Pictured: Saud and his grandfather tend vegetables in Nepal in 2011. Courtesy of: Narendra Singh Saud.

Two months ago, Chana Raut came to Sarasota. She’d won a lottery visa, giving her a chance to enter the country and work for a shot at permanent citizenship. With hard work and a bit of luck, she’d eventually be able to bring her husband and 7-year-old son to Sarasota too. Until then, they’d wait for her back home in Pangtang, a village in the Sindhupalchok District of central Nepal.

“Everything is gone,” said Raut, now a nail technician at Sarasota Salon and Spa, who found out Saturday that her entire village was destroyed, sliding into the river as the countryside tore itself apart in the throes of an earthquake that has reportedly taken more than 6,000 lives to date. She carries the evidence on her phone, where she pores through photo after photo, tragedy after tragedy, shared on the news or through social media. Her son survived, but Raut lost her brother and sister, her in-laws and her nieces and nephews. For days she had no news of her husband, and just yesterday received word. He was praying in the temple when the quake struck, and the foundation held. He’s OK. “I’m very happy, very relieved,” said Raut. “But still, so many people have died. People don’t have houses or food or water. People are on the street.”

“I will find a way to help,” said Narendra Singh Saud, owner and chef at Curry Station on Washington Boulevard. Saud and his wife came to Sarasota on a similar lottery program four years ago and opened their own restaurant in the past year. He has not returned to Nepal since. “But this time, I have to go,” said Saud, who leaves next week with his wife to return home, where he will attempt to help those in need by serving “at least” 1000 meals per day. His family is safe, this he knows, but their houses and belongings, along with those of many others, have been destroyed. “I’ve seen the news, I’ve seen the videos and I want to help as much as I can,” he said.

Exiting the country through New Jersey and passing through Delhi, Saud will land at an airport near the Nepal border, before finding a bus to Kathmandu and finding a local pilot willing to bring him and a constant flow of supplies to where they are needed most. He can’t trust the government of Nepal to help, he says, so he must do it himself. 

So far, Saud has gathered the funds necessary to carry out his humanitarian mission for a matter of days, not the full month he plans to spend in Nepal, from his own pocket. He’s unsure where the rest of the funding will come from, but does not appear overly concerned with that fact. Maybe the community will rally behind him, maybe they won’t. His bags are packed and he’ll do what he can. For her part, Raut is currently raising money to bring her husband and son from the wreckage of their village to her new home in Sarasota, with an online GoFundMe campaign. 

Pictured: Saud and his grandfather tend vegetables in Nepal in 2011. Courtesy of: Narendra Singh Saud.

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