Piljin’s Family, USA (FVP Story 2021.40)
April 2015, a 7.8 Richter scale earthquake hit Nepal and left hundreds of thousands homeless. The Shelter of Hope Campaign of rising Nepal, a relief effort initiated by Bambi and Ram Panta to provide temporary shelters for families. In the summer of 2015, Piljin Kwak, his sister, and his mother visited Nepal to help build homes for families.
Here is a part of his reflection:
My family has always emphasized the importance of living for the sake of others. When the opportunity to volunteer in Nepal arose, it was a natural response to say yes.
The volunteer work was grueling but incredibly rewarding. My team’s main duty was to build temporary shelters in villages surrounding Kathmandu. Sabita Shrestha and her family of six were living in a makeshift shelter before we came. “This is the greatest help we received in our time of crisis,” she told me. “I am very thankful for rising Nepal for building this shelter. Their help was substantial as nobody has helped us with finding safe shelter.”
As my stay in Nepal went on, I felt this seemingly small commitment grow into something far more. My motivation grew and transformed into a personal interest, a hunger to learn about the nation’s fascinating history, its people, the difficulties they face, and ways that I could contribute to healing the wounds inflicted by years of suffering.
The phrase, “Help those less fortunate” is a common one today, but is often overused and has become somewhat of a cliché with perhaps the significance of it not wholly taken to heart. During this summer experience, that phrase became very real for me and the goal of living for others motivated me each day.
The Shelter of Hope project is just one example of how a determined group of people from all over the world can come together with a common goal of making a small yet effective and influential impact to restore and revive a nation. Each shelter built brought us inches closer to our goal and I am thankful to the various supporters and donators with whom we could not have had such success. I was fortunate enough to be able to support Nepal on the ground.