Meeting the Man from Nepal
The trip to Nepal came about when I was on a speaking tour. I was in Japan in November doing some meetings for our members, and a doctor I’ve known for 17 years called my room and asked me if I would be willing to meet with a gentleman from Nepal, who wanted to talk with me about the devastation in his country. I agreed. So I went to the doctor’s office and met the man from Nepal, who told me about some of the problems they were experiencing.
I said, “But millions and millions of dollars have been raised for Nepal. What is the problem?”
He said, “The banks won’t release it. The NGOs [non-governmental organizations (non-profits)] won’t release the money to the people of Nepal.”
[Sixteen of the world’s largest disaster relief charities have revealed to the Thomson Reuters Foundation that they are spending up to a sixth of funds designated for Nepal on their overheads rather than in disaster-hit areas, according to a Reuters report, September 22, 2015. This report also stated: “Affected communities have denounced the response to the twin quakes in April and May as too slow, with some claiming to have seen scant evidence of nearly $475 million raised through UN appeals.”]
It is absolutely criminal what many of these NGOs are doing with the money people are donating in good faith, which should be used to help the people of Nepal.
The man from Nepal said, “Mr. Young, is there any way you can come to Nepal and help us? We’re getting no help from no one, period.”
So that’s why I made the first trip the 4th of January 2015. I went back in February and again last month [July]. It was a heart-jerking experience every time I went, but my goal was to bring hope to some of the people of Nepal.