Building a better future

Builders’ skills in hot demand to help improve quality of life for Nepalese families

More than 9,000 people were killed and hundreds of thousands left without homes, following two devastating earthquakes in Nepal earlier this year.

Having developed a connection with the country after various trips to Mt Everest basecamp, PlaceMakers Wanaka customer Mark Ayre wanted to do something to help.  Mark and New Zealand-based Adventure Consultants, which operates climbing expeditions in Nepal, came up with the idea of exporting Kiwi builders to the quake-stricken country to help with the recovery process.

The first step was to connect with All Hands Volunteers, an American-based non-profit organisation working to rebuild homes and schools. All Hands are involved in a number of projects, including reconstructing five schools in the Nuwakot district and 50 homes in the Sindhupalchok district.

All hands on deck

All Hands partnerships manager Michelle Thompson says that more than 600 volunteers have offered their services since work began in April.

“Our focus as an organisation is to connect people who want to help, and remove the barriers to volunteering,” explains Michelle. “We cover all of their living costs while they’re working here; they just need to pay for their own flights.”

To ensure each job is completed as efficiently as possible, the organisation only accepts volunteers as required.

“We provide some training and quite often we’ll ask our volunteers to lead teams, which can be made up of locals and other volunteers. At the moment, people with experience in construction and project management are in high demand.”

Teams generally work six days a week, using materials such as wire mesh and corrugated iron to build homes and schools.

Experience of a lifetime

Michelle says that volunteering is a hugely rewarding experience, particularly in Nepal where the people are renowned for their friendliness.

“Volunteers bring phenomenal motivation to community projects and, when the locals see people from all across the globe working to help them, it can act as a catalyst to further motivate them to rebuild,” she says. “In addition, our accommodation is normally communal spaces shared with the other volunteers. You make a lot of friends and, at the end of it, they almost become like your family.”

She says people can choose to help for as long as they like, with their placement depending on what stage a project is at and their relevant experience.

“Anyone interested in volunteering just needs to jump on our website and fill in an application form. We send them an info pack, which advises them about visas, vaccines, and what they should bring, as well other important information.

“At the moment, the days are really warm, but it can be quite cold in the morning and at night.”

Investing in education

Because of the poverty that affects Nepal, education is critical to help the country’s young people create a better future for themselves.

Someone who knows that first-hand is Cam Court, a PlaceMakers customer and director of Auckland-based building company Court Construction.

Cam and his wife Tracey developed an affinity with the Nepalese during trekking trips through the country, which has led them to get involved in a number of community initiatives.

“We just gravitated towards the country,” Cam says. “Despite having nothing, it has some of the most amazingly friendly and generous people we’ve ever met.” 

Last year, the couple teamed up with First Steps Himalaya – a New Zealand-based charity working to give Himalayan children access to quality schooling – to raise money for an education and training centre.

Together with 11 other volunteers, including seven of their own builders, Cam and Tracey went back to Nepal in March to build the centre.

“At the moment, lack of education results in a cycle of poverty with poorly educated children, growing up to become parents who know no other way,” says Cam. “We hope this type of project will help transform the lives of the children who benefit from better educated teachers, and their communities.”

They recently returned from another trip, where they spent time teaching locals how to install roofs on earthbag structures.

Earthbags (literally bags filled with earth) are commonly used in Nepal and are well suited to community projects, because they’re earthquake resistant and this unique, eco-friendly method of construction can be created quickly from readily available components at a low cost.

Top tips

Cam says that anyone going should be prepared to live in tough conditions, and also has some practical advice for any builders keen to help.

“You can source some materials locally, such as timber and iron, but you can’t really buy fixings,” he says. “We’ve taken our own tech screws and nails both times. There’s no power, so we also took our own saws – you have to do everything by hand.”    

Unless you like cold showers every day, he also recommends taking a solar shower!

About All Hands

In its tenth year, All Hands has completed 57 projects worldwide, with over 31,000 volunteers of 85 different nationalities, 40,000 families assisted, and 1,000,000 hours worked. In the process, we have developed an expertise in both project and volunteer management.

Anyone interested in lending a hand should visit All Hands’ website at http://hands.org/volunteer/, and select the Nepal Earthquake Rebuild project.