Tuesday, May 12, 2015: The local Sikh community raises $30,000 over a weekend to build temporary housing for earthquake relief in Nepal.
With contributions gathered through various Sikh temples in Surrey, the local charity Sikhi Awareness Foundation plans to build a total of 70 to 80 semi-permanent houses in various villages of Nepal.
“My first phase was to distribute the water, food, other essentials, ‘cause that’s what they needed at that time, but now the monsoons are coming up in six months,” said Sunny Chahal, president and founder of the foundation.
Chahal and another Canadian volunteer left Vancouver yesterday, with five others joining from India, to approve plans for temporary housing built from local materials, with an estimated cost of $200 per house.
“Right now you can’t take stuff up the mountains (in Nepal),” said Chahal.
Working with civil engineers on the ground, the foundation would teach the local population the know-how in building the houses that will last for seven to ten years, until they get back on their feet, he said.
“By the time (we) finish 10 houses, they’ll be able to build them themselves,” said Chahal. “All the big agencies are in the central city and they’re not going to the small areas.”
Six tonnes of relief materials from India, in addition to the funds raised in Vancouver, will be travelling to Nepal via road, he said.
The foundation was first established in January 2014 to provide sport education programs for the low-income population in India, and contributed to relief efforts in the Kashmir floods last year.
“I want to take everyone together, the Canadians and the Sikhs, they’re all working together there,” said Chahal.
Baljinder Singh Khera, general secretary of the Gurdwara Sahib Dashmesh Darbar, said different members of the Sikh temple contributed $10,000 to the foundation for the relief effort.
“The Sikh community, we’re trying to help people,” said Khera.