Let's build a house! - Jo Carroll
What's house-building got to do with writing?
Not a lot - at least not right now. I've other things on my mind. For I've just come back from Nepal and witnessed first hand some of the devastation of the earthquake. Too many families have spent the monsoon huddled under tin roofs. Too many schools are still in tents.
The big charities are very active in the cities - the temporary shelters are fairly well organised in Kathmandu. But in the villages - often only reachable along narrow tracks - the story is very different. I met a family who were living in the ground floor of their home - the first floor had collapsed but they daren't move the rubble in case it all fell down. Others had homes which were cracked from top to bottom and faced months in tarpaulin shelters.
It is easy to retreat into helplessness in the face of such need. We can't rebuild a city. We can't rebuild a town. Even a village is beyond us. But one house - we can rebuild one house.
This house belongs to a family I know. But I'll say no more about them - they do not need, nor ask for, sympathy. The man can rebuild this house himself, and it will cost just £1500. (Yes, you read that right. Just £1500. I haven't left any 000s off.) So the plan is to raise this money - and give one family a future.
How?
Firstly, I have a Go Fund Me page here.
I do know that times are tight, and that we all have our favourite charities. But all contributions (and encouragement) are much appreciated.
Here's where the writing bit comes in - I'm writing an ebook about my recent trip, and all proceeds will go to the house fund. I want to do it quickly, but it's at the first draft stage and so needs simmering before I can stir it and tell you more about it.
And this is where you expect the link to my website or my books. Sorry, if you really want to find those you'll have to go hunting. For here, again, is the link to the appeal. Right now that feels far more important than my writing.
Not a lot - at least not right now. I've other things on my mind. For I've just come back from Nepal and witnessed first hand some of the devastation of the earthquake. Too many families have spent the monsoon huddled under tin roofs. Too many schools are still in tents.
The big charities are very active in the cities - the temporary shelters are fairly well organised in Kathmandu. But in the villages - often only reachable along narrow tracks - the story is very different. I met a family who were living in the ground floor of their home - the first floor had collapsed but they daren't move the rubble in case it all fell down. Others had homes which were cracked from top to bottom and faced months in tarpaulin shelters.
It is easy to retreat into helplessness in the face of such need. We can't rebuild a city. We can't rebuild a town. Even a village is beyond us. But one house - we can rebuild one house.
This house belongs to a family I know. But I'll say no more about them - they do not need, nor ask for, sympathy. The man can rebuild this house himself, and it will cost just £1500. (Yes, you read that right. Just £1500. I haven't left any 000s off.) So the plan is to raise this money - and give one family a future.
How?
Firstly, I have a Go Fund Me page here.
I do know that times are tight, and that we all have our favourite charities. But all contributions (and encouragement) are much appreciated.
Here's where the writing bit comes in - I'm writing an ebook about my recent trip, and all proceeds will go to the house fund. I want to do it quickly, but it's at the first draft stage and so needs simmering before I can stir it and tell you more about it.
And this is where you expect the link to my website or my books. Sorry, if you really want to find those you'll have to go hunting. For here, again, is the link to the appeal. Right now that feels far more important than my writing.
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