Email to Maya Shahni

Dear Maya,

Thanks for your chain of emails. It is wonderful to know that we will be joining hands for the above mentioned relief work.

As you have mentioned in your email,  Yes, Art Of Living is very rich with dedicated volunteers and reaches out to people in their hour of need.

Your judgment is right that soon we will have to start building some kind of home structures. We have a volunteer who has established a factory where prefabricated structures are made and very easy to put up in the remotest of areas.

They are eco-friendly and have a life span of 15-20 years. Perhaps you and your sister organisation may consider donating such homes as the monsoons are round the corner and many people do not have the roof over their heads.

Regarding the work to be carried out with children, you will be very unhappy to note that many children have been orphaned. The State Government is doing their best but I am sure that, if we proposed for setting up child care centers and schools, they would only be too happy to give us the responsibility.

Normally from my experience I can assure you that in a year or two some family members come to claim their relatives after they have established themselves (this is from my experience in the Kashmir valley when the earthquake happened there in the year 2005). Please note regarding any container that you intend to send to Nepal: it is imperative to give a list of the items that you are sending so that the right permissions can be obtained. Please avoid sending perishables as sometimes it may take longer to do the needful.

I hope I made myself clear. Yes, we are doing the trauma care in all the villages through our special breathing exercises, we do need to reconstruct and last, but not the least, we have to set up sustainable projects for the community development.

With best wishes to all of you and warm regards.

Dilraj Bedi
Trustee