ROKPA Times November 2020 EN

NEPAL
Helping where help is needed:
Hemraj
Hemraj as a little boy with his mother.
I am Hemraj. When I was little, my
mother carried heavy baskets of stones
to various construction sites. She had to
work for us both to survive because my
father died prematurely. She carried me
as a baby in a cloth wrapped to her
chest, with the heavy basket on her
back. So I was always with her. She had
asthma and was afraid she would not
live long. What would become of me
then?
Mummy Lea heard about her fear, her
burden and our hunger, and took me in
with ROKPA when I was three years old. I
was so lucky! I became part of the ever
growing ROKPA family. Akong Rinpoche
and Mummy gave me love and support.
Through ROKPA I was able to complete a
Master’s degree in Business Administration
and become a manager in the ROKPA
Guest House. I became part of a large
family, and received love and support for
myself and for my mother's ongoing
medical problems. Thanks to you, dear
donors, my life became good and meaningful.
From the health crisis to the
economic crisis
After my childhood and youth spent in the
Children's Home and the first years of
working in the Guest House, I ventured
into independence with my café "Chocolate
Wheels" (like Mummy, I love chocolate!).
The business is up and running and
my wife is also working. But now the
pandemic is here and the situation in
Nepal is devastating. Because of the
lockdown, more and more people are
losing their jobs. Many have no savings
and can no longer afford food, rent,
clothing and medicine. Besides people’s
physical needs, which can no longer be
provided for, psychological problems are
accumulating. Our country lacks any
strategy for dealing with the pandemic.
People do not know whether they will
have anything to eat the next day. On top
of this is the fear of contracting the virus.
The already high suicide rate in Nepal
continues to rise.
I want to do something!
My friends have also lost their jobs and
want to get involved. Like some of them,
before the pandemic I was obsessed with
the idea that I didn’t earn enough, didn’t
have enough, didn’t experience enough.
The lockdown period shook my innermost
being and I finally understood how rich I
was, that I had enough and that the time
had come to change my life. The moment
had come to give back some of what I
had received more than enough of at
ROKPA.
And so I started an emergency aid
project, initially supported by people from
abroad whom I met in the Children's
Home and Guest House and who have
Photo: © ROKPA INTERNATIONAL
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