“I’m scared and I’m human too.”
The despairing response given by the Kathmandu Rotary president in Nepal after last week’s 7.9 magnitude earthquake was enough to shake the core of Penticton’s Derek Adduono.
“You have to be brave and strong for the people that you’re with,” Adduono, the co-owner and operator of the downtown store Red Bag, told his acquaintance Kathmandu Rotary president Bharat Pathak via Facebook messenger.
Through his business, Adduono became close with many people from the area torn apart by the earthquake that is estimated to have killed 5,800. To support authentic artists and family-run business Adduono has travelled to the area to scout merchandise for Red Bag many times. In fact, Adduono and his fiancé Brooke Nowak have fallen so in love with the area and the people they had planned to get married in Nepal in 2016.
Hours after the earthquake Adduono spoke with his friend Kyley Blomquist, who recently built an open air garnet factory in Nepal. Through tears, she told him his close friends Amir Parajuli were safe. Parajuli’s house was not so he took his family, consisting of two parents, two brothers, a cousin, a sister-in-law and a child, to the garment factory in Naya Bazaar for shelter. Adduono was able to communicate with them via cell phone and was told by Parajuli that the rotting bodies created a stench that’s impossible to escape.
Adduono said that infrastructure in Nepal is shoddy at the best of times, and has offered minimal value since the quake. The narrow roads need substantial clearing; water supplies are at high risk of contamination; banks and ATMs aren’t dispensing cash and only homemade electricity is keeping Nepal plugged in.
Without access to money, the Parajuli family is struggling to afford supplies as basic as water. Adduono said the Nepalese government seems to be a revolving door of crooked politicians, which makes it difficult to trust financial donations will be used to support victims. It is why Adduono jumped into action raising money to purchase Shelterboxes – emergency supply kits which are delivered to regions in need of relief. Each containing a tent, water purifier, pots and pans, a stove, dishes, bedding, and toys for kids, which can support up to 12 people.
Adduono has been backed up by his brothers and sisters in the Penticton Rotary Club, who are holding a fundraiser for ShelterBox on May 2 at Cherry Lane from 9:30 a.m. until 5:30 p.m. and May 3 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. to collect donations, right out outside of Save On Foods. There the public can see a complete shelter box set up.
Those supplies will be in dire need over the coming months, as problems are expected to compound with Nepal’s monsoon season approaching. Adduono said during Canadian summer months, Nepal will experience rain during nearly all of their sunlight hours. Rain is already intensifying erosion throughout recently disrupted foundations.
Goods in Nepal are almost entirely handmade, Adduono said. And while manual practices add to their rich culture, the lack of modern industrial equipment makes it difficult for Adduono to imagine a timely reconstruction. The metropolis of Kathmandu, where the Parajuli family lives and works, has a population density of over 20,000 people per square kilometre, compared to 780 in Penticton, and 5,250 in Vancouver.
Adduono said families find maximum efficiency out of tiny living spaces, and have a sense of closeness that doesn’t exist in Western culture – it’s not uncommon to see three or more friends sharing a small love seat, or a whole family cuddling together on a small bed.
Even though most Nepalese families often have very little material wealth, Adduono said they’re extremely caring individuals and will borrow funds just to host a foreigner for a nice meal. Adduono has lost count, but knows that he’s taken more than a dozen trips since he began sourcing products at Red Bag from Nepal.
During a visit to Nepal in 2011, Adduono himself experienced an earthquake that caused the deaths of six people in Kathmandu. It was 6.9 in magnitude – which is about equal in power to the aftershocks that lasted for days after last week’s disaster.
From the 2011 earthquake, Adduono felt the earth shaking a lot but said there wasn’t much destruction. Panic was widespread and he said there was a shared adrenaline rush felt by everybody in the community.
He was there during his birthday last year and was asked to give a temple tour to his Canadian family member. That tour was just a diversion however, and Adduono returned to find that his friends arranged a surprise party for him, and nearly every Nepalese person he’d ever met was there.