We visited today with Ganga. I have known Ganga since 2008 and she has been severely affected by leprosy. Her fingers are gone, one leg has been amputated, her kidneys have failed, she has no toes on her remaining foot, and she has one prosthetic eye. Ganga is a fighter and a very sweet lady. In 2011, two of Ganga’s children: Ruth age 17, and Anand age 19 were tragically killed in a motorcycle accident on their way to school. Ganga is also a widow. She is a fighter who handles these tragedies in a strong way that is inspirational. After Ganga’s children died, she had a void in her life filled with deep pain. To fill that void, she turned her attention to building a home for abused and marginalized girls. She has been caring for four young girls for four years now, feeding them, clothing them, loving them and putting them through school. The girls live with her.
We enjoyed several hours together catching up on the news during the past two years since I saw her last. During part of this time she was doing her kidney dialysis while we visited. Ganga told me that a friend of hers house collapsed during the earthquake. 10 people were killed, and her daughter’s good friend suffered a broken back and is now paralyzed from the waist down. I am hearing these stories every day. While at a shop we were talking to the shop owner who told us that in his home village 104 houses were completely destroyed, and 35 people were killed. We are planning to make a relief trip to his village in the coming days. He will join us on this mission and support as he can.
Tomorrow the plan is to join a Nepali woman for a relief mission to the remote village of Vaukhaka. We have been told that no relief supplies have made it to this village yet. We were planning to take 3200 lbs of rice and other food items to the village today, but the roads were damaged with mudslides from last night’s storms. We have been told that the mud has been cleared and we can get through tomorrow. The region that we are going into is known for rape and violence. Our primary mission will be protection while distributing food. She wants to help this village, but fears violence, so as a caution she asked our team to come as HAND aid workers and protectors. It has been asked “why help a region that has the potential for violence?” My thought is that we can’t let one bad apple spoil the barrel. There are hurting people in this region that are not violent, and need aid. We are here to help those impacted by this terrible tragedy.
Posted for Brian Smith by Matt
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