Nepal Aid Summit by Dartmouth

Hanover – Dartmouth college will host a summit on February 2016 regarding the rebuilding and revival of Nepal after the earthquake. The summit will be held from Feb 18 to February 20. Scholars, aid providers, doctors and photographers will share their experiences in Nepal and propose their plan to help Nepal bounce back.

Now, winter has come to the Himalayan foothills, and many people are in need of shelter, according to Dartmouth associate professor Sienna Craig, an anthropologist who has worked in Nepal for decades and helped to organize the conference.

“The earthquake summit comes at a moment when official reconstruction, just of last week, has been officially announced,” she said in an interview Thursday, “but many communities are already (suffering from) cold and hunger and exposure, or being dislocated because of the slowness of the construction.” Craig has actively participated in the aid missions. Infact, she is one of the few from the college and Dartmouth- Hitchcock Medical Center to travel to Nepal frequently on relief works.

A grassroots student aid group, Dartmouth for Nepal, has raised $10,000 and has built 34 shelters, conducted 6 health camps and delivered relief materials to 150 families across two villages.

Dartmouth for Nepal, a grassroots student aid group, has raised $10,000 and, according to its website, has built 34 shelters, conducted six health camps and delivered supplies to 150 families across two villages. Bhola Pandey, co-owner of Base Camp Cafe in Hanover, has been contributing to the reconstruction in another way — through a community organization called Hamro Foundation Nepal, or “Our” Foundation, in Nepalese.

Pandey and his brother intend to come back to Nepal after attending the conference. They plan to continue with rebuilding homes and schools after their return to Nepal. He has raised $7000 so far with much difficulty. He is looking forward to build a better network of support at the summit, which is expected to bring Nepalese from all around the Northeast. The february summit will be taking place under the support of Dartmouth’s Dickey Center for International Understanding, and Kenneth Bauer, Craig’s husband and a program manager at the Dickey Center

Nepali from all over the country will be attending the conference. Bauer is bringing Nepali from Massachusetts, Vermont, Texas, North Carolina and New Jersey — and Colby-Sawyer College has a bus coming with 35 Nepalese students who are attending the school under a partnership.On the last day, the Former Nepalese government Official, Swarnim Wagle, will conduct a town hall that will be streamed live on the internet and which can be joined by Nepali from all around the globe.

During the conference, the Hood Museum of Art also will display photos of Nepal from James Nachtwey, a Dartmouth alumnus, and Kevin Bubriski, who has spent much of his career in the Himalayan country.

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