Day Five – Gimme Shelter: Hope and a Future

Today was full of planning, hope and promise! I love days like this. I had the distinct privilege of being part of a team that brought hope and comfort to the people of Newtown, Connecticut following the Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings. I’ll never forget the reporters who rushed our Comfort Dogs. Someone from NBC told us they had been looking for the story of hope in the midst of such a dark and unimaginable tragedy. They had despaired of finding any bright spot after such a horrible event but kept looking anyway.

That’s what we humans do. We look for hope and the bright spot on the horizon in the midst of the darkest night. It’s universal and today the joy was all mine as, together with Buddha and Udaya, we walked the grounds of the Nepal School of Engineering. There we saw people sharing their designs for temporary housing that was inexpensive, could be sourced locally and could be put up quickly and easily by volunteers or paid workers with almost no experience.

With the government of Nepal still sorting out how best to proceed and delaying any approvals for new permanent buildings, people are beginning to face the reality of living in temporary housing for what won’t seem temporary at all. Some estimates are these temporary structures will become homes to tens of thousands of people for two to five years – maybe longer! Seeing people embrace this with great ideas and a positive attitude made today a bright spot on this journey of recovery.

Then I had the pleasure of meeting Shyam (Sam) Awale. He’s a businessman in Kathmandu who is very involved in sports ministry, as well. His business? He makes bricks. We talked about incorporating his bricks into the temporary home designs. He shared stories and pictures with me of intrepid volunteers from the U.S. who came to help immediately after the April 25 earthquake. He also invited me to come with him to yet another area near Kathmandu where more than a hundred families are in need of temporary shelter that doesn’t include tarps for a roof. (Which makes me wonder if the term permanent temporary shelter is an oxymoron?)

My day wrapped up with a visit to Pastor Bhim Ratna’s village. Having heard his entire village was destroyed by the quakes I was surprised to see so many buildings standing. Then I got closer. Pastor Bhim explained that every house was so badly damaged they were no longer inhabitable. They looked fine on the outside but they were just as useless as if they had fallen down completely, like the home of one of his church deacons. Already the frames for temporary homes were springing up all around thanks to a group of Christians from South Korea. Pastor Bhim was all smiles as he showed us these frames that hold the promise of a better future for his people.

Each day has its own rhythm here in Nepal. Today’s rhythm was upbeat and hopeful in a way that doesn’t minimize the very long, very tough road ahead. Knowing ServLife is perfectly positioned through our partnerships here in Nepal and by virtue of our mission statement [ServLife International pursues reconciliation and justice by building global community…] to build actual, physical communities is very exciting. My hope is that many of my friends and those who will become friends will come to Nepal and help build homes. And those who can’t make the trip will see that every home ServLife builds is fully paid for!

ServLife International pursues reconciliation and justice by building global community to plant churches, care for children and fight poverty.