My phone was inundated with messages when I woke up this past Saturday. One of the messages read, “I am sorry for what happened. May God give you the strength to bear this pain.” I freaked out and started thinking of the worst-case scenario. Another message echoed the same sentiment, but I still didn’t know what had happened. Finally, I read an email that informed me that my country, Nepal, had been hit by a massive earthquake whose death toll has since passed 4,000.
I hurriedly tried to call home and realized that phone services were not working in Nepal. After calling my cousin in Maryland, I found out that our families were safe but temporarily homeless. The boundary walls had fallen off, and a water tank on top of the house came tumbling down because the pillar holding it couldn’t withstand the shock. I messaged my parents asking them to call me and informed them that I had been asleep earlier. Not knowing what to do, I took to the Internet. Nepal had just gone through its worst natural disaster in about 80 years; an earthquake of magnitude 7.9 centered between the major cities of Kathmandu and Pokhara had brought the entire country to its knees.
I didn’t know how to react. Although I was relieved because my family was safe, I felt confused about what had just happened to the country and its people. Pretending to understand what they just went through would be wrong, because I was in the comfort of a college far away. I kept reading and looking at pictures that had surfaced on the Internet. Many people were focused on the destruction of Patan Durbar Square, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Is it OK for us to focus on monuments when there are victims who could still be saved, who might just be trapped in houses that collapsed?
Finally my parents called. My mom was crying, still in fear, trying to explain to me what she had just been through. She was in the house when the earthquake hit. She took refuge under a bed when things started falling. I could tell she had been thinking of her two sons, one in the U.S. and the other, my younger brother, in South Korea, while she was trapped. What emotions she experienced, only she knows. What millions of Nepalese citizens are going through right now, only they understand. The devastation can’t just be measured in numbers. The death toll, the economic damage caused and the number of houses that collapsed don’t tell the full story. Understanding this, people across the world have come together to help Nepal.
I myself have received a lot of sympathy and support at Kenyon, my second home. Reinstalling Hope, a nonprofit that Maher Latif ’17 and I started last summer while volunteering in Nepal, has already started delivering water and relief packages to victims and volunteers. Our online fundraiser, gofundme.com/helpnepalrecover, has been successful thus far due to the support of friends at Kenyon. Furthermore, Kenyon College Hillel has set up an item collection bin in their house and are supporting our cause. This time of need has shown me the sense of community that Kenyon is built around. Thank you all for keeping Nepal in your prayers and being so supportive.
Jai Nepal!
Manjul Bhusal Sharma ’16 is a math and economics major from Kathmandu, Nepal. He can be reached at bhusalsharmam@kenyon.edu.