A midtown Mobile restaurant has become an unlikely hub for international disaster relief, after its owner and a close friend turned neighborhood generosity into a full-fledged nonprofit organization aimed at helping Nepal rebuild.
Salam Lama, who runs restaurants in Mobile and Fairhope, moved to the United States in 2006 to attend the University of South Alabama after growing up in a remote village in Nepal. When a magnitude-7.8 earthquake struck his home country in April, killing thousands and displacing millions, Lama said he felt an urgent need to act despite being thousands of miles away.
He began holding fundraisers at both restaurant locations and setting out donation boxes. With support from Nepali students at the University of South Alabama, the effort raised roughly $14,000. Donations kept arriving from unexpected places, including a $300 gift from students at a Baldwin County school who held a bake sale and lemonade stand in Nepal’s honor.
Alongside his friend Ester de Aguiar, who works at one of the restaurants, Lama formalized the effort into the United-Nepal Foundation, a nonprofit designed to funnel donations directly to volunteers and relief workers on the ground in Nepal. The organization is meant to support long-term rebuilding rather than just immediate relief, Lama said, noting that reconstruction costs in Nepal are estimated in the billions of dollars.
De Aguiar’s young daughter contributed to the cause in her own way, selling handmade flower pens outside the restaurant and at a stand in her front yard, raising more than $400 for an orphanage that was destroyed in the earthquake. The family has stayed connected to relief efforts through friends who have traveled to Nepal to help rebuild schools and support children affected by the disaster.
Lama said the response from the Mobile community has been humbling. Members of the local Nepali student population, area churches, and even strangers moved by news coverage of the disaster have offered support in the months since the quake. A local yoga instructor has also joined the effort, exploring ways to build earthquake-resistant housing using low-cost construction methods.
The nonprofit’s founders say they hope Mobile-area residents will continue to see Nepal’s recovery as an ongoing need rather than a passing news story. With emergency response winding down in many areas, long-term rebuilding of homes, schools and orphanages is expected to stretch on for years.
Anyone interested in supporting the effort can reach out through the United-Nepal Foundation, which plans to keep hosting local fundraising events in the Mobile area. Organizers say every dollar raised goes toward volunteers already working in Nepal rather than administrative overhead, a detail they hope will encourage continued giving from the community that helped get the effort off the ground.