With the recent earthquake in Nepal we wanted our fundraisers to really understand what was happening out there. Oxfam kindly came down for a visit to explain what they’re doing to help, what peoples donations are actually being used for and how they operate in an emergency.
Nepal is quite a vulnerable place, in terms of weather, climate change and poverty. Every 80 years give or take, Nepal is hit by a huge earthquake, although the people were expecting it, the devastation was still on an unimaginable scale. Oxfam’s work in Nepal has helped to get people prepared for dealing with the aftermath. Two days after the initial earthquake, Oxfam were supplying water and sanitation to 50,000 people, with help coming in from India in order to reach remote villages to the west.
The emergency work will continue for months to come and within the next few weeks the cash for work schemes will start. This is so that people that have been effected by the disaster will be able to continue to bring in money and spend it on things they actually want and need instead of living off of hand outs. Over recent years Oxfam’s work in Nepal has made huge changes to peoples lives. From installing simple solar panels in order to be able to pump water up into the hills to remote villages to diversifying crops so that they are more sustainable and able to get a better price at market. There’s also a lot of work being done with gender relations in terms work and education.
If haven’t donated to the Nepal earthquake, now’s the time -http://www.oxfam.org.uk/what-we-do/countries-we-work-in/nepal
NTT Fundraising Tales 