Feature: Nepalese migrant workers returning home to help rescue, rehabilitation

Thousands of Nepalese migrant workers, students and professionals living abroad have started returning home to help the rescue and rehabilitation efforts in their homeland after it was devastated by a 7.9-magnitude earthquake on April 25.

The decision of these migrant workers to go home shows their sense of patriotism and love of country. To some it is payback time to their motherland, a landlocked country with some of the world's most beautiful natural wonders, including Mount Qomolangma.

The massive earthquake has killed more than 7,500 people with thousands still missing. Hundreds of buildings, including historical and cultural heritages, have collapsed. The suffering and the massive devastation brought about by the quake have unified the Nepalese people, including those living and working abroad.

Earlier, the Nepali embassies in the Gulf and Southeast Asia have requested the host governments to allow Nepalese migrant workers to return home to assist the rescue efforts.

There are more than 3 million Nepalese working abroad, with an average of 1,500 Nepalese leaving daily to work overseas.

On Monday, Shesh Ghale, President of Non Resident Nepalese Association (NRNA), who earlier arrived in the capital, has called on non-resident Nepalese to take active part in the relief and rehabilitation efforts.

Ghale said that the NRNA has already formed a 301-member global committee to raise funds and mobilize relief and rescue work in the worst-hit areas in the country.

She said they have already started relief work that includes food distribution and medical missions, in the severely-hit areas such as the districts of Bhaktapur, Kavre, Nuwakot, Gorkha and Sindhupalchowk.

According to Ghale, their goal is to raise 100 million Rupees ( 973,672 U.S. dollars) from its members who dispersed in 69 countries.

The NRNA has already dispatched a team of doctors and nurses of Nepalese citizens based in Australia to some affected areas.

Currently, volunteers from the different youth teams and social organizations have been active in the relief distribution program to augment the rescue efforts of the government.

Young Nepalese professionals and students have also returned home to take active role in the rehabilitation efforts.

Bhuwan Pokharel, a young Nepalese student studying in Helsinki, Finland arrived early this week along with 11 members of a medical team composed of doctors, nurses and crisis management specialists.

Pokharel has been studying renewable energy engineering in Helsinki for the last three years but when he learned of the catastrophe he immediately called for help among his Finnish friends and decided to return home.

Pokharel said that his team is helping the victims in Gorkha District, the epicenter of the massive quake.

"I came back to Nepal to help my Nepalese brothers and sisters during the crisis. If foreigners can help, Nepalese who are stationed abroad should do more," Pokharel told Xinhua in a phone interview Wednesday.

He said that even though his own house has collapsed, he insisted to work in the worst-hit area to help people to rebuild their lives in Gorkha District.

Anuz Thapa, a media professional who has been living in the United States since last year, has also returned to Nepal early this week.

"The situation of our beautiful country is really painful at the moment. So, I am here to help people in whatever way I can," Thapa told Xinhua, who started the radio program, "Milijuli Nepali, " to help rebuild the lives of the victims and restore their hopes. Endi