Second Project in Nepal is Complete

March 28, 2017

I am happy to report that our second project in Nepal is complete—on-time and on budget, thanks to our new in-country project manager, Nabina Duwal. Since the father of the Syama family died last year and there was no other family to help them, MicroAid stepped up to repair and retrofit their home, which was severely damaged in the earthquake of 2015.

Syama family back wall 2015 before MicroAid

new back door and wall for the Syama family 2017

The Syama family has occupied the narrow five-story home in Bhaktapur, in the urban Kathmandu Valley, for generations.

But since the earthquake of 2015, they have been living in only the bottom two rooms, even though the entire building was unsafe.

taking down the upper floor windows

dangerous old wooden balconies

At the suggestion of our engineer/consultant, we removed the top floor and the wooden balconies, replaced the four-story back wall, reinforced all the floors, and replaced the major support columns.

Finally, we installed three new windows and one new door.

new rooftop

Our repair and retrofit of the Syama’s home will last for generations to come.

new wall and windows for the Syama family

I was told by the head of another NGO that MicroAid is one of only a few organizations that has actually completed a home reconstruction in Nepal—now, we have done two . Two years after the disaster, which destroyed 650,000 homes, the government, although handing out small grants for reconstruction efforts, has not rebuilt a single home for the earthquake survivors, even though they are sitting on billions of dollars of foreign aid money.

This is why I created MicroAid: to circumvent the red tape and foot-dragging, and help some people return to self-sufficiency! With a MicroAid in-country project manager we will continue to do this in Nepal—efficiently, economically, and completely.