Volunteers Help Rebuild Nepal, Brick by Brick

TORONTO – April 27, 2016 – One year has passed since the devastating earthquake that struck Nepal in April last year. While Nepal is doing everything it can to recover and rebuild, the country is still in need of significant aid and resources.

In the aftermath of the earthquake, Projects Abroad initiated a Disaster Relief Project to assist with the recovery process. Since the project began in June 2015, hundreds of Projects Abroad volunteers have made incredible progress in helping with the organization's goal of restoring a safe learning environment for children in the Kathmandu Valley. Currently volunteers' efforts are focused on reconstructing Yashaswi Gurukul English Secondary School, the sixth Disaster Relief site to date. Their help has been invaluable, as Homnath Adhikari, director of the school, explains:

"Our school was not levelled during the earthquake, but damaged beyond repair. The building has been marked as condemned, and no longer safe to house students. Though we currently have students in lean-to structures, our numbers have climbed post-earthquake, as we have taken many students from surrounding areas whose schools were completely destroyed. We are grateful for the volunteers, whose hard work will allow us to hold lessons for our growing classes in a safe structure."

When the work at Yashaswi Gurukul is completed, the new building will also serve another purpose. As aftershocks continue even nine months later, and the fear of another large-scale quake remains, the school building will be able to serve as a safe gathering space for the local community, in case of further disaster. Projects Abroad staff estimate that work at this site will conclude in the next month or so, and then volunteers will move on to the next site where they are desperately needed.

Projects Abroad has made a commitment, not only through Disaster Relief but also through Teaching andCare Projects, to restore stability to the education of young students. In working with dedicated local experts and volunteers, the organization is striving to get Nepalese communities back on their feet, brick by brick!

For more information on how to get involved with Disaster Relief work in Nepal, please visit www.projects-abroad.ca/projects/building/disaster-relief/nepal.