Local appeal for Nepal disaster

by JAMES POYNER
7th September 2026

THE FOOTAGE out of Nepal following the severe flash flooding on August 26 has shocked the world.
With mainstream media reporting 5000+ people still unaccounted for and, due to the region being a popular hiking area, includes a large number of foreign tourists, nearly a week on (at the time of writing), the story continues to feature prominently in national headlines.
While getting people into the area to help search for those still missing, financial support for those directly impacted is just as important.
Warrandyte resident Stephen Jenkinson has been particularly affected by the Nepal disaster.
In 2023, Stephen made local headlines when he rescued a blind dog from the Yarra River in Warrandyte as it was clinging to the bank.
However, Stephen’s background is in international disaster relief and after working in the town of Syafrubesi, Nepal, in 2011 and 2015, he was shocked to see the town wiped off the map in these recent floods, so he has joined the fundraising drive to help the people of Nepal.
Stephen’s work began in the region in 2009, when he was Country Director of The Umbrella Foundation Nepal — an Irish INGO caring for 325 children across eight children’s homes in Kathmandu.
Stephen spoke about this early work.

“With the help of the Child Welfare Board, Umbrella took children in from corrupt children’s homes or ‘orphanages’, took them into our care, and from there we would try to find and eventually reintegrate them with their families across Nepal.
As we had 59 children in our care from Rasuwa, we decided to move all of them to two temporary homes in Syafrubesi, to reconnect the children with their families.
The idea was for the homes to close after two or three years, but all children were returned to their villages within the first 12 months.
It was a big success.”

He said they needed to do regular checks once the children were reunited with their families, so he was often in the region.

“There are 12 villages in Rasuwa, and we had kids from all of them.
Despite it being a 12-hour drive, I would get to Rasuwa as much as I could.
I was lucky enough to visit much of Nepal, but Syafrubesi (the main town) was my favourite place.
It’s the only village that is at river level, and as it is steep on both sides of the valley, the river’s roar can be deafening.
But apart from the epic scenery, it was the Tamang people that made the place special.
The Tamang are an ethnic group indigenous to the Himalayas; they’re Buddhist and have their own language.”

Stephen was in Dublin in 2015 when the Nepal earthquake struck the region.

“I needed to get on a plane and thought it would be only people working in the humanitarian space that would be going, so I reached out to GOAL, Ireland’s leading humanitarian organisation.
We met in a busy Dublin bar that night.
I told them I knew the country pretty well, and they took a punt on me.
That was the interview.
We flew out the next day, and I worked for two years on the earthquake response.

Stephen said when arriving in Kathmandu in 2015, it was “chaos”.

“At the outset of a disaster, there is an influx of International NGO’s with enough money to last for a few weeks.
I noticed in the coordination meetings that we were attending, most were going to the easy-to-reach places, and of the 14 impacted districts, nobody was talking about Rasuwa.
I was sure there would be a big need there; I knew the district well, and from a selfish point of view, I wanted to make sure people I knew were alright.
We went there, the need was great, and we spent two years helping folks rebuild across all of Rasuwa.”

A decade later, the region Stephen has spent so much time doing humanitarian work is once again in the midst of a disaster.
This time, Stephen has set up a fundraising page through the Red Cross.
He says he knows people might be feeling disaster fatigue, but he also knows the people of Syafrubesi and the broader region need this support.

“My thinking is that the images we have all been seeing over the last week are so powerful that, for many, all you need to do is put a ‘donate’ button in front of us, make it easy, and most would be willing to give something.
I just want to remind people what has happened and make donating an easy decision.
Global disasters are on the rise, and all governments are reducing their foreign aid budgets.
The Buddhist people of the Himalayas live a peaceful existence.
They’ve played no part in climate change, and yet this has happened to them.”

While Stephen’s page has already exceeded his initial goal of $5,000, he says much more is needed, and every dollar helps.
Visit Stephens Page to donate to the appeal.

 

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