Organization Helps Rebuild Quake-Damaged Nepal Radio Station
Despite border delays and monsoon-drenched roads, Reach Beyond workers are succeeding in their efforts to rebuild a Christian radio station in the isolated Nepal village of Harmi, allowing thousands to hear both the good news of Jesus Christ and vital community information each day.
A nine-member team visited the remote community of Harmi for a week in late June to help the rebuilding effort, more than a year after a pair of powerful earthquakes devastated the Himalayan nation in 2015.
In remote areas, the gospel is spread by radio, along with other announcements vital to the region, including information after Nepal’s devastating earthquakes last April and May. Reach Beyond’s long-term recovery “Hope for Harmi” project is an attempt to restore a community where it has a long-established partner radio station and other ministries, including a small hydroelectric plant and a birthing center.
Reach Beyond engineer John Brewer said the team’s first challenge was making the seven-hour bus trip from Kathmandu to Harmi on a winding mountain road with many blind corners.
“Closer to the village we came to a mud road that was so rutted and slippery that our vehicle could go no further,” he said. “A tractor with a big trailer came and carried our luggage/equipment and most of us the final stretch. A few of us decided to walk the remaining 40-plus minutes.”
“We set up our tents (our home for a week) and slept until the wee hours when the rain came and flooded half of the tents,” Brewer related. “The second day we set up differently, digging trenches and putting tarps below and above the tents. After that we weathered the rain just fine.”
The team worked alongside local laborers to tear down the 18-inch thick mud-and-stone walls of the old radio station, reclaiming the rocks that were used in the base of the new building. The work was physically demanding—carrying rocks and sandbags, mixing cement and carrying bricks — for the new station, expected to be completed by the end of the year.
Despite the obstacles, the group completed its goals of demolishing the local partner’s quake-damaged community radio station (established with Reach Beyond’s help in 2010) and completing the floor/foundation of the new building.
“We joined in starting a bucket brigade, moving concrete to lay the base upon which the walls of the new station will be laid,” added Martin Harrison of Reach Beyond-UK. “It was incredibly hot and humid work under the monsoon sun. But the concrete floor, mixed and poured by hand, was completed—a good result for the team.”
Broadcasts, offering helpful information and gospel messages, continue from temporary studios, reaching an estimated 30,000 potential listeners.
Reach Beyond (www.reachbeyond.org) of Colorado Springs, Colo., uses media and medical technology to minister in difficult-to-reach places and with people groups around the world.
(Source: Christian Newswire)
