Ryan met Nabaraj (Raj) in October 2019 during a group trek to Everest Base Camp. Raj's smile, attitude, sense of humor, and enthusiasm for the mountains inevitably cemented their friendship.

As of today, Raj and his family have not been able to rebuild their home, after the earthquake in 2015.

His story is below, followed by how you can help, and then a personal 'Thank You' from Raj and photos of the Pathak family.

Ryan, Melissa and Irem have since become a strong advocate for Nepal (#visitnepal2020), his new Nepalese Family (#himalayantrekkingalliance), and the Nepalese culture (#namaste).

Story

In April 2015, a 7.8 magnitude earthquake struck central Nepal, killing nearly 9,000 people and injuring nearly 22,000. The total damage equated to ~$10 billion, about 50% of Nepal's nominal GDP [wiki link].

30 kilometers away, the Pathak family was outside tending to their farm - Raj, his wife Sita, and their daughter survived the earthquake, but their home was completely destroyed.

As of 2020, they still do not have a home in their mountain village of Jyamrung-6 within Dhading District, a 5 hour ride from Kathmandu. Materials and labor are expensive, given transportation and logistics, in addition to more safe and secure materials and construction methods.

Ryan met Raj and his family in October 2019 on a trek to Everest Base Camp, instantly becoming "Dhai"s (Nepalese brothers). Ryan plans to return to Nepal in March 2020 and help his Dhai and family continue rebuilding their dream, a place to finally call home again.

Currently, their home is an unfinished, open-air, single-room structure...

Solution

Ryan will be providing his time and energy towards helping the Pathak's construct a bathroom and kitchen area during the month of March.

Your donation will 100% go towards materials procurement and transportation, in addition to labor support and daily board for everyone involved in the project.

"Gets You's..."

$10 donation gets them: 2 bags of cement (110x needed)

$20 gets them: 3 hours of craftsman labor (275x needed)

$50 gets them: 33kgs of rebar (1000kgs needed)

$100 gets them:
1 bundle of CGI roofing (9x bundles needed)
and/or
materials transportation to village (5x trips needed)

BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE!!!

$100 gets YOU: $200 discount on a Himalayan Trekking Alliance Base Camp Trek in 2020
(~10% off Everest Base Camp trek)

$200 (or more) gets YOU: $350 discount with HTA Base Camp Trek in 2020
(~20% off Everest Base Camp trek)

Impact

In 2016, the Nepalese Government provided $2600 to each family to subsidize the cost to rebuild. That - of course - was not sufficient, but expected, given the total cost of the damage across the region.

In 2017, Raj joined Himalayan Trekking Alliance (HTA) as a lead guide, and has put more than $3000 from his own earnings (savings over 3 years) towards the construction of a foundation for his home.

However, he estimates that it will still cost more than $10K to completely rebuild a home suitable for his family and mother to move into comfortably.

In addition, both Raj and his brother-in-law, Hari (Sita's older brother) want - and are asking - to use a % of the donations raised to help fund the local schoolchildren with school supplies for the next school year. This includes shoes, backpacks, papers/pens/binders, and teacher supplies. If you want, just send Ryan or the team a message and we'll make sure your donation goes to fund the schoolchildren of Jyamrung village at whatever % you prefer.