Sunday 10 May 2015

You can support a village in Nepal recover in a sustainable way

In 2012 a group of 5 members of the Rotary Club of Port Nicholson Rotary Club (RCPN) joined 3 Rotary club members from the USA on a trek to Chyangba village in the Himalayan foothills.  The trek was led by Pem Sherpa who was born and raised in the village.  Pem and his family now live in the USA and he organises and leads treks from there.

The purpose of our trek in 2012 was to raise funds to rebuild one of the school buildings for the village; US$11,000 was raised and the new building was completed by the villagers.  Rotary also contributed to a water supply feed scheme for the village in the recent past. Pem has a history with Rotary, placing the Rotary flag on the top of Mt Everest in Rotary’s centenary year and also appearing at the international convention in that year. He has also been the instigator and fundraiser for many of the development and improvement projects carried out in the village.

Pem was made a Paul Harris Fellow by RCPN in 2013.

The recent earthquake has caused significant damage to the new school building and other existing ones, as well as the water supply infrastructure.  RCPN has decided to support this village in the aftermath of the earthquake and have been in touch with Pem Sherpa to see what is required. You can view the ‘before’ and ‘after’ photos on: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HYcp3In25AA
 


Pem has initially estimated a cost of possibly US$30,000 - 40,000 to get things back on track, however we will need a little more time to get more detailed information.

In order to support this kind of fundraising we want to apply for a Rotary district grant and also potentially a global grant, which should enable us to more than double whatever money we can pull together. If we can work together as clubs there could be the opportunity to maximise the amounts receivable from RI. We will also ask Pem to nominate a Nepal based Rotary club to connect with as this is a requirement of a global grant.

In our discussions about how best to proceed, we determined that there are a number of other international agencies which are better funded and prepared for an immediate response to disasters like this. By targeting our assistance to the people and children of Chyangba will, we believe, enable us to make a real difference with the funds we can generate.

On behalf of RCPN, we are asking your club to join us and assist in raising this money for the people of Chyangba village. We are hopeful of having a starting fund of $8,000 to be used for the more immediate projects but will look to enlarge that quickly through online giving and donations from clubs such as yours. Donations can be made via our Charitable Trust https://givealittle.co.nz/org/rotaryportnicholson

Thank you for considering this request. We hope you will support this important cause.

Yours in Rotary
Linda Wellington
President Elect