[Behind The Scenes] How I Landed The BBC Travel Story About Nepal Earthquake

I accidentally became a journalist when the 7.8 magnitude earthquake rocked Nepal in late April in 2015. Much to my surprise, I realized that I could write. I didn’t really enjoy the process of writing, but I loved that people enjoyed my writing. Both trusted friends and strangers commented that my writing was “so easy to read.” My secret? Having zero writing experience, and simply writing as I speak. I think I learned that from reading one too many blog posts about copywriting.

Long story short — I wrote a lot. Mostly on my blog, but also for Huffington Post India, TakePart, Falling Walls Fragments, WE-cycle times, and a bunch of newspapers in Nepal.

My favorite story is the one I wrote while sitting on a bus on the way back to Kathmandu after spending the day in Bhaktapur. If you’ve got a minute, you should read it. ;)

Because I’m not a trained journalist, I know that I have come across MANY stories worth sharing that I have not been able to put into words or unaware of which publications would be best suited to pitch them to… and alas, stories that got lost along the way.

Even though I never went to J-school, everything I needed to learn about journalism I learned from Todd Pitman — Bangkok Bureau Chief for the Associated Press. I spent about 15 hours with Todd in Nepal over two days. I met him at the Monkey Temple in Kathmandu, where he briefly interviewed me about the importance of preserving and restoring Nepal’s heritage sites after the earthquake. We got along really well and agreed to go over to the destroyed Dharara Tower and the Kathmandu Durbar Square. Since I was saying YES to anyone in Nepal and doing anything at all possible to “help”, I quickly agreed to interpret any interviews he wanted to do that day. We did a few. I was quickly blown away by Todd’s journalistic integrity in the tiniest of details. It was a breath of fresh air after having random quotes assigned to me in a front page TOI story just a few days earlier. Todd hired me to be his interpreter for the day to Chautara in Sindupalchowk District of Nepal. Watching Todd in action was the best J-school I could have asked for.

In the subsequent months and years, I visited Manekharka, a remote village also in Sindupalchowk District, with the JRM Foundation, Khusi Hona and just by myself a number of times, and always drew of the lessons that I learned from Todd.

The story of Maila and Dawa Jangbo Lama struck me as one that I just had to share with the world. I had talked to both of them a number of times and sat down for an especially long interview with Dawa Jangbo when I returned to Manekharka on the one year anniversary of the earthquake.

I really wanted to share their story with the world. So I spend a couple days writing a query letter and then pitched a number of publications the story idea… (By the way, a query letter is how a freelance journalist suggests an idea to an editor at a publication and asks to write about it for them)

Step 1: Send query letter to editor(s)
Step 2: ??
Step 3: Profit

Here it is:

Hi <Editor’s first name>,

When last year’s devastating earthquake destroyed Maila Lama’s boutique travel lodge in Manekharka, Nepal, he didn’t lose heart. Not only did he rebuild his business from scratch, the 49-year-old also gave the villagers a new lease on life.

Manekharka is a tiny village perched on the mountains in Sindupalchowk District. All but a handful of homes collapsed here. With Lama’s expertise, in the weeks after the earthquake, the villagers united to salvage any wood and metal sheets from the rubble. With little more than some nails and a few hammers, they built one temporary shed after another for every family in the village. It wasn’t luxury, but at least they had a roof over their heads.

In the rubble of his travel lodge, he found 4 wooden beds still intact. He gathered the pieces of wood and tin sheets from the rubble and rebuilt one makeshift lodge. He opened it up to host two people a time. Since then, he has built four more and now reached his pre-earthquake capacity of 12 available beds.

Would you be interested in a 750–1000-word story with photographs about Lama’s inspiring story for BBC Travel? I’ve already lined up follow-up interviews with Mr Lama, his wife, other villagers and also Dr. Fahim Rahim, Chairman of the JRM Foundation, a 501c3 relief organization, that hosted medical camps in this village and treated hundreds.

I’m probably the best person to write this story. Since the earthquake, I’ve visited Manekharka five times with two relief organizations. I first met Mr. Lama 3 weeks after the earthquake when he still looked dazed and in shock, standing beside his pile of rubble. I met and interviewed Mr. Lama again on my recent trip to Nepal. I grew up in Kathmandu, Nepal and speak Nepali fluently.

My articles have appeared in Take Part, Huffington Post India, and other publications. Here are some links:

http://takepart.com/article/2015/08/06/open-nepal-earthquake-aid-money

http://admin.myrepublica.com/the-week/item/24325-modern-day-florence-nightingale.html

http://www.jantakareporter.com/world/volunteers-combat-post-earthquake-trauma-with-music-camps-for-children/5191/

I’m happy to answer any questions you have. I look forward to hearing from you.

Regards,
Amrit Sharma

I pitched this story to a dozen relevant publications and received the green light from BBC Travel.

There’s no doubt — writing for BBC Travel has been the highlight of my journalistic endeavors, and I’m of course super excited (and honored) to have that byline under my belt. It’s the first story you’ll find if you hop over to my writing portfolio now. ;)

The only major thing that’s missing in the story on the BBC Travel website is the few paragraphs I wrote about the JRM Foundation’s work in Manekharka. I was surprised that the editors removed these sentences completely, but I understand and respect their editorial decisions.

These three paragraphs were culled from the story before it went live, but I think it’s still worth mentioning, so I’m including it here:

A DOCTOR LENDS A HELPING HAND

While the Lamas were busy rebuilding the village, help arrived from above when a doctor offered critical supplies and medical support to the entire community. Dr. Fahim Rahim, Chairman of the JRM Foundation, opted to improvise his upcoming trekking trip to Nepal into a crowdfunded disaster relief mission when the earthquake struck at the last minute. He assembled a team of doctors and nurses from hospitals across the United States and the United Kingdom to provide medical assistance and immediate disaster relief to the most underserved regions of Nepal. Thousands of messages poured into Dr. Rahim’s inbox from Nepali diaspora pledging donations and providing invaluable real-time insights. They raised more than $228,000 on crowdfunding platform, CrowdRise.

After almost two years of earthquake relief and reconstruction projects in Nepal, the JRM Foundation is switching gears. Dr. Rahim is now focusing on “sustainable long-term projects that lift communities by focusing on empowering women.” Rural Nepal like Manekharka tends to be matrilineal with women running not only the households, raising the children but also providing for the family by working in the fields and managing money. In Manekharka, Dr. Rahim is launching a microcredit program for those women seeking a “hand up, not a hand out.” Dr. Rahim has pledged to fund a project to address the eroding hill that threatens to collapse on the classroom in the local school.

“Our Nepal government still hasn’t helped us at all, but Fahim Sir has come to give us a helping hand all the way from America. He is a God to us,” praised Shankar Lama, a respected 55-year-old community leader in Manekharka.

So what’s next?

I’d love to write more stories for BBC Travel. And, also want to be published in Al Jazeera English, Slate, Quartz, VICE, The Atlantic, Guardian, NYT Travel, NatGeo Traveler India, CNN Travel and a few other places.