On Saturday, 28 September 2024, my former au pair Astar, 25 years old, currently living in Kathmandu, Nepal with her parents, wrote me the following:

Good evening Sabine.

I really have bad news . Today again the Nature played unexpected role. We almost lost our life today because of huge Flood. Thanks to God and the police they rescued us at the time. But we saw a lots of people loosing their life. We are physically okay but our house was covered by Water so all the things in the house are now useless . Even we don't have our Personal documents.

This is us . We were near by the death .

And our senior pastor wife lost her life because of landslide. So we are mentally emotionally unstable now. Please pray for us. I am not sure I can continue my B2 course now. I don't know what will happen next.

Today, three days later, I have decided to support them in this way.

About the situation in the house: all the electronic appliances are broken, the sofa, the beds, the wardrobe, the clothes. Of course, the house is damp and muddy. They can't live there for an indefinite period of time. Astar and her family are looking for a room to rent. That is not easy. At the moment, she is staying in the house of her pastor (whose wife died). She is traumatised and weak.

I know that Austrians, Germans and many other Europeans have also had to deal with flooding recently. It has been catastrophic here too and many people are suffering the consequences.

So of course I understand if you prefer to make a donation elsewhere.

Nevertheless, it is a special concern of mine to help her. Let me explain:

Astar was part of our family here in Styria for a year. She was not only a welcome and valued person within the family circle. She made many friends thanks to her kind, selfless, honest and helpful nature, was quickly integrated into the local community thanks to her good language skills and her great interest in people, nature and culture. She wanted to stay here and start training as a carer. But due to the strict regulations, she returned to her home country, Nepal, after her au pair year.

If you would like to donate, no matter how big or small, it will give her the mental strength to carry on and not give up. She should continue her language course so that she can start her training as a nurse in Germany in March 2025. And that is so important now. Let's show her that we are there for her, that we support her. Thank you for your donation!

If you don't want to donate, you can also opt for mental support: write her words of encouragement, show her that she is not alone.

Thank you for your time.

Best regards,

Sabine