House fund for friends in Nepal

Dear friends, family, old friends of my family, and friends who feel like family:

On Saturday, April 25, a devastating 7.8 earthquake shook Nepal. Over 8,500 people have died to date. Many are still missing. Over 500,000 homes are uninhabitable, displacing almost 3 million people across the country, who are sleeping under tarps, in their livestock sheds, or out in the open. Nepal was again struck by a massive second earthquake at 7.4 magnitude only 5 days ago. The situation is devastating and will take years to recover.

As you all know, I lived in Nepal on and off for the past five years working with an architectural restoration organization, and consider it my second home.  I received a huge outpouring of love and support on day the quake hit, as people wrote to me, Mom, Dad, and other friends, asking if I was there and if I was safe. I was so grateful to have all of your thoughts with me.

Fortunately I was not in Nepal, but a piece of my heart always is and always will be. Seeing the destruction and fear that my close friends and their loved ones are continuing to endure is heart breaking. Many of my friends have lost their homes, These are the same homes that I have been welcomed into time and time again, for dinners, for holiday festivals, for the celebration of a newborn, or just for tea and lunch on a Saturday. These homes are now lost, and my friends are living with their families under plastic tarps .   

I have set up a small fundraiser in coordination with a number of international friends to help our Nepali colleagues and old friends to re-build their homes, in an effort to do what we can from a distance, and provide the most effective, direct, and targeted help with an immediate, tangible impact. The cost of re-building is very high, particularly for families with little cash income and especially after the great demand for building materials in Nepal following the quake will drive prices up significantly. The local and international architects at the Kathmandu Valley Preservation Trust (KVPT – the organization where I worked from 2010-2013) will work with the families of their affected staff members to design and build stable and earthquake-resistant homes for our friends.

Our friends and their families have spent the past two and a half weeks living under plastic tarps, and have begun to build temporary structures out of bamboo and tin to provide an intermediary shelter as the monsoon rains quickly approach.

If we raise enough funds, we can assist each family in building modest, permanent, and stable homes in the fall after the monsoon rains clear. Within the local economy, and given the current exchange rate, an amount as small as $5.00 can go very far in buying materials. Please give anything you can spare, as any amount goes a long way in Nepal! 

MEET THE FAMILIES: 


Jagat Lama & family 

Jagat (pictured standing with me in the opening photo, above) is one of my best friends. Jagat is the caretaker and cook for the KVPT office, where I also lived.  Jagat is the hardest working, most genuine person I know, He has five children who he is endlessly proud of and who he sacrifices everything for.

Their home:

Their temporary shelter:

Jagat’s home, in the Tamang village of Sipadol just 45 minutes outside of Kathmandu, has collapsed. He and his family are now living in a bamboo hut they constructed on their own after living for a number of days under a plastic tarp on the small nearby dirt road – away from the threat of landslides and collapsing buildings. I speak with him almost daily, and their spirits are holding up – but they are fearful of the continued quakes.

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Dinesh Tamang & family

Dinesh Tamang and his wife Samjhana are dear friends of mine. Dinesh worked as the office assistant at KVPT, and his wife Samjhana, is the caretaker of my friends' home. I spent many afternoons on the restoration site with Dinesh, and many mornings drinking coffee, chatting, and laughing with Samjhana. 

 Their home:

Dinesh and his family are also living in a temporary shelter, and hope to re-build before the coming monsoon. Their home is located in the same village as Jagat Lama's family. 

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Anil Basukula & Family:
Anil Basukala is the talented draftsmen for KVPT, and is an incredibly gifted artist. Anil is very shy, and it took me quite some time to grow close with him. After working with him for three years, I have come to know him for the caring and gentle person he is. He has two lovely daughters, and a baby boy, who had just been born when I begun working with him in 2011. 

Their home:

Anil's home, in Bakhtapur - a historic neighborhood in the Kathmandu Valley that was particularly devastated by the quake - is now lost. 

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WHERE WILL THE DONATED FUNDS GO?

After exploring several options, the most efficient way to get the funds to Nepal is to wire money directly into each individual's personal accounts. Your donation is simply putting money into the hand of a trusted individual who I know very well, and who will use this money to build a new home. Any donated funds will be deposited into a US-based checking account that I have opened in my name, expressly for the purpose of holding all donations. Once collected, all of the money raised will be wired directly to the individual bank accounts of the affected friends, pictured above. This will be coordinated with other friends and international colleagues who are also fundraising on behalf of our friends and their families. We will ensure that funds are dispersed transparently. There is no overhead involved: I will cover all of the wire fees and charges to the online hosting platform with my own funds in order to ensure that all funds donated by others will go immediately to the victims of the quake. I will be visiting Nepal periodically for my current work over the next year, and will be providing updates on this site about the progress of their homes.

**Please note that because the checking account does not have 501c3 status, your donation will not be tax deductible. 5% of each donation will go to the online fundraising platform, and an additional 2.8% will go to the payment platform (7.8% total of each donation). After the fundraiser has closed, I will contribute 7.8% of the total raised amount to cover this cost – ensuring that your money is used only for the re-building efforts.

**If you would prefer to write a check, please write it to "Brittin Alfred" and contact me for my address. The check will be deposited into the same checking account that all online donations are linked to. 
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I entirely understand that some people may not be comfortable with this arrangement of contributing to my personal account. There are many alternative options for giving to relief and rebuilding efforts in Nepal, and I encourage you to give generously! If you are not comfortable with this approach, or would prefer that your money go to other relief forms such as medical aid, or to a U.S. registered not-for-profit organization for which your donation would be tax deductible, I have outlined a list of credible institutions with expertise in humanitarian aid and with longstanding relationships in Nepal below. I have also included links to other small NGOs and volunteer relief efforts being coordinated by Nepali friends and friends who have lived in Nepal for many years, who are distributing relief to remote communities that they have close and longstanding connections with.

Credible organizations with experience working in Nepal, led by trusted individuals, whom I recommend donating to:


I. For immediate relief and aid:

·         Habitat for Humanity: has worked in Nepal for 18 years. Disaster response teams are coordinating operations with local government agencies and disaster relief partners, and will be assembling emergency shelter kits. Shelters are in immediate demand: http://www.habitat.org/

·         Doctors Without Borders/Medecins Sans Frontieres: Deliver emergency medical aid to people affected by conflict, epidemics, disasters or exclusion from health care. Doctors Without Borders currently has approximately 38 staff on the ground in Nepal, based in Kathmandu and Ghorka:  http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/
 


II: For community-based and long term recovery efforts lead by local NGOs:

·         Dzi Foundation: is mobilizing to rebuild homes, schools, and local infrastructure in remote areas of Eastern Nepal struck by the earthquake. They have been working with communities in the region since 1998. Dzi has an outstanding reputation, and will put the funds to good use. The organization is led by my dear friend, Ben Ayers: https://dzi.org/ 

·          Educate the Children: works in Nuwakot & Dolakha mostly, as set up an earthquake fund to provide relief to communities affected by the earthquake in Dolakha district of Nepal, a remote district especially hard-hit by aftershocks. This is an area that ETC has worked in for over a decade: http://www.etc-nepal.org/

·         Nepali Seeds: projects focus on several distinct regions within Nepal to foster strong working relationships with villagers: http://www.nepalseeds.org/


III: For relief efforts that have emerged in the past two weeks, led by trusted friends of mine - both Nepali nationals, and long-term internationals based in Nepal:

·           Tents for Nepal: an initiative started by my friend Jenny Dubin, a journalist who lived in Nepal for 11 years. Jenny has worked as a producer for 60 Minutes and now works for National Geographic. Your donation helps to purchase a tent which can provide shelter for one family, and will be distributed by a local partners on the ground: https://secure2.convio.net/seva/site/Donation2;jsessionid=508DDDA9FF774F72E8E4BD45B5A84F86.app274a?idb=1194874562&DONATION_LEVEL_ID_SELECTED=1&df_id=4847&4847.donation=form1&idb=0 

·           Nepal Villagers' Earthquake Fund:  Set up by my friend Keith Leslie, who directed Save the Children in Nepal for many years, and his wife Shakun, who is from Nepal and is a human rights activist. This fund provides relief to affected villagers whom Keith and Shakun are in direct contact with and coordinate closely with in order to deliver supplies and aid on the ground: http://www.gofundme.com/nepalvillagers 

·           Immediate Relief for Nepal Earthquake Survivors: A relief fund set up by Adhikaar, an organization supporting Nepali immigrants in New York that I have volunteered with for the past two years. Adhikaar uses its extensive networks of immigrant Nepalis to coordinate with volunteers on the ground in Nepal. They have released four batches of funding to various groups , including hospitals, small-scale volunteer initiatives, and women's groups coordinating food distribution, etc:   https://life.indiegogo.com/fundraisers/immediate-relief-for-nepal-earthquake-survivors 

·           Ghiling Relief Aid:  an initiative started by my friend Nawang Tsering, this will provide aid to his affected village in the remote area of Mustang in Northern Nepal - an area of Tibetan heritage:  http://www.gofundme.com/tabr6g