Mothers ran from their homes with their children into the open farm fields where potato, millet, wheat, and corn grew. Some women working in the fields became dizzy and fainted. Fathers collapsed on their 2-hour walks to Mainapokhari, the nearest city, where they were going to purchase rice. When the earth stopped shaking, they sprinted back as fast as possible with a myriad of scenarios going through their heads.

The scene was hazy as small smoke stacks pillowed upward from every part of Yarsa. It wasn’t smoke from fires, though, it was dust clouds rising as nearly every home violently crashed down.

When visiting the village of Yarsa, Nepal, he saw many victims that were still struggling to survive in painfully inadequate tin shelters. No other organization had helped them and there was no help on the horizon for these people. In much the same way Gary started the Young Living Academy, he noticed a need that was not being resolved and knew that we needed to act.

Immediately after his visit, Gary was resolute in his decision to rebuild every home in the village and to rebuild the primary school. “We would take charge of what we do and control the use of the donations ourselves,” Gary wrote in a letter to Young Living members after returning from Nepal.    

Rojina Sijapati, the Foundation’s project coordinator in Nepal, said the Foundation’s efforts in Nepal have impressed many of Nepal’s dignitaries and government officials and we have earned much respect within the country.        

The Foundation also trained and employed many of the people in the village on how to build the earthquake resistant homes using Hydraform bricks that are made from a mixture of three simple ingredients: local soil, cement, and water. We are leaving the brick-making machine in Yarsa, with the hopes of helping the people create a sustainable industry within the community.      

Knowing that their homes are now a source of protection has allowed the people of Yarsa to focus on building a new life. It has also strengthened the community. They have worked alongside each other and celebrated with each other as each home was rebuilt.   

“For Gary, you were one of his highest priority,” said Greg Larsen, the executive director of the Young Living Foundation, to the people who live in Yarsa at a community gathering on June 2, 2018. “He wanted to ensure that your homes and your school were built as quickly as possible. He wanted so much for all of you to feel of his love and feel the warmth of your new home and the strength of starting over as a community. Thank you for working alongside us these past two years.”

Hector Nevarez, the Young Living Foundation’s head contractor in Nepal, said the new homes provide the people of Yarsa with a chance to move forward. They provide hope for their future, especially for their children.