The Nepali American community is petitioning the Obama administration to “increase financial and humanitarian relief with a pledge of $100 million+ to help rebuild” Nepal. According to Open Nepal, a relief and humanitarian aid monitoring system, the United States government has pledged over 62 million dollars so far.

The petition on the White House website is inching towards 2,000 signatures within its first week. The White House only responds to petitions that receive 100,000 signatures within 30 days.

The petition is signed and backed by many leaders of the Nepali American community, including Kiran Sitaula, president of Society of Ex-Budhanilkantha Students-North America(SEBS-NA), and Tej Rai, president of the Nepali Association of Northern California (NANC).

The presidents of many Nepali Associations based in Seattle, Texas, Boston, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, Orlando, Pennsylvania, and other states have signed, and are actively promoting the petition on social media with the hashtag #WeWillRebuildNepal.

It is led by Dr Fahim Rahim, a nephrologist and an award-winning humanitarian. He has been sponsoring the Little Sister’s Fund and other social ventures to combat child trafficking and keeping Nepali children in school for several years.

“We cannot let Nepal turn this into another Haiti,” said Dr Rahim. “I need your voice more than your money, and need it to be loud and clear because millions of Nepalese are counting on us,” he added. Dr Rahim was scheduled to trek to Mount Everest Base Camp in early May, but after the powerful earthquake struck, he assembled a medical team and changed his project into a crowd-funded relief mission. The campaign has raised over $200,000, and focused on the Sindupalchok district.

Published on: 8 June 2015 | The Kathmandu Post