Couple host Nepal fundraiser after relatives homes destroyed
Bikrant Maharjan's family survived the deadly floods thanks to 30-minute warning from police.
Couple host Nepal fundraiser after relatives homes destroyed
A couple whose relatives survived the deadly floods in Nepal last month are planning to raise money for victims of the disaster through a sale of donated clothes.
Megan and Bikrant Maharjan got married last year in Trishuli Bazar, one of the towns devastated by the floods triggered by an avalanche of rock and ice on the Nepal-Tibet border.
Official figures say about 1,400 people have died in the disaster and 6,150 people are still missing.
Megan, who is director of Ashridge Manor Garden Centre in Wokingham, where the sale will take place on Sunday, said: "We've been absolutely overwhelmed by the support we've had from our communities around us."
Bikrant said his family survived after police gave a 30-minute warning on 26 August to move to higher ground before their home, the local school and several businesses were all swept away.
Over the past few weeks, the couple have been asking people in their Wokingham community for clothes and donations to send to Nepal.
After attempting to send an "overwhelming" 500kg of clothes, Bikrant said they realised it was "actually much cheaper to buy clothes there, so we are trying to raise funds by selling the clothes here".
Megan said: "We felt a very big responsibility ourselves to want to help.
"Bik said these people are a very special part of our lives but it is their wider community as well.
"To see anyone going through [it], you can't even comprehend it."
Using donations collected through a GoFundMe page, the pair said they have so far helped 15 families, including Bikrant's uncle, who is now in temporary accommodation.
Although their original aim was to provide emergency funds, they said "the government has done a really good job of making sure people are catered for".
The Maharjans said they hope any money raised at Sunday's sale will help people in Nepal buy clothing before temperatures fall from next month.
Bikrant said that while the basic needs of people in his home town were being met, he would like to "send presents to kids who lost everything".
"Out of such a terrible situation it is really amazing to see how people have just come together... whether that's money or the clothes for this sale and Ashridge Garden Centre has been super supportive," he said.