Nepal Quake Relief ROUND #2: Reuben Harcourt

UPDATE: Through the original Facebook event, we raised $7789.19. Thank you so much for your love and support. Now we have a Givealittle page under an NZ charity, let's get Round #2 going so that I can keep up the work and show NZ's heart to villages that need it most.

Please ADD $7789.19 to the total on the right to see just how far this has come in less than a week!

UPDATE: Click the facebook widget to be taken to the partner facebook event for this fundraiser where you can see daily updates, footage and photos of the relief work that you make possible!

I was volunteering in a children's home in a small village called badikhel in lalitpur district of Nepal when the 7.9 earthquake devastated the country. I am now living and surviving shoulder to shoulder with the children and locals. The children's home here was severely damaged in the quake and aftershocks but we were extremely lucky and only very minor injuries and no casualties. Sadly many in this area weren't so lucky and there are terrible stories surfacing by word of mouth everyday here about tragic losses of life and livelihood.

I made a facebook post when the quake first struck and was absolutely blown away by the level of love and support shown there for the people of Nepal and also for my own safety. However, we are the lucky ones. I can't express how horrible conditions are in some parts of this area, in kathmandu valley and remote areas allover Nepal, and how appalling some of the stories ad pictures we see everyday are.

International aid will focus on densely populated areas mainly in kathmandu valley but there is an enormous need for IMMEDIATE relief in rural hard to reach areas such as remote villages in Lalitpur.

Please help me raise relief funds as I am in a privileged position of being able to work with locals to ensure that 100% of funds go exactly where they are needed most. This is a rare opportunity and I'm not going to waste it. So please help out however you can! ANY Donation you can spare will hugely help. What's small change at home is a fortune here.

Some of the worst affected villages here have received no aid to date and have pulled the bodies of their loved ones from the rubble themselves and now shelter homeless wherever they can find room in makeshift tents built from plastic sheets and anything they could find in the debris. I will ensure that they receive shelters for those newly homeless sleeping on the ground outside, as there is a storm started yesterday with freezing cold rain and looking to continue for the next few days. I will see it goes towards rice and lentils that are in short supply, basic medicine, and warm clothes and blankets. I need to purchase water purification tablets as there is a shortage of safe water, and some pipes have mixed with sewage so that many more people may die of viruses.

With your help, I can help support those families in the village and remote areas of Lalitpur that won't benefit from international aid that now have nothing and need it most.

GVN Charitable Trust is the organization that I coordinated my volunteer placement here with. The funds will arrive in their NZ registered charitable trust account, and 100% (no fees) will either be issued to me to distribute, unless I instruct otherwise. Please be assured that GVN are just as committed as I am, and are 100% behind this fundraiser.

Thanks again for showing that The New Zealand community and my good friends allover the world are so full of love and empathy!

All my love,

Reuben