Campaign Aim
We are asking you, the incredible Shambala Community, to sponsor Prayer Flags to raise money for Help Rural Nepal to assist with the devastation left by the earthquake on 25th April.
About the Campaign
Shambala Festival and Help Rural Nepal has developed a campaign, Flags for Nepal, to raise funds to help with the continuing need for emergency aid and to help with the awesome task of reconstruction after the devastating earthquake that hit Nepal on the 25th April. Although the general media has moved on to new stories, the situation that Nepal finds itself in is desperate and the people need continuing assistance.
How "Flags for Nepal" works...
We are asking you, the community of Shambala, to sponsor a string of Buddhist Prayer Flags for a minimum sum of £5. We will purchase the total amount of flags sponsored from Nepal and use them to adorn the Shambala Stage and its surroundings creating a striking and beautiful symbol of our support, hopes and prayers for the people of Nepal.
All of your sponsorship money will go directly to a small charity, Help Rural Nepal.
Shambala Festival will cover all the costs of buying, transporting and flying the flags and will also donate £2,000 to the campaign.
Why Flags for Nepal and why Help Rural Nepal?
Shambala Festival was named through wonderful serendipity and we cannot imagine a more appropriate moniker. Shambala is a mythical Buddhist kingdom filled with peace, tranquillity and happiness believed to be located in the Himalaya. Since we discovered the meaning and deep relevance of our name, we have felt a very strong affinity towards the countries and people of the Himalaya. So, when we heard of the terrible destruction caused by the Nepali earthquakes, we had to do something to help.
At the very beginning of Shambala Festival back in 2001, our flags were made by Pam Raffety, the Mum of one of the festival founders. At first, Pam made them all on her kitchen table but soon the festival demanded too many flags for this to be possible. So, while volunteering in Nepal, Pam built a relationship with a flag maker in Kathmandu and since then, all of our flags have been made in Nepal.
Also while Pam was volunteering in Nepal she established a charity, Help Rural Nepal. Help Rural Nepal is a small charity that raises money for education and health projects in an incredibly remote area of Dhading District of Nepal. The area is only a handful of miles from the epicentre of the earthquake and it was utterly devastated. Thankfully very few people died but almost every building was destroyed, including schools and the health centre.
So far, the only emergency aid to have reached the area has been brought by friends, relatives and by Help Rural Nepal. Schools are trying to re-open now and Help Rural Nepal is providing temporary shelters to be used as classrooms. The monsoon is imminent and the community is desperate to establish some semblance of normality and stability despite the regular rumbles of aftershocks and fear of fresh earthquakes. More permanent housing and hygienic toilets are of the utmost urgency to avoid the spread of disease and then proper rebuilding of the schools and health facilities can begin.
Help Rural Nepal is an entirely volunteer run registered charity. It is a grassroots led organisation that funds projects according to the community’s express wishes and needs rather than dictating what outsiders think is best for them. All money raised goes directly to their Nepali based NGO that is run by their amazing Nepali partner, Shital Dharel.
The idea of combining Shambala Festival, flags and Help Rural Nepal into a fund raising campaign seems a totally natural thing to do. We know that all the money raised will be held in the safest of hands and the symbol of hundreds of prayer flags representing the festival’s support towards the reconstruction of Nepal will be very powerful indeed.
Please dig deep Shambala- together we can have a huge impact!
You do not need to be coming
to Shambala Festival to contribute to this campaign!
Help Rural Nepal is a Registered Charity in the UK.
Charity Number: 1143094
Here's a few links for more information....
Help Rural Nepal
Shambala Festival
And here's a little video about Help Rural Nepal.
