Dolahka Mission

Curtis, Brian, two paramedics from Singapore and Japan, as Uttam, gave today’s mission to Dolakha near the Tibetan border a valiant effort.  But once again we were at the epicenter of another 5.7 earthquake in the middle of it.  There were thousands of landslides that came down and many went over the road.  Rocks the size of busses lay on the road from the mountains high above.  On top of that, they were hammered by severe thunderstorms with nickel sized hail.

They spent quite a bit of time with the Nepal military.  Their intel is that there is a bus with 16 people just up the road, crushed by rocks with the people still inside from Tuesday’s quake.  All told there are at least 30 bodies that Brian needs to recover, but with the loss of some 30 Americans, plus the US Marines (the crashed helicopter was just above us) the military leadership are playing it safe and asking that Brian is granted permission directly from the Minister of Security in Kathmandu tomorrow morning before proceeding.  In addition scores are injured and trapped above the large landslide that took out the bus and road.

In all they spent 11 hours on narrow Himalayan roads today at the 8400 foot level.

If all goes well tomorrow, Brian will load onto a Nepal military helicopter in Kathmandu in the morning for a remote drop back near the Tibetan border where I can get to work.  Brian has requested 4 Nepali soldiers locked and loaded as my team.

They are not used to US Marine Osprey’s flying overhead in the mountains.  That is something that you don’t see on a normal day…

Posted for Brian Smith by Matt E. Please consider a tax free donation to HAND.

Emergency Aid Mission Beginning Now!

Brian just got called out to do an emergency light aid drop in the hardest hit area from Tuesday’s quake in Dolakha.  He may be teamed up with the military to do body recovery.   This area is destroyed and many aid workers are trapped out there. Please look for an update on this mission in the next couple days.

Posted for Brian Smith by Matt E. Please consider a tax free donation to HAND

The latest from Nepal

Hello everyone,

Wednesday, Thursday and Friday have been spent on logistics for our next village run to Raut Besi where we were last Tuesday.  Plans are coming together to spend four days in this village region.  Our departure date is still not determined, but will be in the next few days

HAND has put together a fantastic international group of volunteers.  One volunteer Amber, has collected about 100 lbs of medical supplies to establish an interim birthing center in Raut Besi, which serves a VDC (Village Development Community) of 9 wards (villages) of 750 families.  Tendi has purchased 4 tents which we will use to make the birthing center.  Another volunteer, Sarah is bringing in a large number of donated tarps from Vietnam.  Eric is putting together birthing kits here in Kathmandu.  Curtis, Robin and Brian Smith are putting together the logistics and contacts needed, with multiple meetings each day, over the past three days.

Amber is being cleared by the Nepal government to give direct medical aid, as she is a labor and delivery charge nurse in the USA.  She will ultimately be in charge.

We will be inserted into Raut Besi with another 8000 lbs of rice.  Our first food drop will be exhausted by the time that we arrive again.  After dropping us, the truck will leave and we will truly be on our own in a remote village 80 miles or so above Kathmandu in the mountains.  We will go to work immediately constructing the birthing center and organizing the medical supplies in preparation for the 78 women that are pregnant.  Should a woman go into labor during that time, Amber will deliver the baby on her own.  It doesn’t happen quite like this in the US, but the alternative is for the woman to deliver the baby in the mud without any outside help, which often does not end well.  HAND will potentially save 15 babies lives with this mission.

In addition, we will spend two days walking between villages (3 hours a part on narrow mountain trails) so that Amber can meet with the other pregnant women and assess them, and their needs.  She will also offer training and counseling to these women, as well as to the local VDC charge (a very scared guy about 19 years old) with some training.

We were not able to get up to visit our longtime project Raj Kumar today because we could not find a taxi out to Anandaban Leprosy Hospital.  We will try again tomorrow morning.

Posted for Brian Smith by Matt E. Please consider a tax free donation to HAND

Jacksonville man risks life to provide aid...

Hello everyone,

The Mail Tribune posted an excellent article about the work that HAND is doing.

Thank you for being part of the work that HAND is doing through your financial contributions, prayers, thoughts, and partnership as we seek to provide assistance to the remove villages of Nepal.

Partnerships

Hello Everyone,

Today was a planning day for H.A.N.D. as we work with the international community to provide support in Nepal. Currently, Brian, Curtis and team are working with volunteers from Germany, Lebanon, Belgium, Ghana, and of course Nepal to distribute aid everywhere we can. We are working on getting clearance to provide medical services and body recovery to another remote village. 

On another note, Brian will be visiting with Raj who HAND has supported since 2009. Raj is in critical condition due to his leprosy and is health has deteriorated since his wife committed suicide last year. Please keep Raj in your thoughts. 

The need is great in Nepal and HAND is doing everything we can to support the effort. Our team is committed to help in the remote villages by providing aid, medical support, and temporary shelters, and anything else we can do to assist.

Posted for Brian by Matt. Please consider a tax free donation to HAND

Rebuilding a hospital

Hello everyone,

Brian, Curtis and team have been very busy planning for another trip to the remote villages. In the coming days they will be joined by a nurse and will work to rebuild the labor and delivery area of a local hospital. Brian and Curtis talked about how this work is critical to get the babies the care they need. They have recently been able to get tents and a truck donated for their relief work in the remote villages. Continue to keep the team in your thoughts as they continue this important work.

Please consider a tax free donation to HAND

Logistics, village visits, and more...

Hello everyone, 

I just heard from Brian who is heading out for a meeting. I wanted to post a quick update with more to follow later...

Today has been a logistics day.  We have a meeting  to prepare for another mission to the village that we went to yesterday.  We are trying to get a truck and supplies donated so we can continue to help. 

Below are some pictures from yesterday's trip (clicking on the pictures will advance them)

Please consider a tax free donation to HAND

Brian Smith Interviews with Local Oregon Press

Hello Everyone,

Brian Smith- Executive Director of H.A.N.D. gave several interviews yesterday from Nepal

He was interviewed by KTVL Channel 10 Medford. 

He was also interviewed by KOBI Channel 5- Medford.

Posted by Matt E. Please consider a TAX Free Donation to HAND

Another Massive Earthquake Today

Thank you everyone for your concern with another massive quake in Nepal today. Curtis and I rode it out while delivering 8000 lbs of food to a very remote village that has received zero aid so far. We were on a narrow dirt road hugging the side of the mountain, while riding in a dump truck loaded rice, food, and 10 Nepali soldiers locked and loaded for our protection because of desperate people mobbing our truck.
 

We witnessed 6 houses collapse right in front of us and massive landslides coming down in every direction around us. I dove out of the truck immediately as villagers ran up and down the road screaming. This was my most dangerous mission to date, but hugely successful. It took us 16 hours to make the journey, and we survived. Thank you all for your thoughts and support. I will post photos and a more detailed account of a day that distributed about 20 lbs of food each, to 750 remote families. This village area had 23 deaths
and 150 injuries from the quake 17 days ago.

Please keep the  the US Marines in your thoughts. They just lost a helicopter which is still missing as of 2 hours ago. Thank you all for your positive energy for the HAND team and the Nepali people in this devastating time. I have never seen so much human suffering, than what I saw today. We don't know the death toll from today, but we expect it in the hundreds. We know of 54 killed just in one
district. Our front yard is a refugee camp with dozens of Nepalis sleeping on the open ground.

Posted for Brian Smith by Matt. Please consider a tax free donation to H.A.N.D.

Day 2 in Kathmandu; Day 16 since the big earthquake

We visited today with Ganga.  I have known Ganga since 2008 and she has been severely affected by leprosy.  Her fingers are gone, one leg has been amputated, her kidneys have failed, she has no toes on her remaining foot, and she has one prosthetic eye.  Ganga is a fighter and a very sweet lady.  In 2011, two of Ganga’s children: Ruth age 17, and Anand age 19 were tragically killed in a motorcycle accident on their way to school.  Ganga is also a widow.  She is a fighter who handles these tragedies in a strong way that is inspirational.  After Ganga’s children died, she had a void in her life filled with deep pain.  To fill that void, she turned her attention to building a home for abused and marginalized girls.  She has been caring for four young girls for four years now, feeding them, clothing them, loving them and putting them through school.  The girls live with her.

We enjoyed several hours together catching up on the news during the past two years since I saw her last.  During part of this time she was doing her kidney dialysis while we visited. Ganga told me that a friend of hers house collapsed during the earthquake.  10 people were killed, and her daughter’s good friend suffered a broken back and is now paralyzed from the waist down.  I am hearing these stories every day.  While at a shop we were talking to the shop owner who told us that in his home village 104 houses were completely destroyed, and 35 people were killed.  We are planning to make a relief trip to his village in the coming days.  He will join us on this mission and support as he can.

Tomorrow the plan is to join a Nepali woman  for a relief mission to the remote village of Vaukhaka.  We have been told that no relief supplies have made it to this village yet.  We were planning to take 3200 lbs of rice and other food items to the village today, but the roads were damaged with mudslides from last night’s storms.  We have been told that the mud has been cleared and we can get through tomorrow.  The region that we are going into is known for rape and violence.  Our primary mission will be protection while distributing food.  She wants to help this village, but fears violence, so as a caution she asked our team to come as HAND aid workers and protectors.  It has been asked “why help a region that has the potential for violence?”  My thought is that we can’t let one bad apple spoil the barrel.  There are hurting people in this region that are not violent, and need aid. We are here to help those impacted by this terrible tragedy.

Posted for Brian Smith by Matt 

Please consider a tax deductible donation to H.A.N.D. 

Brian is in Kathmandu

Hello Everyone, 

My name is Matt and I am on the Board for H.A.N.D. I wanted to provide a brief update of H.A.N.D. activities. Our executive director, Brian arrived in Nepal on Sunday and is on the ground working with victims already. Brian's Monday plan is to visit and provide support for Ganga who is leprosy affected. He will also meet with in country contacts to work out some logistics for future missions. Tuesday, Brian will meet with board member Tendi, who will work directly with Brian  on remote relief projects in villages that have yet to receive support.  

This week, Brian and team will have an opportunity to do a 15 hour relief run of 3200 lbs of rice and relief supplies to the remote mountainous regions of Nepal. The mission will be to load the truck, provide protection for workers, and distribute the supplies in an orderly fashion.  This village area has not had any relief yet, so their work there is important.  

On the home front, we continue to receive overwhelming support for H.A.N.D. Your donations, positive thoughts, and energy have made the work of H.A.N.D. possible. Please continue to tell your family, friends, co-workers, and strangers about our organization. Thank you for making our work possible.

Thank You!

We want to thank everyone for their generous support after news of the catastrophic earthquake on April 25th in Nepal.  Every dollar counts!  We can go as far as donations allow us to go.  The needs are endless, as Nepal has many years of rebuilding ahead.

Once the needs of the earthquake slow down and the original outpouring of support ends, HAND will be in Nepal long-term.  Our projects never end.

Please share the vision for HAND with friends, family and colleagues.  We always have room for volunteers.  The most critical items needed from our volunteers is for people to spread the word of what we do.

Brian Smith- HAND Executive Director will be landing in Nepal on May 10th to begin relief efforts with several teams.  Our mission will be to the remote and unreached regions.

Please check back for regular updates.