Kamal Panday urgently needs our help to keep his taxi and save his taxi business. Many of you contributed to the GoFundMe project I organized in 2017 to buy him this taxi. We raised $7000, made a 50% down payment on a new taxi, and invested in his taxi business. Kamal was overjoyed and dedicated himself to his business. He built up his clientele and was self-sufficient until the Covid pandemic ended both tourism and local business when India went into lockdown last March. India has remained in full or partial lockdown since, millions of people remain unemployed, and there is no other work available. Kamal has exhausted all other sources to help him make his car payments and cover car insurance, maintenance and repairs, rent, and basic living expenses.

In his own words:

Thank you everyone, you guys helped me so much before with buying a new taxi. Now with the pandemic I need to ask you for a little more help with donations to keep the taxi business for me and my family’s future. Since there have been no tourists since March, I now have no way of paying for the car payments, maintenance, and my living situation. Please help if you can. I thank all of you from the heart, Kamal

I first met Kamal in 2013 when he was living in a remote village in the Himalayas. His father left the family when he was 4 months old, and he had to quit school at age 14 in order to work due to his mother's illness. His has been a hard-working survivor since, with a natural intelligence and wisdom beyond his age. He is 25 years old now, and like a little brother to me. Because of the taxi business that he started in 2018, Kamal had finally begun living his dream to earn a livable wage to support him and his mother. Now, with prospects of there being little or no business during probably the next 12 months due to the pandemic, Kamal has nowhere else to turn and risks losing his car and business entirely.

 Our goal is to raise another $5,000 for Kamal’s his car and taxi business expenses for the next year. I will wire him monthly installments of the funds raised in keeping with the detailed budget he sent me in preparation for this GoFundMe appeal. With your help, we can keep Kamal keep his taxi business afloat until a vaccine will possibly be widely circulated enough for tourism to resume in India. Let's help keep hope alive.

Please contribute as much as you can to help Kamal. He is certainly deserving of our support during this very challenging time for him and his family.

 

– Jeff (Bharat) Lindemood