We continue to hear stories of tragic family loss from our Foresight sponsored students. And it is agonizing for them to know how to help. One young man wrote to us about his family in a village that was almost totally destroyed, “ It’s already been 4 days they have not received any help or aid from anywhere. They are living in fear and scarcity. I am thinking of going to the village. If I could visit and offer them some kind of help in the village, that would be great. We are staying here safe and sound. Our brothers and sisters are dying out there without any help.” He is trying to join a team going to the Gorkha area.

Villagers rely on their rice harvest to feed them for the year. If it is buried under rubble, their supply is gone.

The condition of National Bethel Academy, in Trishulu, is still unclear. Trishuli is a community  northwest of Kathmandu, closer to the epicenter of the earthquake. many of the villages in that area have been totally destroyed .

We hope and pray that the school will be pronounced “sound” with only superficial cracks. Besides being an innovative school, it is a community resource. Note the neighborhood children gathered on the play ground after school.

A safe place to play after school

We are relieved to learn that the condition of Foresight’s partner school, National Bethel Academy in Trishuli, may not be as serious as feared at first. It will be evaluated by its architect in the next few days. We are hoping that classes will be able to resume there without an overwhelming need for repairs.

According to the school principal, National Bethel Academy is damaged and not safe for occupancy. In addition, two NBA teachers have lost their homes. Once basic needs for rescue and relief are addressed, there will be a need for repairing or rebuilding the school. And there will soon be a need for temporary classroom space. Our hearts are heavy for the suffering of our brothers and sisters at the school.

We are so relieved to learn that our Foresight friends in Nepal are safe, though many have suffered losses of homes, family members, and property. One of our sponsored students wrote, “This earthquake took my home away. There is no single house standing in our village. Every house and cattle were brought to the dust. Also my grandfather and some relatives died in this earthquake and some are still buried in the dust.” We grieve with our friends.