Shovakhar Kandel, National Director of the Leprosy Mission in Nepal.
Tuesday May 5 2015
“I had spoken to one group first thing and then, without really any time to do anything in-between, started to head for the next group. A man approached me and asked if everything was alright. I didn’t know what he meant, but then others started talking to me about ‘the earthquake’ – and then I knew something was badly wrong.”
Shovakhar Kandel, National Director of the Leprosy Mission in Nepal, is talking about the moment he found out that Nepal had been hit by a massive earthquake – and how his fears for the safety of his family and the team on the ground there began to grow as the hours passed and he couldn’t reach anyone in the country.
“I was very shocked,” he said. “All day I tried to contact home, but without success. Communications were down everywhere.
“One of my daughters is a student in Idaho, and she managed to reach me, but had also been unable to reach our family in Kathmandhu and was getting pretty frantic.
“I spent an increasingly restless night until on the Sunday morning, I managed to get through to a friend who lived nearby, and he agreed to go round to my house physically and check up on my family, my wife and my other daughter.
“I could have cried when he called later to let me know they were fine. I was so grateful to God for saving them.
“I was due to attend an international conference over here, but I will be returning to Nepal to help my friends and colleagues and carry on our work as soon as I can.”
The Leprosy Mission was founded by Church of Scotland missionary, Wellesley Bailey, who saw the devastating effects of the disease in India in 1869 and became determined to raise funds to help those afflicted.
The Leprosy Mission still maintains strong links with the Church of Scotland both locally and nationally. It supports people with leprosy in 26 countries worldwide.
“I was so relieved to hear from my family,” said Shovakhar. “But I appreciate we were very fortunate, and the danger is not over yet. There have been hundreds of aftershocks, all of them bringing the risk of damage and one or two even big enough to register as smaller earthquakes by themselves.
“My team have checked in now and as far as I can tell, we haven’t lost anyone. We have 131 staff, based in the hospital in Kandahar six miles south of the city and the rest of them spread out across the country working with communities and in rural areas.
“After the earthquake hit, our teams throughout the country reorganised into different groups and began to help out where they were needed. We have doctors, nurses paramedics and so on, and they all did what they could to help in the emergency.
“Nearby hospitals were hit badly but we were lucky not to lose staff. Their quarters though have enormous cracks running through them now and people are sleeping where they can. Many of the buildings that are still standing are just not safe.
“My worry though is for our patients. They are among the poorest of the poor, living in the worst conditions already. Their situation is only bound to get worse after the earthquake.”
(The Leprosy Mission has set up an appeal to help those affected by the earthquake. You can donate online at http://www.tlmscotland.org.uk/
The Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland and the Moderator of the National Youth Assembly scaled Ben Lomond on Saturday to raise funds for Christian Aid's emergency relief appeal for Nepal. Donate here and read more about the fundraiser here
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