The earth was still shaking and there was chaos all around when volunteers from Bibeksheel Nepali rushed to TU Teaching Hospital, Bhaktapur Hospital and Bir Hospital following their protocols and set up help desks. After informing their family that they were safe, these volunteers started spontaneous rescue and relief missions. By the next day more volunteers were flowing into Bibeksheel Nepali's Headquarters to work in relief programs.Within a day of the destructive earthquake, organization chair Ujwal Thapa requested Simon Dhungana, a management expert, to organize the response effort and he immediately jumped into action, which was rapidly becoming a complex operation. Pukar Bam, Bibeksheel volunteer, was off to Gorkha the next day with a truckload of relief materials and medicines.
Dr Poonam Raut, doctor at Teaching Hospital, began coordinating with all the medical teams and planned medical help along with the district-directed relief supplies. Soon 1,200 volunteers were directly involved in this massive system—the Bibeksheel Nepali Earthquake Response Task Force. Milan Pandey, a selfless engineer, whose house was badly damaged, wasted no time in scanning needy places in Kathmandu and meeting their needs. His generous action has inspired several other volunteers.
Two weeks after the earthquake, Bibeksheel Nepali visited Listikot VDC of Sindhupalchowk with 500 kg of rice and several other relief materials including tarpaulins and tents. However, it was a tough project where each volunteer was supposed to walk for four hours, carrying 30 kg of goods, to reach the village. As the road to the village was damaged by recurring landslides, no relief program had reached there before. However, the team of 55 volunteers successfully completed the project despite torrential downpour and scary landslides.
Govinda Narayan, a graduate of Jawaharlal Nehru University and the director of Operations of Bibeksheel Nepali Earthquake Response Task Force motivated those volunteers. His inspirational talks and onsite actions including in Listikot has steeled the volunteers' resolution to work hard. All this while there were several hundreds of volunteers who have selflessly worked for 13 days. Until the 13th day, the day of mourning, Bibeksheel Nepali Task Force operation was active 24x7. There were teams that would handle the station. All this was planned carefully and in a scalable system.
Soon after Simon Dhungana, graduate of John Hopkins University, got to the head office to set this rolling, he started and came up with a system of matrix management designed to ensure that there was maximum output. Several functional departments were set up which would feed into individual projects that would go out in relief efforts. Ever energetic Anita Paudel, an MBA from Ace Institute, is in charge of information and communication in this task force. She believes in making an impact in society through meaningful work. Subuna Basnet, past president of Youth for Blood, manages hundreds of volunteers every day as human resources coordinator. She believes that she owes her life to god and sees helping others as her responsibility.
Bibeksheel Nepali has gained trust of a lot of people and groups. A French military dropped water supplies, UN personnel came up with relief supplies and unknown foreign medical professionals at the airport came directly to Bibeksheel Nepali. Locals and even new volunteers claim that the organization is truly dedicated towards helping people during crisis. Besides providing relief to more than 5,000 households, it has provided individual reliefs to Nepal Army and Nepali police personnel and other individuals who, despite their house destroyed by earthquake, have been working admirably in these rescue and relief operations. While they were following orders from their chain of command, they were being helped individually or in group from Bibeksheel Nepali.
Soon the word spread out that Bibeksheel Nepali was in fact a relief and distribution center and many people from Kathmandu and nearby districts started pouring in while the supplies were being handed out. A typical process would involve a call in the hotline or a personal visit that would be followed by actual assessments by district coordinators who knew about the condition of the particular districts and then followed by requirement fulfillment whether the volunteers wanted to procure materials or whether they wanted to stock. They would create project teams to go and deliver the relief materials. While carrying this project, several hotel management students offered to volunteer in cooking meals every day for hundreds of volunteers working in the office. Students from nearby locality also offered helping hands. One of them was a nine year old girl Prati whose small hands have been a great motivation for other volunteers as well.
The Prime Minister of Nepal was absent for two days from the country and all other political parties seemed to be in hiding long after. Government seemed transfixed, like a deer caught in a headlight. This situation begs a question, what if these people, who have managed this crisis so well with such limited resources, were in fact in charge of the government. They would reasonably do much better than the present government. With over 2.5 million reach through social media, Bibeksheel Nepali is a testament of selfless volunteerism to thousands of people all over the world who have contributed relief, money and supplies. By its immediate action in the most needed time, this group has been able to win the hearts of Nepalis all over.
Two weeks after the mega earthquake, political parties made a resolution that they would work together on relief, in contrast to this group which has begun winding down the relief operation and ramping the rehabilitation phase. In the work done on rescue and relief phases so far, and on planning on rehabilitation, reconstruction and resurgence, what this group of young professionals and volunteers has shown is that there are competent and capable people in Nepal who can get things done well.
Several commentaries have come to surface since the earthquake that the time has now come for the next generation to lead Nepal and get it to the height that people desire. Several prominent political and civil leaders prior to the earthquake were talking in abstract the need for new political force. It is now becoming clear that the tectonic shifts underneath the country have also affected the politics above. Aspirations and hope now squarely rests with these people leading the new generation. Bibeksheel's moment has arrived.
The author is with Cheers Nepal and is an SEBS member
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