Help a COPD sufferer breathe easy

There is a  family needing urgent help within the next few weeks before the next storm comes to the foothills of the Himalayas.

The background:

When the capacity to breathe is compromised by an incurable lung disease, COPD,

when illness forces the breadwinner of the family to stop his trade as an artisan carpet maker,

when his son leaves his homeland, Kashmir, to seek work to provide for his parents and sibling, only to spend 2 years enslaved to unscrupulous bosses

when poverty means your family of 4 adults live in a 10 square metre storm damaged mud house...

when I know this and cannot ignore it, I  am moved to do something about it, but cannot manage it alone.  Can you help?

I meet this loving, loyal son while I was in Thailand where is was working.

As a New Zealander I was still reeling from the horror of the Mosque shootings on March 15 2019 in Christchurch, NZ.   51  Muslims were murdered.

I established quickly that this young man was Muslim, and he, that I was from NZ.  He grasped my hands with tears in his eyes and said "NOT YOUR FAULT!"  His purity of heart struck a cord and also his readiness to forgive the perpetrator took my breath away.

Since then I have learned more of the circumstances that have stopped his family in their tracks.  I remain in close contact and think of them as 'family' now. The son has returned to Kashmir, India, to be with his father after learning that his health had significantly deteriorated.

Right now I am seeking funding to meet an emergency they are facing .

Part of the roof of their tiny 2 room home has blown off in the recent headline hitting torrential storm that swept through northern India.  The rooms became sodden and now mold is developing. The father, who is suffering terminal COPD, is unable to do a thing about this.  The mold further jeopardizes his health.

My hope is to raise sufficient funds for the son to repair the roof, replace the damaged carpets and  to build a bathroom / toilet. The latter is a desire of the father; to leave his family with a facility they do not currently have. He hopes to see this accomplished for them before he dies.  Needless to say there is absolutely no money to achieve this.

Any funds raised beyond the required amount will assist the purchase of petrol to operate the generator they have for use when the electricity supply is cut for hours each day or for days on end.  The Oxygen Concentrator / Nebuliser that is sustaining his life cannot function without power, and his life at this stage depends on it. He seldom has time off the machine.

You may know of the immense hardships imposed on the largely  Muslim enclave of Kashmir and neighbouring Jammu.  Prior to Covid-19, Kashmir and Jammu were placed in a politically motivated lockdown (2019-2020, for  10 months and 28 days) enforced by the India Government. Electricity was cut for days, there was a total shutdown of internet and cellphone communication, and travel restrictions prevented much of the world hearing about the conditions.

Currently the locality of this family is a Red Zone for Covid-19. They are again in lockdown!

Can we help ease the grim suffering of this family?

I am doing what I can.

Thank you for considering this.

I wish you good health. Please keep yourself safe, wherever you are.