My name is Jack McCartor.
I teach kindergarten in Portland, Oregon.
In the year 2000, I taught English to children at a school in Betrawati, a small river-side village about five hours northwest of Kathmandu.
. . . .
On Saturday, April 25th a devastating 7.9 earthquake hit the country of Nepal. As soon as I heard, I sent out messages to my friends and former students asking if people were okay.
The messages I received back were worrying;
thousands of lives lost and countless people driven from their collapsed or now unsafe homes; families trying to hold their lives together, but wholly unsure of what was coming next.
The global outpouring of donations to Nepal has been heartening to see, but I worry that donations will start to wane as Nepal leaves the front pages of newspapers.
I feel helpless 11,000km away, but must do whatever I can for the people of Nepal, who shared their lives with me so many years ago.
To that end, I have created this website to share photos to help keep the people of Nepal fresh in people's minds. My plan is to post a new photo every day.
My intent is to show the wonderful people of Nepal—sisters, brothers, fathers, and mothers—so that when people hear “Nepal”, it isn't “disaster” that comes to mind, but rather the faces and stories of wonderful people like Shashi and Sarju.
For those who wish to donate to help the people of Nepal, at the bottom of every blog entry, I am placing donation links for both
If you enjoy a photo, a story, or a smile,
please think about making a donation—any contribution helps,
and Nepal really needs it.
If you'd like to help the people of Betrawati specifically, there is a Nepal-based non-profit organization called the
Social Welfare and Environment Conservation Society (SWECOS) that has been helping people in the area since 1996.
If you are interested in sending funds to SWECOS,
I've pasted their information below:
"Anyone who wants to help in the community of Rasuwa and Nuwakot district [which includes the villages of Betrawati and Tupche] can send money to this account of our organization.
The account details of our organization are given below:
Social Welfare and Environment Conservation Society
Bank of Kathmandu, Kamaladi
Current ACCOUNT No.: 010000024129
Swift Code: BOKLNPKA"
If you have any questions, comments, or photos/stories you'd like to share, please drop me an email at teacherjack@believeinnepal.com.
Thank you so much for your interest.
– Jack
P.S. – if you like this site, please tell your friends
or post a link on Facebook or Twitter.