Nepal Earthquake Fundraiser Crosses $10,000 – Update 2015-05-04

Yes, I know this is the Tips from the Top Floor podcast and blog. Please accept my apologies for hijacking this blog for the People of the Himalaya fundraiser. But as I’ve frequently talked about Nepal here on the show, and the site gets more visibility than most of my other sites, it was a logical choice. I promise to bring you a new episode of Tips from the Top Floor this week to make up for it.

Crumbled house in Nepal
The house of Krishna’s parents after the big Nepal earthquake.

With that out of the way, here’s an exciting update: our fundraiser has just crossed the $10,000 line. We are simply blown away and quite honestly speechless. What a community you are! We asked for your help and you came through beyond our wildes dreams.

We have direct access to about $7000 of these funds right now (the part that came through via PayPal, the rest are credit card payments which take a week) – We are happy to say that yesterday we have sent another $2000 to mayasherpaproject.org.

After a phone call with VISA (repeatedly sending money to Nepal apparently triggers their fraud prevention systems and blocks your card), we have also sent 30,000 Nepalese Rupees (approx. € 267) to our friend Krishna, who will use some of it to help his parents rebuild their house in their mountain village and buy some supplies for them. He also injured his hand in the earthquake and is getting some medical attention in one of the hospitals.

Update: Krishna has spent the last days up in the village to help his parents. He just sent some new pictures. He has his arm in a sling because he fell during the earthquake and injured himself.

Krishna Parbat Giri
Our friend Krishna Parbat Giri in front of his parents’ house, his arm in a sling from an injury during the earthquake
The house of Krishna's parents. They live in a shelter for now.
The house of Krishna’s parents. They live in a shelter for now.
Krishna's mother in front of their massively damaged house
Krishna’s mother in front of their massively damaged house

Over the weekend we have also verified with both dzi.org and mayasherpaproject.org that their funds in Nepal are highly unlikely to be affected by the Nepali government.

Thanks for your continued support, buying our Nepal earthquake fundraiser photo book People of the Himalayas.