Story from a volunteer

I've been to "the future village" in Nepal for almost three weeks and the many things I have experienced here were totally out of my imagination as a city dweller in Hong Kong. The heavy rain last night was another lead to let me know that why this place is called the "future" village because "now" would be too heavy-hearted.
Yesterday my good friend Shree, a 13 years old boy invited me to his home for a dinner. I've asked him for a few times whether he has asked
his parents for permission or not. He told me that everybody in his family is so excited for my visit. To them, receiving a dinner guest is like having God to be their guest. And wow, that metaphor was just too exaggerated and made me so eager to visit them. In that visit, I could feel Shree and his family's tremendous enthusiasm. Though their house was temporarily made from iron sheets after the earthquake, I could feel the warmth of this family as they all stick with each other. We had a chat after the dinner and as expected Nepal scores high in the happiness index. We talked about the frequent aftershocks, the beasts in the nearby forest, how hot was that in summer living in this temporary house etc... everything was like jokes and the house was full of laughter.

In midnight, it rained torrentially. This was the first time I encountered such an unusual heavy rain. I visited Shree's house again in the morning and noticed that the three sibling did not attend school. I asked them whether there was radio broadcast announcing no school today. However, to my surprise, Shree told me that he did not have umbrella and therefore he could not be able to go to the school as he has to walk on the mountain road for about two hours. If the rain was not so heavy, he would make the way to go to the school. In fact, it is very dangerous to walk on the mountain road when it rains heavily, and I could not imagine such an essential thing like an umbrella would they be so short of. Shree told me calmly with excitement that the strong wind and heavy
rain last night made his house to swing from side to side. The wind and rain pouring in from the window, some flowing from the cracks of the rooftops to the living room and they would have to place bucket on the floor to hold the water. I touched his bed and it was wet. Shree smiled and told me that he felt freezing cold last night. Of course, the temperature now was only 10 degree celsius but after the earthquake, all their belongings including many of the clothes were gone. I being a volunteer, living in the only brick house (the infirmary) in this village, would still feel the chill, not to mention them. And now is just October, how could they survive under the chilly winter this December?



Shree was happy to say that he was so grateful that Hong Kong people
donated bedquilts to them. I originally thought that was an additional
splendor but it turned out to be a timely present because their existing things that could defend against the cold were given to the children, however that would still not sufficient.
I left Shree's house with a heavy heart. The rain was getting smaller,
I met Kusum and his brother holding a tattered umbrella heading to the
school. The two little brother and sister huddled under the torn umbrella, luckily it was just a 15 minutes walk from their home to the school.Kusum told me that she began to bring her lunch box to school today because the 6-month meal subsidy had came to an end. I was curious that what did they bring for lunch? In fact, it was just snack of about the size of one fifth of an instant noodle. When I was about to ask her if that was adequate under this climate, they had already gone to the school in lively steps.
I heard that Nepalese are happy though they are poor. If happiness does not exist anymore, they would be poor in nothing.

Can you offer them some help? No matter how much is the donation, it
would mean a lot to them. The cost of reconstruction would be a huge
amount. While their average monthly income is just around HK$455, the
cost of rebuilding a house would need HK$17940. They will soon need to
face the first harsh winter after the mega earthquake. If you could
help, no matter how big or small your contribution would be highly
appreciated as it would give them a hope for the future - to rebuild
their home.
We appreciate your help to the villagers.. 
Below please find the details if you would like to make a donation: 
■ Hong Kong - HSBC：067-3-044756 (Ms Lam Lai Ming)*； future.village.nepal@gmail.com / christie.lai.lam@gmail.com