Dear Friends,
Please consider helping with our project to build a clean water system in Basa Village, Nepal. We have a fund raising goal of $27,000. With that amount we will purchase the materials to build four cisterns throughout the village, a system of pipes, and valves, and connectors from an intake at the nearby river, and network extensions to the 62 homes in the village. The villagers will provide all labor to build the water distribution system. The system is being professionally re-engineered by a volunteer.
When it is completed, the project will provide a better life and improved health benefits for the villagers. The system will include a disinfection mechanism to ensure the water is potable. Currently the village has a partially operating water system with two uphill cisterns working and two downhill cisterns unusable. Villagers must carry water in buckets from the river or from the uphill cisterns down to their homes for all uses. The planned system will deliver water to an external spigot at each home for drinking, cooking, and washing. The homes do not have toilets. A water system will make it possible to install toilets in the future.
Would you please consider contributing to the project as your budget allows. Friends made donations to the Hydroelectric Project two years ago in amounts varying from $25 to $1,000. Any amount would be appreciated.
Tweny supporters of the Basa Project have formed a public foundation, Basa Village Foundation USA Inc. We are incorporated and our application to the IRS for tax exempt status is pending. Our legal counsel advises that donations to the Foundation should be tax deductible as he expects the application to be granted in the near future. However, First Friends Quaker Meeting has served as the fiscal agent for previous projects and will continue to maintain an escrow account for donations. So, if you prefer, donations may be directed to the First Friends Basa Project.
Donations may thus be made by check payable to: “Basa Village Foundation USA Inc.” or to “First Friends Basa Project.”
You can mail a check to me:
Jeff Rasley
6422 Ralston Ave.
Indianapolis, IN 46220
or
Indianapolis First Friends
3030 Kessler Blvd. E. Dr.
Indianapolis, IN 46220
(If you send a contribution direct to First Friends, please let me know of your contribution.)
If you prefer to donate by Paypal or credit card, you may do so through the Foundation’s website at:
http://basavillagefoundationusa.org/
If you have any questions about the Project or the Foundation, please ask me. More infromation is available on my website www.jeffreyrasley.com as well as the Foundation’s website.
Other ways you can help:
1. If you belong to any organization that would enjoy a program about trekking in Nepal and the Basa Village Project, please request your organization to schedule me as a presenter. I would be happy to give a slide show about the Nepal Himalayas and the Basa Project.
2. As Niru Rai’s company, Adventure GeoTreks Ltd. is the only regular employer of villagers, other than their own subsistence farming, consider trekking in Nepal using AGT as your outfitter company. Let me know if you are interested in doing a Himalayan trek.
3. If you would like to become a member of the Foundation, please let me know. The only obligation is a $100 membership fee to defray organizational expenses and participation on at least one committee. The membership fee is to cover legal, accounting and organizational expenses so that all donations will be used entirely for the projects and not administrative expenses.
Namaste,
Jeff Rasley
6422 Ralston Ave.
Indianapolis, IN 46220
www.jeffreyrasley.com
