When a 7.8 magnitude earthquake struck Raj Ghimire鈥檚 home country of Nepal in April of 2015, he felt helpless and didn't know what to do.
Ghimire has been living in Jasper since 2014 and has been away from home for more than a decade, however, most of his family still lives in Betali, a small village in the north-eastern part of the country.
鈥淚 was working the night shift, and one of my friends called to tell me the news,鈥� Ghimire said. 鈥淚 just couldn鈥檛 believe it, and I had no way to communicate with anyone from home for two days鈥� I didn鈥檛 know who was okay.鈥�
The earthquake killed 8,000 people and injured 21,000 others. Ghimire said his family got lucky and no one was hurt, but many people in his village lost their homes and belongings.
鈥淚 felt so grateful that I was here in beautiful Jasper with all these beautiful people, but I wanted to help,鈥� Ghimire said. 鈥淭he way I was raised was that the eldest son must help provide for the family, so I wanted to do that and more.鈥�
Unable to make it back to Nepal, Ghimire started racking his brain for ways to bring relief to the disaster stricken country. Without much planning, he sat a two-litre mason jar in front of the cash register at his convenience store job in town. Within two months he collected $14,000.
鈥淚t was incredible,鈥� Ghimire said. 鈥淪ome people would put in $500 at a time.鈥�
Rather than send the money to a major organization, Ghimire wanted to keep things personal鈥揾e wanted to help the people near his village. So, he sent the donations to his parents who then proceeded to hand out lump sums of cash to those who needed it most.
鈥淢y dad would just walk around to people who had nowhere to live or nothing to eat, and he would pass them some money and some people would just start to cry,鈥� Ghimire said. 鈥淲ith the money they could buy food, clothes or anything they needed.鈥�
With that $14,000, Ghimire and his family have helped 119 families and 19 new mothers鈥揋himire鈥檚 mother went to a local hospital giving support to women who had just given birth.
As the initial shock of the earthquake began to wear off, Ghimire knew more help would be needed before things got back to normal. He started setting up more jars throughout Jasper. After a few weeks he was getting calls from locals asking if there were other ways they could help.
Soon, Ghimire and five other Jasperites paired up with a team of nine in Nepal to create the Mountains of Relief Social Corporation Nepal. The group received their legal NGO status earlier this month.
As the group moves forward, they鈥檝e set their sights on an even bigger project. Within the next year they are hoping to rebuild a school that was destroyed by the earthquake. To build the school, situated in Lisakhani, Ghimire and his colleagues must raise $35,000. In just a few months $5,000 has already been collected.
鈥淭his is very much a community project. We are working from Jasper, but the team in Nepal are working on plans鈥揺veryone is doing a little part to make this happen,鈥� Ghimire said.
Construction has already begun on the school which will be home to 125 students, working bathrooms and a safe water system. Mountains of Relief is also aiming to supply the children with uniforms and school supplies.
鈥淢y dream was to support people and now my dream has come true,鈥� Ghimire said. 鈥淭his has actually gone beyond my dreams鈥搕o start up an NGO and see this amount of support is just incredible.鈥�
Mountains of Relief will be holding a garage sale at the Jasper Royal Canadian Legion June 5-6 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Those looking to donate items for the sale can contact: [email protected]. More information can be found at: www.mountainsofrelief.org.
Kayla Byrne [email protected]
