Deep Well for Rani Pani, Nepal

For the past week I’ve been in Rani Pani, Nepal, a village that is slowly starting to become my new home . I had been volunteering with Manav Sadhna, an NGO filled with compassion, selfless service, and incredible, committed humans. After the earthquake in Nepal last year, they had sent a team to help and have since developed a relationship with villages, Rani Pani and Bakultar, to rebuild 300 homes. The construction will start sometime at the end of March and April.

Another volunteer, Shri Ram, arrived a month prior to me and has since connected with the village on so many levels. His enthusiasm, his connection, and most of all, his ability to now communicate in Nepali has been an inspiration as I start to plant my feet into this beautiful valley.

A couple of days before I arrived, Shri Ram found that in addition to the need for homes,  there is also a scarcity for water. Right now, the water comes from shallow wells or plastic water tanks which are an insufficient, unreliable source of water. Since my time in Rani Pani and through speaking with the community, the issue of water has affected everyone from personal life to farming. As we start to address hygiene and sanitation, we are now finding that the lack of water is having an impact on the menstruation hygiene of the girls. Women who have already faced health difficulties and who are in need of western toilets are unable to use them due to the lack of water.

Before my arrival, Shri Ram created a campaign for 15,000 USD (about 1.5 million Nepali rupees) and as of now, the campaign is at about $5,000. To read more about Shri Ram’s story and to support the campaign, click here. Seeing the need, Aahana has decided to match each existing and future donation. Once the campaign has $7,500, we will match the rest! For more information, check out Aahana’s website.

In just a few days after arriving here, I am now feeling the warmth and the strength of the community. They have picked up, continued their lives, and supported one another in the process.

As Shri Ram states in the campaign, I also want to make it clear that this is no sob story. If you choose to help fund this cause, I urge you not to do it out of sense of sympathy, but out of a sense of oneness and hope.

We are all in this together, so let’s join hands and support our brothers and sisters in Nepal.

One heart. One world. One Love.

With enough love to cover this beautiful planet,

Rina