Despite living on the opposite side of the globe, members of the Nepal Student Association have been able to help with relief efforts in Nepal after the country was struck by a magnitude-7.8 earthquake on April 25, and then a magnitude-7.3 earthquake on May 12. 

Shree Banjara, member of the Nepal Student Association, said when he first heard the news of the earthquake, he thought it was a hoax and didn’t believe it. 

“It has tore us all apart, especially those who are living abroad,” Banjara said.”[My family’s] house has been uninhabitable; they are living outside in a tent. They are all scared, but I think it’s not as [bad] as if you had to lose anyone from your family.”

The student association set up a fundraising website to donate to the Red Cross after the first earthquake hit, and has since expanded its fundraising efforts by selling foodstuffs at the Ames Main Street Farmers’ Market. The online fundraiser raised $778. 

Man Basnet, Nepal Student Association adviser, said the goal of the fundraiser at the farmers’ market is to raise funds to build temporary houses for one of the villages hit the hardest by the earthquakes. These temporary houses provide shelter to the members of the village for about two years while they rebuild their homes.

“We’ll try to raise as much as we can and with the money that we have, we basically try to give 100 percent. We want to give 100 percent of what we collect here,” Basnet said. 

Basnet said the Nepal Student Association will continue to sell foodstuffs at the Ames Main Street Farmers’ Market for the next couple of weeks. 

The farmers’ market is open from 8 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Saturday and is located on the 300 and 400 blocks of Main Street.  

“We are trying to help people who are in immediate need of shelter and food, and medicine as well,” said Ramesh Koirala, vice president of the association. “There has not been pure drinking water, so we are trying to raise some money to give to the local people.”