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Durangoans help Nepali village rebuild

Raised $35K for housing, clean water
After two fundraisers in Durango raised $35,000 for Nepali earthquake relief, the Karma and Jyamu Bhotia Foundation was able to help the village of Khare DVC build 61 semipermanent dwellings, 10 toilets and put in new water lines. The village is the home of Himalayan Kitchen cook Mangala Shrestha.

Just two short months after a devastating earthquake struck Nepal, killing 8,800 and leaving many more thousands homeless, money raised in Durango has helped a village rebuild just in time for monsoon season.

Karma and Jyamu Bhotia, natives of Nepal and the owners of popular restaurant the Himalayan Kitchen, moved into high gear after the earthquake, holding two fundraisers for their eponymous foundation within the next month.

A Night for Nepal, to which several area restaurants contributed, netted $15,000. The May 27 premiere of “Good Karma,” about a trip Karma Bhotia took with several Durangoans in October 2014 to his home village of Chyamtang, brought in another $20,000. The movie premiere was accompanied by live and silent auctions.

How did the Bhotias decide where to spend the money?

“There were many places where nonprofits were already helping, and we didn’t want to compete,” Karma Bhotia said. “Then our cook, Mangala Shrestha, said his village was completely destroyed and needed our help. We checked, and he was right.”

Shrestha’s village is Khare DVC, in the Dolakha District northeast of Kathmandu. Located in a steep, narrow valley in the Himalayas, it was nothing but rubble after the earthquake and its aftershocks.

The money raised in Durango paid for the materials to build 61 semipermanent dwellings, 10 toilets and new water lines.

It was no small undertaking.

The building materials and supplies were transported nine hours by bus and then 12 hours by porters on foot to reach the remote site.

The temporary structures are intended to last three to five years, with the intent of reusing the tin roofs and other building materials to build more permanent structures.

The foundation has two different accounts, Bhotia said, one for earthquake relief and one for ongoing education efforts in Chyamtang, which fortunately was not damaged in the quake.

“We’re still going to need to raise more because there is still so much to do,” he said.

abutler@durangoherald.com

May 27, 2015
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Durangoans help Nepali village


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