On 2nd May, Nayapool Bikash Samiti, around 40km from Pokhara, decided to collect money from the people of Nayapool, Pokhara to donate to the victims of the earthquake. They collected NRs. 50,000 to help the victims. On 3rd May, Nayapool Bikash Samiti held a meeting with Nayapool Jeep Samiti, group that provides Jeep service to places such as Ghandruk and TikheDhunga, which resulted in Jeep Samiti donating NRs. 1 lakh. When the Jeep Samiti decided to donate NRs. 1 lakh, another plan was made. They decided to take things to the place where victims were present. Then people began to donate things. The Nayapool Bikash Samiti collected 100 sacks of rice, 76 tarpaulins, 100 packets of salt, 100 packets of oil, 100 kg dal, 100 kg soyabeans, chowchow, biscuits, 100 kg beaten rice and some clothes from the people of Nayapool.

[caption id="attachment_6572" align="aligncenter" width="720"] Relief materials to be distributed
Photo Courtesy: Ashish Bikram L.[/caption]

On the basis of the news on television, residents of Nayapool had heard that Dhading, Gorkha, and Sindupalchowk are areas extremely affected by the earthquake. So they decided to help a village named Palpa of Dhading.

[caption id="attachment_6634" align="aligncenter" width="894"] Situation in and around Palpa village
Photo Courtesy: Ashish Bikram L.[/caption]

On 4th May, 30 Nayapool residents with 7 Jeeps, filled with relief materials, started their journey towards Palpa village. The Dhading Besi was 5 hours journey from Nayapool and the village was 1 hour journey from Dhading Besi. When people reached the village, they saw only some houses of the village were affected. Before them, some other organization had sent the relief materials to that place. However, there was a problem when relief materials distribution was in progress. One person took charge of the relief materials we had brought and distributed them to his relatives and some of the village people, meaning, there was bias in the distribution of relief materials. Some of the highly affected victims didn't even get the relief materials.

After surveying the area and analyzing the situation, the Nayapool people came to know that they have come to the wrong place for relief work. Only some of the houses were affected by the earthquake and they did't have any food problem as such. The people who were facing the problem were Dalits. So, they decided to distribute tarpaulins to the people whose houses were affected. When they were distributing the tarpaulins, people of the village started quarreling with each other. They were blaming each other for not receiving the required amount of relief materials. The houses of the people who were busy quarreling were not affected. When the people start quarreling, Nayapool people stopped distributing the tarpaulins and returned from the place before they themselves get dragged into the fight.

Since they couldn't distribute relief materials in the Palpa village, they decided to distribute the relief materials they had to the Manbu VDC Ward No. 1- Chapak village of Gorkha. They spent their night in AabuKhaireni, a place on the way to Gorkha Bajar, and started their journey to Chapak the next day. The way to the Chapak village was not paved and the vehicle could only reach to Aarukhet which was 5 hours travel on vehicle from Gorkha Bazar and Chapak was 1 hour walk from Aarukhet. On the way to Aarukhet, there was a village named Aarughat Gaun which seemed developed. The houses there were all cemented but all of them were affected by the earthquake. Each and every house of that place were either completely broken or at least had a crack. They continued their travel looking at the devastating situation of the area caused by the earthquake on the way.

[caption id="attachment_6574" align="aligncenter" width="720"] Distributing relief materials
Photo Courtesy: Ashish Bikram L.[/caption]

After reaching Aarughat, having passed Aarughat Gaun, people of the Chapak village were called to Aarughat to take the relief materials to their village. One of the people among the 30 people of Chapak village was Mr. Ramesh Thapa. He helped prepare the list of the houses which were affected by the earthquake in the Chapak village. Nayapool Bikash Samiti members who were there for relief work didn't go to the village to see the damage made by earthquake. They distributed the relief materials believing on the list made by Mr. Ramesh Thapa. After the list was prepared, they started to distribute relief materials among the people. It was very difficult to manage the distribution of relief materials since everyone wanted a bigger share. The volunteers returned home after the distribution .

Hence, there are many people in Nepal who are affected by earthquake and there are many people, like the members of Nayapool Bikash Samiti, who are willing to help. But there are some greedy people whose greed has affected the willingness of those people who genuinely want to help. Therefore, let us all not manipulate, for the sake of one’s individual benefit, the selfless deeds some good humans are doing in Nepal. Let’s try and build a new Nepal TOGETHER!