Nepal Update

As the coun­try of Nepal con­tin­ues to make a slow recov­ery, Moun­tain Mad­ness is still active­ly work­ing to allo­cate the mon­ey all of you have gen­er­ous­ly donat­ed through our GoFundMe account. For those of you who have trav­elled with us to Nepal, you have like­ly met Dawa Sher­pa, our lead Sher­pa. And for those who were on the trek with us dur­ing the earth­quake, they con­tin­ued to expe­ri­ence his kind heart and gen­eros­i­ty as he and his fam­i­ly wel­comed them to a meal out­side their destroyed home. 

Dawa Sher­pa. Kay­la Fenske photo

After the sec­ond earth­quake on May 12, a lot more dam­age came to the hill towns in the Khum­bu Val­ley. Unfor­tu­an­te­ly, the mon­soon sea­son is upon them, mak­ing it dif­fi­cult to begin repairs. Dawa wrote to us recent­ly to give us an update on the dam­age and act as a spokesman for the vil­lages. Our main con­cern is that the mon­ey get sent to the right people/​places, and Dawa is just the per­son to deter­mine that. 

Locals near a makeshift refugee camp. Stew­art Wolfe photo

At the moment, the biggest con­cern is the dam­aged stu­pa in Dawa’s vil­lage of Chau­rikar­ka. For the peo­ple of the Khum­bu val­ley, Stu­pas are a very impor­tant sym­bol for wor­ship, and if this stu­pa were to crum­ble to the ground, it would be con­sid­ered extreme­ly bad luck in the Bud­dhist cul­ture. Dawa reports that peo­ple are under­stand­ably con­fused and con­cerned regard­ing the events of the past cou­ple months, and repair­ing this Stu­pa would help give them some hope and strength for the long road they have ahead. We have allo­cat­ed $850 of the GoFundMe account to help repair the Stupa.

Dawa with the dam­aged Stu­pa. Dawa Sher­pa photo

Dur­ing our Novem­ber 1, 2015 Ever­est Base Camp Trek depar­ture, we are plan­ning to con­tin­ue to help where we can. As the biggest con­cern dur­ing the relief effort is mak­ing sure that the mon­ey goes to the right places, we have a plan in place to make sure that hap­pens. Trekkers on our Novem­ber trip will have the oppor­tu­ni­ty to con­tribute to the relief effort by pur­chas­ing, with the help of our staff, need­ed sup­plies for the rebuild­ing of homes in our staff’s vil­lages. Our staff will over­see the pur­chase and deliv­ery of sup­plies while the trekkers make their jour­ney to base camp, and upon return to the low­er vil­lages, they will be able to see their con­tri­bu­tion in action. 

Deana Zabal­do photo

If you have ques­tions about our fund rais­ing account, our fall and spring trips, or oth­er ways that you can help Nepal get back on its feet, please give us a call at 800−328−5925.