HFHI Nepal hosts American School of Dubai GV Team in Jhapa

Facts about Nepal Earthquake

A strong (7.8) earthquake hit Nepal in the area near Barpak, a mountain village between capital Kathmandu and tourist town Pokhara. The earthquake was followed by many powerful aftershocks and a very powerful one (6.7) hit Nepal on Sunday April 26.

The earthquakes caused extensive damage to buildings and thousands of deaths and injuries and was even felt in Pakistan, India and Bangladesh.

Many (historic) buildings collapsed, temples have been ruined, roads destroyed. Nearly 8000 deaths in Nepal and tens of deaths in India & Tibet. The quake was followed by more than 430 aftershocks and another huge earthquake (6.8) on May 12.

A Habitat worked by the team

Another group of enthusiastic youth volunteers from Dubai joined the HFHI Nepal Global Village Team from April 3- April 9 2008 in Satasidham VDC, Jhapa. The program was held in partnership with Sahara Nepal. There were twelve students were from American School of Dubai along with two chaperons.

The houses were made of bamboo wall, cement pillar, mud/cement plaster and CGI tin roofs .The volunteers worked on cutting and splitting bamboos and weaving bamboo walls. They also helped in mud and cement plastering for the wall. All in all, the team had a fruitful time working with the local volunteers, home partners, Sahara staffs and the HFHI Staffs.

Volunteers splitting bamboo, weaving bamboo wall and enjoying filtering sand for plastering

The teams learnt a lot apart from just building houses. Sightseeing and shopping in Kathmandu, local school visit in Jhapa and playing soccer game gave them a new experience about Nepal. The team also spent some days of rest and recreation in Chitwan and experienced the natural heritage of the country.

The entire team associated with Habitat had a truly rewarding experience. Sam Steinke, a team member, said "Today ,these home partners are entering in new house, being in a new house means starting a new life, new house may definitely bring the changes in their life ,we are so thankful to habitat providing us this opportunity to be a part of this life changing experience”

One of the home partners, Bishnu Chaudhary expressed his gratitude. he said, “I am so lucky because I got support from the volunteers coming from many countries of the world, If they had not helped me it would take more than twenty days as well as I might to pay more than four thousand rupees to complete this house, I am grateful to the Team because they finished all the work with in five days.”