Conclusion and appeal for help

When a Buddhist prayer flag flaps up in the wind, it carries prayers up to the heavens. When it flaps down, it carries blessings back to the people. The Nepali people need your blessings now.

Less than a week after our trip, a magnitude 7.8 earthquake struck Nepal, destroying buildings in and around Kathmandu and killing thousands. The last member of our group left just four hours before the quake.

Nepal is a beautiful but impoverished country with limited ability to recover from such a devastating event. As far as we know, the Nepali porters and guides who helped us are fine, and some of them are now leading rescue and relief missions. Assistance is needed immediately, and ongoing help will be required for months or years to come. If you’ve come to appreciate the beauty of this place and its people, please consider contributing to one of the causes listed here.

• The Hilly Region Development Club: Our friend Steve Colligan (who we ran into in Manang) did a charity unicycle ride in Nepal a few years ago to benefit the Hilly Region Development Club. HRDC now raising money to provide food and new roofs for the village, and to rebuild a school which collapsed in the quake. Contribute here…
• The American Red Cross provides critical large-scale support during such disasters. Contribute here…
• Save the Children is an international charity that has been providing support to children in Nepal since 1976. Contribute here…

Please join us in supporting this beautiful land and this beautiful people, and hope that you will one day be lucky enough to travel in a rebuilt, healthy land.

Namaste.