Nepal

Friends: Shortly after the Nepal Earthquake of April 25 2015, Peace Corps/Nepal withdrew all 53 volunteers and 32 trainees and sent them home, out of concern for “Volunteers’ health, safety and security.” See peacecorps.gov/media/forpress/press/2548/, and peacecorps.gov/resources/faf/nepal/. I am seeking to find out who among the almost 4,000 volunteers who have served in Nepal, have either returned since April 25 (or were there at the time and stayed on) to help in earthquake relief and recovery, and any others who have been working from home on Nepal Earthquake relief, fund raising, etc. I am preparing to write an article which touches on PC and RPCV response to the crisis, and I need their stories and perspectives. If you are one of them, or know of one or more, please contact me by email at dmesserschmidt@gmail.com. I, too, am going to Nepal, arriving in Kathmandu on June 13 for about a month. . . .

I received this information from a dear friend, Busy Graham, who is a Takoma Park, Maryland resident and the daughter of  Dick Graham one of the early Peace Corps Country Directors (Tunisia 1963-65) working with Sarge at HQ from 1961-63. Busy’s mother later worked at the Peace Corps, recruiting CDs, and was responsible for hiring many of the first women directors for the agency. Busy is now involved with hosting a fundraiser for Nepal this coming Wednesday, May 27 in the DC area (Takoma Park/Silver Spring) — she is trying to reach as many RPCVs and Staff who live in the DC area to let them know about this event. Wednesday, May 27, 7:00-9:30pm NEPAL EARTHQUAKE RELIEF — FUNDRAISING CONCERT Seekers Church 276 Carroll St. NW DC (across from Takoma metro & BusBoys & Poets) Featuring the BlackJacks band, LEA, Mary Amato, and friends — plus Nepali singer, Ramesh Pariyar and . . .

‘If you want to see a bit more about the earthquake in Nepal  go to these sites: http://gorkhafoundation.org/ https://www.facebook.com/pages/Gorkha-Foundation/191426006477?fref=nf http://www.wehelpnepal.org/ http://icimod.org/?q=17851 https://www.facebook.com/liesl.messerschmidt https://www.facebook.com/hans.messerschmidt.3 https://www.facebook.com/don.messerschmidt.5 https://www.facebook.com/andrew.manzardo.1 After the earthquake, the Peace Corps and Embassy evacuated all PCVs from Nepal. The Embassy and the Peace Corps did not give the PCVs the option to stay and help in the relief efforts, and provide them some subsistence to do so. The PCVs, with their fluency in Nepali, could have been assigned to work with international relief organizations, to assist in the effort, especially in the more remote communities near the epicenter. But, to simply route them out of the country – done! – doesn’t seem very much in tune with the Peace Corps ethic. I am sure that Peace Corps/Kathmandu had their reasons. Maybe the Staff wanted to go home.