Abilene's NPR Station
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Nepalese Refugee Gathers Donations For Her People

A petite young woman watches as her peers shuffle into their seats for microbiology class on Tuesday at Abilene Christian University. Then she stands up to make an announcement.

Meera Gurung begins to explain that she grew up in a Nepalese refugee camp before her family moved to Texas in 2008.

“To see my dear country and so many people in deep sorrow and terror, my heart cries,” Gurung says.

She stops suddenly, caught in emotion with a silent audience waiting. She collects herself and continues talking about her efforts to help people suffering in the aftermath of a devastating earthquake.

When she learned of the earthquake that killed more than 5,000 people, she immediately went to work with her Nepali youth club, MERC , Making Effort to Reach Out Into the Community. The group is raising money to give to UNICEF.

Her strategy is a practical one and it has been effective. She is carrying a small box to all of her classes and pleading for support. On Monday she counted out $261.46 from the homemade box that is covered in information about the earthquake and a bible verse.

“All the Nepali people who are away from Nepal right now, they have this sense of helplessness that they can’t do anything for their people,” Gurung says. “We cannot just leave our life here, or job here or school here and run to the country so this is the best effort that we can do right now.”