April Gore grew up dreaming of visiting Nepal after hearing tales of her grandparents time in the remote country.

The Langley woman got her dream in 2010, staying with the family of Damu and Sumi Shrestha. Damu is a physiotherapist in a small city hospital, where Gore was an intern.

A sore throat for her turned into a serious illness – pneumonia caused by the dust in the air – and she credits the family with saving her life.

“Damu took me on the back of his motorbike to Dhulikhel Hospital in the next town for medication and to be seen by a physician. Back at the house in Banepa, they would boil water and put a towel over my head so that I was breathing in the steam to cleanse my sinuses. All to no avail,” Gore explained.

She had to cut short her stay.

Now Gore wants to return the kindness shown to her by the family and others she met in Nepal by raising money for earthquake relief.

“The $5,000 I am hoping to raise will be sent to Damu, in Banepa, for him to purchase materials needed to create temporary shelters, toilets, start the rebuilding process,” she said. “It will buy clean water and food for those without. The monsoon season begins in a few weeks and speaking from experience, it gets very chilly at night in the Himalayas, and a plethora of blankets and warm clothes will also need to be bought.”

The April 25 earthquake has had a devastating effect, killing more than 8,000 people. (Another one almost as strong hit May 11.)

Gore has kept in touch.

“Only there my village 274 people are dead my family are 5 dead,” Damu told her on Facebook after quake one.

Gore has set up a crowdsourcing site to raise funds through youcaring (go to event 347157).

The 29-year-old is about to complete her bachelor of psychology and plans to go to medical school. But she also wants to return to Nepal to help and is doing what she can from here.

“In sending funds to Damu, I will be able to see exactly where that money is going through photos and communication with Damu and be able to pass this information on to whomever contributes to my fundraiser,” she said. “It is the only way that I can feel personally connected to the recovery effort without actually being over there.”

Langley Advance