One Sherpa Home sets up shop in Namche.

Trevor and his Office Assistant Osmati (7)

"This is my office helper Osmati. She dresses better than I do and also loves the shiny apple on my computer. She can speak some English so she'll be answering my calls from now on." -Trevor

Trevor spent today acclimating to the altitude in Namche Bazaar while seeking out potential sources of building materials. His discussions with Mingma have led them into exploring the use of gabions for wall construction instead of rice bags filled with dirt. Gabions are rectangular wire cages that are filled with rocks. They are cheap, sturdy, and Phortse has no shortage of rocks to fill them with. Here is a photo of a winery in Napa that was built with gabions. 

They are not yet set on this idea, but simply exploring it as an option that is not so great a departure from the traditional dry-stack stone home enjoyed for millennia by the Sherpa people. 

In the mean time I continue to drive the fund raising effort back home. Having already raised $8,465 in our first 20 days, the One Sherpa Home campaign on GoFundMe has met its basic goal of $8,000!!!!!!!! We are SO grateful to the many caring and generous people who have contributed. You are heroes! Thank you thank you thank you!

Since we don't actually know how much it will cost to build Mingma's home, we will continue to seek donations. Any residual funds after completion of the home will go toward repairing the school in Phortse, which was built by Sir Edmund Hillary. We would like to see the kids get back in school. So I'm doing interviews and such to raise awareness. Channel 10 News in Phoenix featured a great story about One Sherpa Home during their evening broadcast today. You can see it by clicking this link: http://www.fox10phoenix.com/story/29280192/2015/06/09/valley-man-raises-money-for-sherpas-displaced-by-earthquake#

And for anyone who has not yet got around to contributing to One Sherpa Home, you can do so with a simple CLICK HERE. In demonstration of our gratitude we will perform an interpretive dance depicting the tectonic collision that created the Himalayas! Let's see the Red Cross do that!