Dear Geoffrey,
It was with a mixture of sheer disbelief, anger,
and frustration that I read your story about Nepal Failing Logistics.
Just a few days ago, I found the attached newspiece
published in the Kathmandu Post, only hours before the second heavy earthquake
this week.
How utterly disgraceful is the behavior of the
Nepal government.
As a friend of ours, geographically much closer
to poor Nepal than us in Germany, wrote: "I cannot imagine a country
flattened by earthquake refusing help for its citizens. Misplaced pride
comes before a fall. God help Nepal and its common folk. They are really
nice people who don't deserve the rulers they have."
Nothing to add to this, just hoping that our
business partner and personal friend in Kathmandu is well and alive—but
we have been unable to re-establish contact with him until now.
We don't stop hoping for the best.
With best regards,
Thomas Stuenkel
Managing Partner
INAVIA Aviation Consultants GmbH
Dear Thomas,
Thanks for writing.
You can read our firsthand report from King,
who was last on the ground in Nepal and was swept up in events. It’s
easy to intellectualize these tragedies and maybe miss the depth of the
unbelievable horror involved.
And yes, apparently the government is just terrible
and unhelpful.
So the reporter goes out to cover the story,
but then as people and others like you might do, he gets involved and
now is attempting to help some people.
For King, it is buying supplies locally and delivering
the aid himself. As he says:
“The reason I got involved with this particular
effort and charity, after spending time on the ground in Nepal, is that
it’s direct.
“The flights aren’t getting in fast
enough.
“Unsolicited aid is just being left or
abandoned—it’s all over the place, and then if [the aid] is
not claimed, it’s dumped or sold.
“It’s making it harder for the handlers,
and [the aid] is not going to people.
“The same goes for baggage of aid coming
in with pax—it’s just lost and then left in most cases.
“The airport is full of it and they have
no storage.
“I was told it’s being sold on the
black market.
“So in this case, direct seems to be the
best way.
“I’ll go there and buy locally and
then take it straight to the village and distribute it.”
Of course, we are worried for SkyKing and have
advised that he be careful. There have been some pretty scary reports
coming out of the country—some much worse than we might have imagined.
But as you could gather from his thoughts here,
SkyKing is a true hero among us, an idealist, and we’re fortunate
to also know him as a superb co-worker, father, and family man.
We can only do what we can to help, while wishing
everyone deliverance from the horrors in Nepal.
Geoffrey
SkyKing is working with a charity to raise
USD $50,000 for Nepal humanitarian efforts. This will be enough to feed
and provide shelter through the monsoon season for almost 600 families
in Sindhupalchowk, many of whom have been left homeless. If you would
like to donate, please click here.
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