Foreign embassies have evacuated most of their nationals stuck in Nepal by the lockdown in the past two months. But with flights from Kathmandu cancelled for at least another month, remaining foreigners have decided to stay on and help Nepalis affected by the lockdown.
As the pandemic raged through Europe, the United States and now Brazil, many travellers who found themselves in Nepal refused to be repatriated, and decided to stay on in Pokhara, Kathmandu, Khumbu and Manang.
One of them is Austrian graphic designer Tom Cisar who has been in Pokhara since late February and has decided stay back even though his ocuntry is easing its restrictions on movement.
A team from Chay Ya Austria and its Nepali branch have been carrying out the Tuesday4Rice campaign to help poor families in Pokhara with essential supplies such as rice, lentils, salt, oil and soap to last them a month. The city has been hit because many have lost their income in the tourism industry.
Feeding 1,000 a day in Kathmandu, Lisa Choegyal
So far 75 families have benefitted from the charity and 31 more are on the waiting list. The team wants to continue with the food distribution every week and donations have been coming in from all over the world, including Austria, Norway, France, Russia, Spain, Italy and Switzerland.
“For just 20 euros we can support one family for a full month and we are grateful for all the help we have received. I only wish we could do this for as long as needed and stay in Nepal longer to help,” adds Cisar who been volunteering with the non-profit Chay Ya since 2014 and spends five months a year in Nepal.
Briton Lesley D Junlakan is also waiting it out in Nepal until she can return to Bangkok where she is a freelance writer and photographer. She regularly volunteers in Nepal at Kag Chode Monastery in Kagbeni and Pokhara.
On the fifth anniversary of the 2015 earthquake she provided essential commodities for 12 families of trekking guides and porters living in Kathmandu. But fundraising it has not been easy.
“Unlike the earthquake when there was an outpouring donations from around the world, this time it has been difficult to ask for help because everyone is affected by the COVID-19,” says Junlakan who is now working on launching a sponsorship program with which donors can chose a specific family to support for a longer term.
Helping the helpless during lockdown, Marty Logan
She adds: “Once the lockdown is over, we are also looking to provide them with training such as cooking and English language classes so that they are not solely dependent on mountaineering expeditions for their livelihood.”
In Kathmandu’s Jhochhen, Spaniards Jesus Trujillo and Mercedes Banos with a local guide spent three weeks identifying families in need and providing them with daily essentials and cash to help them tide over the coronavirus lockdown.
Trujillo And Banos had arrived in Kathmandu in early March from India for a visa-run and were not expecting to stay beyond 10 days. After realising how the lockdown has hit the poorest in the country, they decided to start a project ‘Helping Families in Kathmandu’.
“This is my first time in Nepal and the experience has been quite intense but at the end of the day when you see people smile because of the support they have received in this difficult time, all of it is worth it,” says Trujillo who works with museums in the Netherlands.
Philanthropy in the time of pandemic, Shristi Karki
“My first time in Nepal was during the 2015 earthquake. In fact I had arrived just a day before the disaster and I ended up helping with digging people out alive of the rubble,” recalls Banos who is a prenatal yoga instructor back home. “And here I’m back in Nepal as we face another crisis. It’s like my destiny to help Nepalis in need.”
Elsewhere, there are still many tourists and travellers making the best of their time in Nepal while they wait to go back home. Despite the first two COVID-19 fatalities over the weekend, they still consider Nepal safer than many other places in the world.
Mario Vazquez is a data scientist from Mexico City has been stranded in Pokhara since the second week from March. With no embassy here in Nepal he has to travel to India for a possible repatriation flight.
“But Mexican embassy hasn’t been very responsible towards their travelling citizens in this time of need and going to India isn’t ideal either, I will be in more danger of contracting the virus there,” he told Nepali Times on the phone.
Khesrau Pamir from Holland had come to Nepal for a fresh start back in January. He took a month-long yoga instructor course and trekked to Everest Base Camp before settling in Pokhara due to the lockdown.
He says: “I know the health system here is much more fragile compared to back home but I feel settled here and peaceful. The hospitality of people here has added to my decision to ride out the crisis in Nepal.”
Read also:
“Survive 2020, revive in 2021 and thrive in 2022”, Alisha Sijapati
Recommended
Many foreigners stay put in Nepal April 16, 2020 hree weeks into the lockdown, foreign embassies in Kathmandu are…
Bina Theeng Tamang: More than a maichyang May 31, 2019 Pic: SIKUMA RAI unmaya Do you know something? These are…
Shanti Chaudhary: Poet-at-large June 28, 2019 hen Shanti Chaudhary was born in Kathmandu on 28 December,…