Direct Assistance for Nepal

We have all seen the images. Cul­tur­al land­marks that have stood the test of time for cen­turies, now reduced to rub­ble. Homes destroyed, thou­sands dead and mil­lions now home­less. For any­one who has been to Nepal, these images are beyond heart­break­ing; even more so when you think about the gen­er­ous spir­it of the Nepalese peo­ple. Moun­tain Mad­ness has been offer­ing trips to Nepal for over 20 years now and to us, it is so much more than a des­ti­na­tion on a map. Our employ­ees in this area of the world are family. 

Some of the MM fam­i­ly in Nepal: Kaji, Dawa, Mani, Om Kumar, and Nan­ga (left to right). Kay­la Fenske photo

As many of you may have already seen, MM is sup­port­ing a Go Fund Me page to assist with this tragedy. This fundrais­er was set-up by MM guide Deana Zabal­do and her orga­ni­za­tion Chang­ing Lives Nepal. While Go Fund Me does charge a ser­vice fee, the remain­ing amount that is donat­ed is not sub­ject­ed to the over­head costs that plague many non-prof­it orga­ni­za­tions. Most impor­tant­ly, the mon­ey can go direct­ly to indi­vid­u­als. Our Go Fund Me account is man­aged by our lead guide in Nepal Deana Zabal­do as well as our head Nepali guide, Dawa Nuru Sherpa. 

Along the trek to Nam­che Bazaar. Dave Strange photo

Deana and Dawa will soon be hun­kered down in a small vil­lage about 90 min­utes out­side of Luk­la with our cur­rent MM clients and will stay there until it is safe to leave. While there, they will be assess­ing the dam­age to the homes of MM staff liv­ing in the sur­round­ing areas. Funds donat­ed will go direct­ly to help rebuild the homes and com­mu­ni­ties of our staff up and down the Khum­bu region with­out admin­is­tra­tion and over­head deductions.

Locals in Nepal. Krista Means photo

Anoth­er deep con­nec­tion MM has to the region is the Children’s Home that lies about three hours out­side of Kath­man­du. Start­ed by Deana, the Children’s Home pro­vides food, struc­ture, hous­ing, health care and edu­ca­tion for aban­doned chil­dren. Over the years MM has donat­ed mon­ey to the Children’s Home and funds col­lect­ed from the Go Fund Me site will also assist this cause. For­tu­nate­ly, the home in which the chil­dren live was not severe­ly dam­aged by the earthquake. 

MM guide Deana Zabal­do and a res­i­dent of the Chil­dren’s Home. Deana Zabal­do photo