Helping Hands from Macau

The aftermath of the disastrous earthquake of April 25 in Nepal is one of the worst nightmares we have ever witnessed in our land. 7.9 magnitude was so violent that it wiped out many of the country’s historical sites, monuments and heritages recognized by UNESCO. Villages like Barpak, Laprak, Sindhupalanchowk, Dhading and many more look worse than war zones as 8000 plus people have lost their lives and their houses are now visible just in the form of rubble. These villages have flattened so badly that it makes us hard to believe whether humanity once was existed there. The deadly avalanche triggered by the quake in the Everest Base camp and another mammoth avalanche in Langtang Valley have perished the lives of hundreds of our people.

No words can really help to ease the loss and pain, the people of our country bear. The death toll keeps rising every hour and our pain keeps skyrocketing. The situation is so tragic that a newly born child has lost both of his/her parents or a person from a family has lost every other member. Stories of pain and loss are so intense that people have lost their tears to roll and voice to scream but the devastation keeps repeating. Our people are so helpless at the moment that many of them haven’t even found the body of their loved ones to cremate and mourn.  Found dead bodies have to wait for days to wait their turn for cremation and the smoke of burnt bodies has made the sky cry again and again.

Amidst pain, suffering and loss and injustice beyond our words and feelings, people around the world have started responding to our national crisis. Kind hearted people are sending their prayers, solidarity, support and comfort which are what we and our people desperately need in our country.

Those who are abducted by the worst force of the nature will be always in our hearts and history but the survivors, injured and affected one who is with us now need our continuous support till they can get back to normal.  

Individuals, groups and Aid agencies around the world have been flocking to the country to deliver vital supplies and planning the rebuilding process but due to inefficient coordination of our weakest government, they are not able to maximize their strengths and reach everywhere necessary. Even after 3 weeks of the big quake, still many villages haven’t seen any helping hands that could at least provide them the basic urgent and vital supplies like food, water, basic medication, tents or some sort of temporary shelter for their survival. People are so furious and angry at the government that no politician dares to go in the public. We have been revolting against our corrupted regimes for decades and we will continue to raise our voice till we make our country corruption free, developed and prosper but this is the time to focus all our strength and energy in helping those who are in desperate need.  

While the stories of loss and grief have rocked the news headlines, there are stories of hope and humanity. Hundreds of people have quit their full time job from overseas and gone back to Nepal to help the victims.  Some people have been selling their cars and other valuable belongings to provide assistance to the needy. Many celebrities and superstars are doing whatever they can and those who don’t have much financial resources are going to the field and offering their labour to build temporary shelter for the victims. Especially, the Nepalese living outside their country are doing incredible work to help their friends and families in the country. Their powerful emotions have been fueling charity campaigns in and outside the social media and its making more individuals to give money and inspire them to go overseas to volunteer.

Suresh Thapa, Ganga Gurung, Debendra Thapa who were busy working in Macau couldn’t concentrate in their work after quake hit the country. The feelings of being away from the country in such a difficult time made them feel guilty but of course how many people have gone overseas just because of their wish? Who in the power wants to notice and resolve the biggest crisis of ongoing poverty and unemployment for decades? While the country remains sovereign, our brothers and sisters are enslaved in many corporate houses around the world, especially in Gulf countries. When Nepal has faced one of the biggest devastating natural disasters in its history, Ganga, Suresh and Devendra decided to go back to Nepal after they found out that nobody caught an attention by the plight of people from ‘Bhotsipa’ village in Sindupalanchowk districts, one of the mostly affected regions in the country.

These guys and their colleagues raised fund from ‘Sands Security’ officers including Chinese colleagues and immediately flew to Nepal. Three trucks were loaded with rice, lentils, bitten rice, oil, soap, water purification pill, toothpaste, toothbrush, face masks and medication for diarrhoea and they headed to the village on 10^th of May. They couldn't control themselves when people surrounded them and showered their gratitude for help and support.

“We went there to provide some basic stuff for some weeks and I can’t believe how happy these innocent and lovely people are” Ganga Gurung expressed with tears.

The relief distribution ground was so emotional as if the whole village was like the family of the three guys who were being welcomed with the tear of happiness in their return.

Bhimshen Dangal, Pode Ghimere, Badri thapa, Ganesh Tamang and other villagers were so welcoming that they requested 3 of the volunteers to stay with them despite the fact that they had no house for the shelter. The three guys deeply felt their love and spent the night with the people from the village. The night passed in no time when villagers kept sharing their stories of loss and fear.

The volunteers were suffocating from inside as they were preparing to leave the village in the morning as they knew how hard it is going to be for the villagers to bear the pain of their loss and develop new hope to live in such crisis. The collective effort of the volunteer and their donors from Macau helped more than 300 families.

The entire team involved in the fund raising event in Macau said that they have made an attempt to help our people with our small effort and much more attention is needed to each and every victims throughout the country from immediate help to the long term solution of the crisis. They have advised people to save some money spent on drinks, smoke, movies and shopping for a while which they believes can give a new life to the affected people. They also added that now they are looking forward to helping more than 600 families and their fund raising campaign has already begun.

To add fuel to the fire, the deadly magnitude 7.3 earthquake has struck our country again this Wednesday; two weeks after the devastating quake. Dozens of aftershocks followed by the quake have killed more than 100 people and thousands are severely injured. It has completely flattened many villages of Dolakha and Sindhupalanchowk and people are eagerly waiting for help there.

Prime Minister Sushil Koirala called for "courage and patience" and urged all those who had assisted Nepal since the 25 April quake "to once again extend your helping hand".

Monsoon is just around the corner and the recent landslides in Dhulikhel, Rasuwa, Dolakha and many other places have warned us to be more careful, so we have to start preparing well to be safe from the potential dangers.

We Nepalese are really strong and the pride of Gurkhali and the height of the Mount Everest has always made us fearless and hardworking. The life enlightening teaching of Lord Gautam Buddha from our country has helped us to understand the meaning of life and share love amongst our people and this is the very time to shower our mercy, empathy, love and support to them who need it the most. This time our structures have collapsed, our heritages are crumbled into the ground but our hope and determination to overcoming the grief and rebuilding our country mustn’t pulverize. Our tall mountains have urged us to extend the height of our love and kindness to our people. 

We visit temples, mosques, churches and several other religious places of our faith to clean ourselves and showcase our devotion and truly this is an opportunity to do the best pious activity by serving to humanity. Money we have saved and the houses we have built have now embraced the earth and we are completely uncertain of when we have to bid farewell to this earth. Our small help can make a huge difference to change the lives of millions of people in our country who are now eagerly waiting for our support. Let’s get united and extend our hands with amazing people around the world and collaborate to help the quake victims and build our nation.