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9 Months Pregnant When the Nepal Earthquake Hit: a Riveting Testimony and a Relief Mission to Get Behind

Aimee Herd/Prabina Subedi : Jul 14, 2015  Prabina Subedi

Our teams went out and distributed rice, beans, noodles, cooking oil, salt, etc by truck-loads, as well as tarps and tin for making shelters... The villagers were surprised to see them work so hard for those they did not know, which has enabled them to be a real example of Christ's love. Actions speak more than words... and many of the people who were once hardened to the Gospel have come on their own accord to ask why it is that our teams are showing so much love and care for them.

(Nepal)—Long-term YWAM missionaries Prabina and Padam Subedi have served in Nepal for the past 15 years. Since the earthquake that devastated parts of the country this past spring, the Subedis, and their teams have been bringing supplies, comfort and the Gospel to the people of Nepal whose homes were destroyed.

Now they've moved on to phase two of their relief mission; building temporary shelters that can later be used in the building of permanent homes.

Recently, I communicated with Prabina via email. Read on for Prabina's amazing testimony of God's faithfulness in keeping them safe during the earthquake, and all about the simple but effective shelters they're building for the Nepalese people.

You and your family are missionaries with YWAM there in Nepal, and you were there when the earthquake hit? Can you describe a little of what that was like?

Yes—we were at church on the 2nd floor when the first earthquake of 7.8 magnitude hit. Living in Nepal, we've experienced many earthquakes over the years—they usually give us a startle, but are over within about 5 seconds and life goes on. This time seemed no different at first—we all sat there to "wait it out"... but instead of being over after 5 seconds it slowly continued to get stronger and stronger.

All of a sudden the whole congregation got real scared and stampeded out the door and down the stairs to get to the open. I was 9 months pregnant with my 4th, due any day, and my husband and I made the quick decision that it'd probably be safer to stay where we were than risk getting stampeded on while running down the narrow stairs. It seemed to go on for an eternity, as we stood there praying for safety for our family and friends, and the people of Nepal. After the longest 51 seconds I can remember (that's how long the shaking lasted!) my husband and I ran down the stairs and headed home.

It just happened that that day we had left our 3 kids at the house (for the first time) with a friend of ours. It was a cold and wet morning, and our 5-year old boy was still recovering from a cracked pelvis and had been on bed rest for the past 3 weeks, and our 2-year old boy woke up that morning with a bit of a cold. Our 7-year-old daughter stayed to help out with the boys while we were at church. Knowing that the baby was due any day, we took advantage of the opportunity to go to church before the baby arrived, as I knew I wouldn't get to go for a few weeks post-baby. And this was the day the earthquake had hit. The church was only a 5 minute walk from our house, but again, it was a long 5 minutes as we knew the kids would be beside themselves. When we arrived, they were all outside and our friend had one boy on each hip and our daughter glued to her side. We spent the rest of the day outside, as everyone was too afraid to go back inside with all the aftershocks. Everything had been thrown off the shelves, and even light fixtures were turned sideways! All phones were down, and we were unable to contact anyone until late in the day... it was such a relief when we finally got through to Padam's Mom and sisters, and found they were safe.

Wow, an earthquake is bad enough, but to be 9 months pregnant during one...! How is baby doing, and how are you?

It did make things extra interesting, to say the least! The earthquake hit on Apr. 25th, and our family of 5 decided to move into our small 2-man tent as we were getting sever aftershocks (5 and 6+ magnitude) about every hour. We really didn't feel safe sleeping in our house, and there were predictions of a larger quake yet to come. After about 10 days of camping out, we decided it was safe to move back into our house as the aftershocks were getting less (still many a day, but were averaging only 4+ in magnitude).

Just a few days after moving back into our house, our healthy little baby girl was born at home. Hospitals were overwhelmed with earthquake victims at the time, and God brought a Swedish nurse-midwife to Nepal "just for me". She was actually in Nepal to help with earthquake victims, but was denied a permit to work in the hospital and was left with no work. I heard about her the morning of May 8th, she came to our house to visit, decided to spend the night at our place and our baby was born at 2:07 am on May 9th! It was perfect.

Then just 3 days later, the second large earthquake hit at 7.4 magnitude. Again, everything was turned upside-down and the country went into panic. Just as people were making their way back into their houses and getting back to their regular lives, they were reminded that nothing was safe anymore. Houses that were damaged but hadn't collapsed in the first earthquake fell flat in the second. Again, everyone moved out into tents and were afraid to go inside. It was quite unnerving for us as well, as we had just had a baby and weren't sure if living in a tent with the now 6 of us was a good idea... yet didn't like the idea of living in our house either! Padam's mom, 2 sisters, niece and nephew had also come to live with us, as our house wasn't as affected as theirs and they had actually been living outside on the road in an unused/new large cement sewer pipe. Even still, our house did get many cracks throughout, and so for a while our whole family "camped out" near the front door in the sitting room, for an easy escape if needed. It did make me nervous though, and every little shake made us uneasy.

After 2 full months of being "shaken" we decided that we should come to the States for 2 months to re-group, as well as take advantage of being able to share about the need in Nepal and raise some funds for building the shelters. We have also decided that after 15 years of serving in Nepal it's about time to put down some roots of our own and build a small earthquake-safe house for our family in Nepal, so we are also trying to get funds together for that. (We have started a page for that as well) As of yet we have always rented houses wherever we have served in Nepal, but now due to all the earthquakes it has become really difficult to find a place to rent that has not been damaged.

You and your Discipleship Training Teams went out to offer help just after the earthquake, and now I understand you've moved on to "Phase 2" where you are building shelters for the Nepalese people whose homes were lost. Tell us about those shelters, what are they made of, how quickly are they built and for how much?

In praying about our part in the relief efforts, our teams felt they were to go straight into the heart of where the quake hit, the epicenter located in Gorkha. Gorkha is Padam's home village, where he grew up... and 95% of the houses there have been destroyed.

Our teams went out and distributed rice, beans, noodles, cooking oil, salt, etc by truck-loads, as well as tarps and tin for making shelters. Our teams have also done much labor, digging through debris to uncover the villagers' personal items and supplies. The villagers were surprised to see them work so hard for those they did not know, which has enabled them to be a real example of Christ's love.

Actions speak more than words... and many of the people who were once hardened to the Gospel have come on their own accord to ask why it is that our teams are showing so much love and care for them. They are working long hard days, and without fear entering severely damaged houses to uncover lost possessions.

We are now in "Phase 2" of the earthquake relief efforts. Phase 1 was meeting the immediate needs of the people, but tarp shelters do not last forever. Phase 2 consists of building "Portable Shelters"- an iron and tin dome that will withstand the high winds and heavy rain of monsoon. One shelter costs $100 USD, takes just 3 hours to put together and houses one whole family! The materials used in these shelters are 100% recyclable. They can live in them for as long as they need to get back on their feet, and then as they rebuild their permanent homes (and) the iron and tin from the temporary shelters can be re-used as their permanent roof on their new home.

As of now our teams have already completed 60 shelters, and our immediate goal is to raise enough funds to build 150 more. Just $100 is enough to build one shelter for one family... and will give them a brighter future in Nepal! If you would like to be a part of providing needy families in Nepal with a durable shelter, you can donate online now at: https://givesendgo.com/GB6A

The story of Nepal and the earthquake recovery seems to be out of the news lately, however the need is ongoing... how can the Body of Christ be praying for the people, and those like you, who are helping them?

The need is still great, and the effects of the earthquakes will continue throughout the years. The news covered just the tip of the iceberg... yes, it was a horrible few weeks with continual destruction as houses were collapsing left and right. But even still there are hundreds of thousands of people that are living outside in tents as they either no longer have a home or because they are too scared to go back inside their damaged home.

Monsoon rains are also coming quick, which are causing sever landslides that are taking out more villages in one large sweep at a time. Another aftermath of the earthquakes, is lack of tourists. Tourism is the main income of Nepal, and when tourists stop coming, businesses are going bankrupt. In just one week, 3 different high-level businessmen committed suicide after realizing that they would not be able to pay off their bank loans.

Trafficking of women and children is also happening in large numbers, as they feel there is nothing left for them in Nepal. Given false promises of a "better life" elsewhere, families are jumping at the opportunity to get out and start over... just to find out that they are now slaves to prostitution. Please pray that the people of Nepal can see God's heart for them through all of these trials, and that they aren't being "punished by the gods of Hinduism", but that there is a way out with Christ as their Savior! Please also keep our teams in your prayers, for their health and safety.

If you would like to visit the fundraising page to help build shelters for Nepalese earthquake victims, click here.







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