equipment. The campaign is slowly growing momentum and we hope to eventually raise sufficient funds and be in a position to offer the family a long-term future.

Regrettably our crazy tax-laws make it almost impossible to open a private trust account. So far we haven’t found a lawyer who would do it for free. Until we manage to establish a charitable trust in NZ in July the current solution is a private account and the option to donate via Paypal/Credit Card.

An identical call for donations is initiated in Germany and the feedback is overwhelming.
www.immigration.de/nepal

Who guarantees that the donations are eventually passed on to the family?
I personally undertake that any funds received are used for the mid and long-term aims as explained above. As you all know I have been a licensed adviser for many years and the last thing I can afford is a fraud case, it’ll be the end of my professional career.
Any fund transfers will be discussed with the family upfront, means we ensure targeted payments whose purpose and use can be verified. Every cent will arrive in Nepal and there will be no losses due to ‘red tape’.

We expect this campaign to continue for the foreseeable future (I will be engaged for at least 10 years). Additionally it is intended to travel to Nepal in late 2016 to provide active help during the reconstruction of the damaged house. Any cost associated with this voyage will be borne by me personally using my own personal funds.


In order to assist the family we ask for your financial support.
Every cent counts
Please donate in NZ$ to our ANZ account as bewow
or via
Paypal thebeiners@gmail to the attention of Udaya bdr. 
Thapa (Narayan)

Paypal:

 

ANZ account:
Peter Beiner
ANZ Whangaparaoa
Konto: 06-0479-0062296-12
SWIFT: ANZBNZ22
Reference: Nepal