#nepalrelief

1. What urged you to take on this initiative?

“As soon as I heard about the earthquake in Nepal, I was determined to take action towards relief measures. I was quick to get in touch with the Director of CCLC, Mr. Valy Marochko to brainstorm ideas about what we can do to help. With much work needed to repair the entire country, I understood the importance of our effort’s longevity. About 23 years ago, I was actively involved in a Nepalese Youth Group, called Lyayamha Pucha, where we rebuilt a school that fell victim to a major flood. That’s how we came about the idea of revolving our project around rebuilding a school. We knew it would be a long, tough project. But as soon as we came down to the idea, we got in touch with the President of NRN Canada, and started working towards making it happen.”

2. Coordinating rebuilding activities across the globe is no joke. How did you go about the launch of the project?

“We left for Nepal on May 12, 2015 with the mandate to identify a school for the project. We based our decision on five key success factors:

Accessibility and Transportation : We had to locate an area that was accessible by students, workers and our team.

Land : We identified a geologically safe area, and managed to gain the support of local villagers.

Academic Standing : MHLS’s academic average stood at 85% prior to the earthquake, which was more than 35% higher than Nepal’s national average.

Accessibility to Safe Drinking Water : Remote locations, especially on hilltops have limited accessibility to drinking water. This lowers the overall standard of the school and makes the construction process much more difficult.

Public Participation : It is important that the local community feels ownership of the project, and is involved in the decision making. The villagers have shown their commitment to volunteer in the rebuilding process of the school, which is really exciting.

MHLS met all these five conditions. There is a need of this school building. More than 500 children study in that school. Some students walk more than 1.5 hours to reach the school. We returned to Canada on June 9th, 2015 to finalize our project proposal and finally launched the project on June 15th.”

3. Have you received support from anywhere else? Financial or social?

“Rebuilding the school will require $58 000. So far, we’ve hosted fundraising events and concerts to move closer to our target. Thankfully, we’ve been recipients of generous donations from multiple London-based organizations. Within a month, we’ve achieved 16% of our target with accumulated donations of $10,000. I am so thankful that Verea has also come forward to join hands in this cause. We are working on partnering with other organizations as well. NRN-Canada and CCLC are actively involved in fundraising. I am confident that you will hear very good news within a month.”

4. What has been your biggest challenge?

“Fundraising is a challenge to begin with. You need to first find time, and then monetary donations. Persistency is key. Understanding the importance of numbers is also crucial. If we ask people to donate $2, and get the attention of 1,000 people in doing so, that’s $2000 right there. There are so many ways people can help us out. By talking about the initiative, sharing it with their family and friends, our goal will seem closer than ever”

5. What has been your biggest learning thus far?