Earthquake – The Aandhimul Project

February 1, 2016February 15, 2016

Quake Quilts update

Please see below a message from Tony who set up Quake Quilts:

We had a great day yesterday delivering AAndhimul Quake-Quilts up in the middle hills to Chepang People

It was essentially the same area as two weeks before. . . . however this time villagers trekked down to our distribution point (5hrs in some cases) and this was more heart-wrenching for these people clearly had so so little – aka even less. We had been asked specifically to return for this very purpose – and to ensure no more and no less than 162 quilts as this was the number of Chepang couples/families and it would be a bad idea to mess with this clear-cut ‘entitlement’ qualification.

I also expect we shall be putting together a short power-point presentation (now available QQ Aandhimul PPP Feb16.pptx (11mb)) which should tell a lot. Further to which yesterday’s sortie was a great photo opportunity; The Aandhimul logo featuring worthy and prominent.

With best wishes and high-fives of solidarity

Tony

January 1, 2016February 15, 2016

Happy New Year!

On 21 December the school published second term results. And the School Management Committee discussed the learning achievement of the students. Class 2 and 3 students are doing good. Some students of class 1 and 4 are weak.

The proposed teachers training was postponed and is rearranged for the 17 and 18 January.

Nepal Orthopaedics Hospital, Kathmandu, is going to organise a 2 day free health camp in Bandipur hospital. Bikram has conveyed this message to the villagers and teachers and requested them to take advantage of this opportunity.

Total cost of nursery building is NRP 498,452.00 school is ready to share NRP 149536.00 and the project will contribute NRP 348,914.00. The School has started to provide a different khaja twice a week.

Bikram has bought some new school material for the school. And below is a photo of Raj Kumar Bhujel’s house.

December 28, 2015February 15, 2016

Quake Quilts and the Chepang People

Angela still had some money left from the quake pot and as a team we had decided to donate AUD$3000 to Quake Quilts. Some info below.

The key to ‘Quake–Quilts‘, says chief co-ordinator Pashupati Timilsina, is the simplicity. Here are Nepali-produced thick blankets made and distributed with speed and total cost-effectiveness to reach those in dire straights from this winter’s zero temperatures. Each excellent quilt costs as little as Rs700 plus transport costs. And every quilt will be good not just for this winter but for winters to come. There are many sensible and effective aspects to this mission but the simplicity is what makes it so practical and sustainable. And in return, says Timilsina, we have the thanks is written on the faces of every family.

So many people are generous by nature and yet it’s not always easy to know how best to help others, for the truly needy often seem distant from our everyday lives – even if actually they are ever-present. Well ‘Quake–Quilts‘ is one answer. For Rs700 per quilt a poor family can be saved from the worst of this winter’s bitter cold. . . . and too for many winters to come. These traditional Nepali-made thick quilted blankets are purpose-made (70X90 inches) and are reaching quake-shattered communities where they are desperately needed.

Quake-Quilts: Loading up in Pokhara for distribution to distant villages where winter conditions are adding to the plight of the needy.

A team from ‘Quake-Quilts’ distributing thick blankets and other winter supplies. The program will continue through January.

Distributing ‘Quake-Quilts’ in Darding District ‘the smiles of thanks make it all worthwhile’ says Pashupati Timilsina.

Pashupati Timilsina of ‘Quake-Quilts’ with team members Gaumaya Pun & Tara Prasad Gautam

‘Quake-Quilts’ program distribution

December 3, 2015February 15, 2016

School visit and update on rebuilding work

Bikram visited the school and village yesterday. All the teachers were present and there were the following students present in school:
Nursery : 17
Class 1 : 12
Class 2 : 11
Class 3 : 9
Class 4 : 17
TOTAL : 66 students

On that day teacher Nirmal (new government teacher) and Sarita took class 3 and 4 students to collect litter of the public place nearby the school during break time. The Headteacher and Bikram discussed about the upcoming half yearly exam. Except compulsory Nepali and social studies, students have to attend exam in English medium. This is the resource centre level exam. The topic of discussion was to prepare students for the exam.

The students seem happy in school. When Bikram reached the school on this visit he saw Sarita was drawing a picture on the white board in Class 2, she was teaching art.

Bikram mentioned that if we give a different khaja it will increase the cost. We hope to find some extra funds to do this.

Kamal’s house rebuilding work is almost finish. Only fixing doors and windows have been left. Sita’s house rebuilding work is in progress, you can see it in the photos. Hira is fixing roof and until now Bikram has given Krishna Bhujel NRS 25,000.00, Hira Bhujel NRS 20,000.00, Kamal Bhujel NRS 20,000.00 and Sita Bhujel 15,000.00.

Teacher training will be run by the Rotary Club of West Patan on December 29 and 30. Our teachers will be attending.

December 1, 2015February 15, 2016

Rebuilding update

The Rebuilding has increased Bikram’s responsibility quite a bit. The first phase of rebuilding work has been finished. On the first phase 7 families have benefited. In the second phase, Krishna Bahadur Bhujel has finished rebuilding work and Hira Bahadur Bhujel will finish his within the next few weeks. Kamala’s rebuilding work is late due to transportation problems with materials. He is planning to use cement block for his rebuild. Sita will start within this week. And with the festivals being over, rebuilding will build up speed. Hopefully all rebuilding will be finished within the next month or two.

November 29, 2015February 15, 2016

Fundraising for Bricks for Bhothang

The Australian donations via Angela after the earthquake were amazing!! So many people had donated and after covering all for the Aandhimul village there was enough surplus to donate to another good cause. And it was to be ‘Bricks for Bhothang’. The story about them is written below:

April 25 2015, Nepal was hit with an earthquake of 7.9 magnitude. It has caused devastating effects in Kathmandu and many rural areas of Nepal. Thousands injured, thousands of lost family members and many more now homeless. This country needs our help!

Buddha came to live in Australia when he married his wife Sarah in 2001. We now live in Adelaide with our 2 beautiful children.

Buddha is originally from a village in the district of Sindhupalchowk. His village “Bhothang” is situated North East of Kathmandu approximately 150km from the city in a very remote area of the Himalayas. At about 2500m in altitude his brother, sisters and extended family live a very simple life of growing crops and tending to their animals.

They have no access to mains water, electricity is limited to one light globe per house at limited times of the day, and doctors or medical care is available 1-2 days walk away. Only in recent years has a road been built closer to Bhothang for slightly easier access. In the monsoon season this road is not always accessible due to rivers flooding and landslides.

Bhothang was affected terribly with all houses being destroyed. They have lost all their belongings and food under the rubble. Some lives have been lost and many injured. We felt we had to do something to help our family and this village and we started Bricks For Bhothang and raising as much money as possible.

On 30th May 2015, Buddha travelled to Kathmandu, Nepal for 2 weeks, to take the money raised to help his family in the village of Bhothang.

My trip back to Bhothang was a great one, but also emotionally very hard to see all the destruction and conditions my family and friends are now living in.

Bhothang has been completely flattened. The houses that are still half standing have been damaged so bad that they will have to be pulled down to be able to be rebuilt.

I was happy to see that the people of Bhothang had quickly saved some building materials (wood, metal sheeting and tarps) and built small shelters to get them through the monsoon and then the winter at the end of the year. Some families have moved into the shelters originally homing the families’ animals. These are not very comfortable or warm and certainly not something they can live in long term but it’s something they will have to make do for now.

The first part of my trip was busy in Kathmandu organising what to take up to the village. With the help of family members in the city we bought 126 bags of rice (30kg/bag) and 126kg of bean/lentil mix. We bought 10 large tarps and lots of clothing from Australia.

We sent the truck full of rice and lentils a day earlier as we knew the roads were rough and slow going. It took the truck about 10 hours to travel 100-150km! The following day we left in a hired 4wd and it took us about 6 hours to drive to Bhothang. The roads had been cleared but still very uncomfortable to drive on. Mud, potholes and rocks, we could only drive about 20km/hour most of the way. We finally arrived and were able to distribute the food to every family and handed out the clothing. Everyone was very happy to receive something.

I also took some donated first aid kits to a temporary medical camp in Yarsa, a neighbouring village to Bhothang, that was set up to help with minor injuries.

Our next plan is to buy some new roofing for as many families as possible and also try to introduce chimneys into the homes as this will be a great benefit to the people’s health. We would also like to help rebuild the local school. The roof is still standing but the earthquake destroyed the walls. With the help from our donors and the very generous help from The Aandhimul Project we believe we can achieve this. I am hoping to travel back to Nepal in December 2015/January 2016 to purchase the supplies and assist in some rebuilding.

We will update you on the progress of rebuilding Bhothang and what we achieve during our next trip to Nepal.

Thank you to everyone from the Aandhimul Project and your generous donation in helping the people of Bhothang get back on their feet. We appreciate your support!

Buddha and Sarah Tamang

October 13, 2015February 15, 2016

Project update: School, House rebuilding and new Nursery

On 12 October there was school management committee meeting. This meeting endorsed to collect 20 percent resource of total cost of the new nursery building, along with 20 percent from the local government, and 60 percent from the project.

Now in Nepal the winter season has began so the school with project money will buy thick mats for Nursery and Class One to be put under the carpet and prevent the cold coming through.

With the help of students all school room have been scrubbed.

The school is going to be closed from 13 October for Dashain holidays and it will reopen from 27 October.

Krishna Bahadur Bhujel has almost finished his house rebuilding work. Hira Bhujel has finished half the work. Bikram gave him NRS 5000.00 as second instalment. Kamal Bhujel has just finished the foundation work for his house. After finishing these 3 houses, the others will be started.

August 30, 2015February 15, 2016

More houses in need of rebuilding and repair work

It has come to light of further properties that new rebuilding and repair work after April’s earthquake. We are not sure why they have not come forward previously, but as we still have funds available, we are willing to help them out. And the choice and decision for who gets the help has been made and supported by the community.

Below are examples of some of the damage to these properties.

July 17, 2015February 15, 2016

The re-building continues

Below are some pictures of more re-building in the village. Jaya Bahadur and Gyan Bahadur both have started to stay in their rebuilt houses. Dhanraj and Shankhaman have made new houses jointly. They have almost finished construction works. Harischandra Bhujel has almost finished the construction works but Lal Maya’s rebuilding work is little bit slow due to lack of workers and she is a single woman whose husband left her.

It’s lovely to see many older girls still studying at school!

Other news. Our teachers are leaving for Kathmandu for an educational tour on 19 July. They will spend 3 nights there.

June 9, 2015

Earthquake Update 4

We have now finished raising funds for supporting both Aandhimul and other earthquake affected areas. Money has come in from the UK, Europe and Australia. Again, we want to thank all of you who have donated. So we have put together a summary pdf of the money raised, and where it will be going. Please click this link to view or download it aandhimulproject.info/Nepal-Earthquake-Aandhimul-Project-Thank-you-for-your-donations.pdf

However, we will still keep you updated on the progression of the houses being rebuilt in Aandhimul as things happen. Below are some more pictures sent across only this morning.

gyan bahadur's rebuilding house 1600px — Gyan Bahadur’s rebuilding work is progressing well.

Lal Maya's house 1600px — Lal Maya’s house demolishing has now started.