Want to help rebuild Nepal? Projects Abroad is organizing relief trips
Nepalese people walk past damaged houses in Nuwakot district north of Katmandu on Monday. The earthquake death toll has risen to more than 7,200 with some 14,000 injured.
More than 7,200 people have died in the 7.8 magnitude earthquake that struck Nepal on April 25, and the need for aid continues to be desperate. Projects Abroad is heeding the call for help.
The organization that pairs adventurous travelers with short-term volunteer programs around the world is seeking participants for its new Nepal Disaster Relief Program, it announced Monday.
Participants are needed to rebuild homes and schools, teach in and assemble tent schools at camps for displaced families, and help in many other relief activities. They will work with 10 to 15 staff members the organization has in Nepal, all of whom survived the deadly quake.
“It’s important work, and it’s going to be emotionally difficult work in a lot of cases, but there will be assistance along the way,” said spokesman Christian Clark.
The organization, headquartered in England, has been operating volunteer programs in the country since 1999 and plans to organize work teams to support on-the-ground staff.
You can sign up for trips starting June 1 for work that will begin in the Katmandu Valley, in rural and outlying areas of the capital city. Volunteers can expect rough conditions, staying in a guesthouse or camp.
Projects Abroad asks volunteers to come for at least a week, but preferably for two to four. The tab is $1,720 per person for the first week and $195 for every subsequent week you stay; airfare isn’t included.
No training is needed, just the will to help and work with a team as needed.
Clark hopes to send 30 to 40 volunteers a month to help in Nepal. The disaster relief trips will continue for some time in Nepal.
There’s one big caveat about when the trips will begin. Clark says the organization will wait until the U.S. travel warning has expired before recruiting Americans to go.
The U.S. State Department on Friday warned Americans against traveling to Nepal right now because of aftershocks, collapsed roads and a “fragile infrastructure” that’s unable to deliver healthcare and other basic resources to people in need.
Info: Projects Abroad Nepal Disaster Relief Program, (888) 839-3535
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