One Year on

Kathmandu Durbur Square

Tomorrow is one year since the the 7.8 earthquake hit the Gorkha district in Nepal and sent shockwaves across the country. We will be marking the occasion with a special whole school assembly at KISC in the morning to remember those who have gone and their families who mourn. To acknowledge those still living in temporary shelter waiting for help, and to give thanks for the Lords faithfulness to us over this past year.

We know that God has been walking through this past year with us, giving us the strength to cope with the stress, the exhaustion and the fear of those first few days, helping us and equipping us to make the decisions that needed to be made quickly, and giving us the courage to stay afterwards so that we could walk through this year alongside the KISC community.

We are grateful for the support we have received over this year from friends near and far which has helped us to continue in our work and life here and return to a new kind of normal. Aftershocks continue, rumours of a huge one still to come persist, but for us and for Nepalis across the country life continues. In a country with a large disparity between rich and poor the disparity continues. The rich have already rebuilt, many of the poor continue to wait for finances to enable them to rebuild. The inflation of prices, noticeable to us, is huge to those who live on the equivalent of just a few pounds each day.

The blockade added to the pressure on the economy. Inflation has hit the country hard, although officially it is around 10% as it has been for several years. The prices at the market have increased closer to 30%.

Last week was Nepali New Year, the hope among everyone in this nation is that 2073 will be a better year than 2072.