Donation protected
I've finally been able to talk by phone to my dear friend Angel in Kathmandu and hear what happened to his orphanage and his home in the village in the recent earthquakes. Most of friends have met or heard about Amrit JB "St. Angel" Shahi who spent a lot of time with us in Thailand, Nepal and the US a couple of years ago. Angel runs Angel's Heaven, an orphanage with 21 children in Kathmandu and 9 more children as well as adults in Maidi Darbar village -- he is now supporting a total of 40 people!
I learned today that his family home in the village, where I have stayed, was reduced to rubble in the first quake -- luckily his Mom and the 9 kids were all out in the garden. The Kathmandu building where he lives with the 21 children and caregivers is so seriously cracked that it will collapse in a major aftershock, so the 21 kids and the adults are all sleeping outside under tarps. The monsoon rains are going to start soon -- 3 months worth of steady rain.
I asked Angel what he needs most. He said "Enough water and food for 3 months, and waterproof tents and mattresses, clothes and general medicines." He said that food supplies are getting scarce because so many roads have been blocked, and prices are going up. He needs to stock up fast. He was almost weeping when he told me he is getting telephone calls every day from people in the mountains where he leads treks, asking him if he can take more children whose parents have been killed. "The monsoon is going to bring more avalanches and more people are gonna die," he said.
I know Angel very well. I have seen all these places and met all these people. I know how simply they live, how hard he works to support them, and how slender is their life line. I would like to raise $10,000 through this GoFundMe to help him get the 40 people he's now caring for through the next 3 months. That's less than $3 per person per day. And more if we can, because this is just the beginning. The earthquake will depress Nepali trekking for many seasons to come, and that's his main livelihood. Eventually I'd like to help him build a permanent home for his family of orphans on the village land he owns - this is Angel's dream.
Angel is a Rotarian, an ordained minister, a Christian by choice, respectful of all faiths, a yoga practitioner, a dancer, "a very big father" by his own description, and a good man. I can vouch for him. He's the real deal.
If you can, please contribute through this or any other means (e.g. to me directly or through another facebook funding effort I've just learned of). It's all good. Thanks a million.
I learned today that his family home in the village, where I have stayed, was reduced to rubble in the first quake -- luckily his Mom and the 9 kids were all out in the garden. The Kathmandu building where he lives with the 21 children and caregivers is so seriously cracked that it will collapse in a major aftershock, so the 21 kids and the adults are all sleeping outside under tarps. The monsoon rains are going to start soon -- 3 months worth of steady rain.
I asked Angel what he needs most. He said "Enough water and food for 3 months, and waterproof tents and mattresses, clothes and general medicines." He said that food supplies are getting scarce because so many roads have been blocked, and prices are going up. He needs to stock up fast. He was almost weeping when he told me he is getting telephone calls every day from people in the mountains where he leads treks, asking him if he can take more children whose parents have been killed. "The monsoon is going to bring more avalanches and more people are gonna die," he said.
I know Angel very well. I have seen all these places and met all these people. I know how simply they live, how hard he works to support them, and how slender is their life line. I would like to raise $10,000 through this GoFundMe to help him get the 40 people he's now caring for through the next 3 months. That's less than $3 per person per day. And more if we can, because this is just the beginning. The earthquake will depress Nepali trekking for many seasons to come, and that's his main livelihood. Eventually I'd like to help him build a permanent home for his family of orphans on the village land he owns - this is Angel's dream.
Angel is a Rotarian, an ordained minister, a Christian by choice, respectful of all faiths, a yoga practitioner, a dancer, "a very big father" by his own description, and a good man. I can vouch for him. He's the real deal.
If you can, please contribute through this or any other means (e.g. to me directly or through another facebook funding effort I've just learned of). It's all good. Thanks a million.
Organizer
Barbara A.K. Franklin
Organizer
Santa Cruz, CA