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Help Roger to help the children of Nepal

  • We will rise again.

      5 June 2015
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    We will rise again.

    The slogan emerging from the rubble in Nepal.

    Just like all of your amazing support, it couldn't have come at a better time.

    They say as human beings we are most susceptible to Post Traumatic Stress Disorder when the event or events are unpredictable or uncontrollable.

    Especially amongst children.

    So as the aftershocks diminish slightly in frequency, Nepal is searching to find a way to rise again amongst the fear of the invisible fog that is the unknown.

    Where every loud noise results in an involuntary jump. When the nights are strewn with nightmares and reenactments, depending on whether you happened to be sleeping or not.

    However life continues. Nepal and its people must rise again or die where they stand, figuratively if not literally.

    Your generous support allowed the children to have 10

    days outside Kathmandu.

    Whilst it was excruciatingly hot with daily temperatures well into the 40's, it did allow some respite from the immediate threat of more danger.

    The funds raised have also enabled the children to secure the much needed basics. Some school uniforms, books and nutritious food such as a wider arrange of vegetables and eggs and chicken once a week.

    I have just returned from five days at a remote village north west of Kathmandu, where with another New Zealander and two Americans, we delivered and constructed shelters to those without homes before the onset of the monsoon rains.

    The environment here was a rich mixture of inspiration and desperation. The earthquakes have shaken Nepal's mountains and the rocks have been dislodged in their thousands.

    The killing and maiming in these hamlets has been totally indiscriminate. One village spared, another suffered the loss of a new born, the next obliterated by the deaths of 25 women and children.

    To have the opportunity to stand next to the survivors and assist in some small way was an absolute honor.

    To relish life and the unbridled joy of an honest days work with others for a greater good.

    We will rise again. I have no doubt they will.

    The children are now back at school, the shops are open and families have returned to their homes where they can.

    However underneath another world exists. It is said that loneliness is the silent killer of PTSD, something which I have sensed heavily since returning to the children.

    Their youthful exuberance has been replaced with a desperate need to connect. Where they sit closer to you, for longer.

    Relishing every second we spend together but now with a need of wanting to know where I am going and for how long.

    The time together is now meaningful and strong. The connection unbreakable.

    Perhaps after all you do need to learn about death before you can really understand life.

    Roger Mortimer

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  • The terror is relived.

      14 May 2015
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    Firstly and most importantly thanks so much to each and everyone of you for your support. It is bewildering in a immensely positive way that those so far away should support those in such need who are so close.

    Two days ago we were struck by a 7.4 magnitude earthquake that did more than shake the country to its core. It has also taken its people to another level of reflection.

    As those who know from Christchurch, the 5 magnitude aftershocks rattle you around a bit but soon subside.

    Tuesday was different. After the initial shake, she ferociously jumped again and everyone instantly knew this one is for keeps.

    Within this period, we were totally powerless. I have to admit when she unleashed with her greatest fury, I took a second to stand back and witness her awe inspiring power. A period of time where you became acutely aware that you had abdicated total control to nature, where life will be spared or taken totally at her will.

    The quake itself was one thing, the human reaction during and after it, quite another. High pitched screams accompanied wild fleeing from buildings, accentuated I am sure by the pre existing knowledge of what this task master is capable and willing to take.

    In the seconds in the immediate aftermath, time and motion slowed. People passed out with fear, lying against walls and in the middle of the road. Groups praying and crying to the gods in unified but very shaken chants. Our children traumatized to their very core. Only the presence of physical human contact seemed capable of preventing them entering full shock.

    Lalit our boss and mentor is a very calm man. After he and I had cleared all the rooms to ensure no children remained, the quake subsided. He immediately and calmly secured the premises and instructed me where to take the children. How different we would have been had he panicked.

    Our assembly location is now our new temporary home. It is a flat piece of dirt that also doubles as a water hole and rubbish dump.

    The first hour was a state of understandable daze. Some water and reflection of some sorts.

    What happened next changed my life. I have held this feeling that it is not the problems that are necessarily so damaging to the people here that makes them different to us, it is the manner with which they approach and deal with them.

    Void of selfish greed they are not poisoned by self entitlement.

    Boys and girls that have already endured such harshness in their short lives, showed me what living is actually about.

    Still physically and emotionally shaking, they located the football and used the beautiful game for solace. The true dynamics of sport, as they are meant to be, were played out.

    The beautiful game was their way to show they understand and respect man's place in nature.

    A point that seemed to be accentuated when the aftershocks shuddered us further that afternoon. The game would stop and suddenly the usually innocuous birds would rise as one above us, like gods, almost viewing who would die and who would live below.

    What happens now seems to be very much a waiting game. Our home seems structurally ok to the untrained eye but the thought of testing our assessment of the three story structure one more time only drives pure fear.

    Schools were meant to finally open this Sunday but now a start date in unknown. A school at the end of our street is damaged beyond repair. Homes on our street have also been destroyed but the most worrying are the three, four and five story structures that have sustained significant damage but have not yet fallen.

    To the untrained eye it appears that one more big one will be the one to leave its mark.

    All the children are still understandably petrified under the skin. The evenings in the tent have testified to this with the constant sleep talking and loud wakings from the darkest of nightmares. A calm reassurance might put them back to sleep but I doubt fend the demons for too long. Not helped by the incessant wailing of hundreds of wild dogs who roam and own the streets after dark.

    Of the 23 children I have befriended in our home, I have developed a close relationship with fifteen year old JP. As we would say, he runs the cutter. I have certainly read about people like JP but have never been blessed to meet one in person before.

    He has wisdom not just beyond his years but well beyond a single lifetime. Highly intelligent and diligent he specializes in social studies at school. Barcelona FC his greatest passion outside of the classroom.

    When quizzing him yesterday, during one of our errands, about what he makes of the events that are unfolding here, he turned to me and replied:

    " Roger, you see it is like this. We need one more big one. A 9. Then everyone will be here sleeping on the street. Then finally we can all grow together as one, as it is meant to be."

    Roger Mortimer

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  • Sport

      13 May 2015
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    Young boys whose lives have already been savaged in so many ways find solace in the beautiful game, an hour after their city was shaken to its core. After 20 years of searching I finally found what sport really means.

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  • Food Deliveries

      7 May 2015
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    VFN oversees three orphanages, one in Kathmandu and two just outside.

    The two outside have been particularly badly affected by the earthquake and have been running low on food of any kind.

    Thanks to the donations of amazing New Zealanders, earlier today we purchased 26 bags of rice, weighing 20kg each and distributed them to the two homes.

    The supply of rice into Kathmandu is starting to diminish and the prices are rising. Lalit negotiated for over an hour with a number of different suppliers to get the best price possible.

    After repairing a flat tyre, we packed the rice straight off the truck from India and headed to the orphanages.

    The damage to both homes was alarming and the children were noticeably seriously disturbed by recent events.

    It was magical to ensure their immediate core food supply and also offer them some much needed company.

    Forced to sleep outside and with no current avenue to fund the repair of their buildings, it was difficult to leave them.

    What was fantastic to see however is what can be achieved in such short time frames, when you have the support of the amazing people that have donated their hard earned savings to such a great cause.

    The plan is now to keep filling the current gaps including the immediate provision of more nutrient rich food.

    Roger Mortimer

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