Travel halfway around the world: check.
Deliver warm clothes to 84 children and their parents in a Nepalese village devastated by earthquakes: check.
Raise a quarter of the $40,000 needed to rebuild the village鈥檚 school: check.
Also get married in the Himalayas on Valentine鈥檚 Day: check.
Whatever way you put it, Raj Bhai can get a lot done in 16 days.
The transplanted Jasperite returned to his home village of Lisakhani in February to help his community rebuild in the wake of a 7.8-magnitude earthquake that killed at least 9,000 people across the country and injured 22,000 more on April 22, 2015.
The cash that鈥檚 been raised so far by Bhai and his Mountains of Relief charity group has been enough to level the land, build infrastructure for clean drinking water and complete some engineering work to rebuild Shree Seti Devi School.
鈥淏ecause of the earthquakes, the government is very strict with building regulations,鈥� Bhai said. 鈥淲e want to raise the money as soon as possible because there isn鈥檛 even a temporary structure there. They鈥檙e holding classes outside.鈥�
Raj鈥檚 new wife, Bohara Chanika, and the rest of his home village of Lisakhani, plan to start with a three-room schoolhouse that can later be split down the middle to create six. Once the first phase of the project is complete each classroom will be able to hold 10-15 students, but the plan is to build a safe and durable structure that could house up to 125 students once it is complete.
In addition to helping his hometown rebuild, Bhai has also managed to recruit Kevin Vandenborne, a local Jasperite, who plans to ride his fat bike through Nepal to support the school project.
To raise money for his ride, the Mountains of Relief team is selling t-shirts with a picture and a handwritten letter from one of the students in Nepal. Each shirt costs $60.
Vandenborne, who moved to Jasper two years ago, has been to Nepal several times and has personally seen the school site. He plans to take his cycle tour through lesser-known parts of Nepal to raise the profile about areas that tourists rarely get to see.
鈥淥n the tourist routes, the communities are getting help because people see what happened, but places like Lisakhani that are off the beaten path are struggling,鈥� said Vandenborne.
He said he decided to do to ride because he simply loves the country and fell in love with its mountains, its culture and its people after his first visit in 2003.
鈥淲e鈥檇 love to sell 200 shirts,鈥� he said. 鈥淭he town has been great so far 鈥� we鈥檝e sold 50 and we now have 50 more.鈥�
Despite the strong community response, Bhai said the money is only a drop in the bucket in terms of how much still needs to be done.
鈥淭here are thousands of schools waiting to be rebuilt,鈥� said Bhai.
According to the India Express, more than 8,600 schools were affected by the earthquake and more than 50,000 classrooms damaged or destroyed.
For more information about the project visit www.mountainsofrelief.org.
Craig Gilbert
[email protected]
