A Letter from Nepal
As a global partner of Nepal, we recently received this email from Eliza Sthapit, the National Director of Habitat for Humanity International – Nepal.
As part of Habitat’s International Tithe Program, Habitat of East Jefferson County has, since 2016, continued its financial commitment to support Nepal as a global partner. Our local efforts make a difference internationally by providing support to areas in critical need of housing solutions.
After the August 26, 2026, catastrophic flash flood, that need is even more critical.
Dear Jamie,
As we begin the new fiscal year, we want to thank you with a story, one moment where your support mattered the most. On 26 August, a flash flood tore through Rasuwa, Nuwakot and Dhading districts in Central Nepal, sweeping away homes, roads and entire families within hours. The confirmed toll stands at 1,403 deaths, 6,150 missing, and an estimated 10,000 families in need of emergency shelter; numbers officials warn may still rise. Behind each one is a family like the many we work alongside every day: people who had a home, a routine, and a future in mind. For those who survived, the days that followed meant exposure – no roof, no walls, no safe place to sleep while they grieved and searched for the missing. Because of your continued tithe support, we moved fast. Within days, we mobilized 500 emergency shelter kits – tarpaulins, rope, blankets, mats, and foam to displaced families in the affected areas, giving them an immediate, dignified place to shelter while they began to process the unimaginable. This wasn’t possible because of one appeal. It became possible because your support stood with us ready year-round, so we could move while the need was at its peak.
But a tarpaulin is only meant to be temporary, and families have to be ready for what comes next. That’s why early recovery is so critical: transitional shelters, built with local materials and local hands, plus conditional cash and rental support for households, so families aren’t forced to choose between a roof and everything else they’ve lost.
A shelter kit can’t undo what’s gone. It can’t bring back the people who aren’t coming home. But it buys families the safety and time to take the next step, and that’s where your support carries the furthest. Families like Samina’s still have no walls to return to, no foundation to rebuild on, no certainty about where they’ll live six months from now.
We’re asking you to stay with them through the harder, slower part of this journey, rebuilding shelter, restoring what was lost in places like Khalde and Soley, and helping communities stand stronger against the next flood. Thank you for making a fast, dignified response possible when Rasuwa needed it most and for staying with these families as they rebuild what the flood took from them.
Warmest greetings,
Eliza Sthapit
National Director, Habitat for Humanity International – Nepal