People write their memoirs for many reasons: some want to record family stories for future generations; some want to reflect on their experiences; and some people – like Row Smith –  decide to share their story to make a difference in the world.

As a survivor of the 2015 Nepal Earthquake, she has used her story to raise thousands of pounds for victims of the disaster. Read on to discover Row’s incredible story, and her experience of creating her charity memoir, ‘The Earth Moved’.

In April 2015, Row and her husband Tom embarked on the adventure of a life time: trekking through Nepal’s beautiful Langtang Valley.

On the 25th April, just as they began their descent from the highest peak Tsergo Ri, disaster struck.

“The earth was literally moving beneath me, dropping away and then coming back in waves, tossing me into the air. My mind couldn’t process it – the ground was supposed to be an ever-present solid entity beneath your feet and the end of that could only mean that the world was literally falling apart”.

Nepal had been hit by a devastating earthquake, measuring a crippling 7.8 on the Richter scale. The final death toll reached over 8,000. 22,000 were injured and 3.5 million people became homeless.

When they returned home, though Row and Tom both suffered from PTSD, they were determined to help the Nepalese people they’d left behind. They set up a Just Giving page, raising £7000 for the charity Community Action Nepal (CAN).

Then Row had the idea of using her story to raise awareness and funds. With the help of Story Terrace and ghostwriter Emma Donnan, she wrote The Earth moved. Her book alone has raised hundreds for CAN and amazingly, one generous donor upped their donation to CAN by £1000 purely because of reading her story.

You can buy a copy and read her incredible story for yourself here.              

Recently, we caught up with Row to ask her about her experiences of creating the book.

How did you come up with the idea of writing The Earth moved?

When I returned from Nepal I decided to write down all of my experiences as a way of trying to offload what had happened. I was so traumatised and I felt it was a way of trying to get it out of my head so I could make sense of it all. Soon, I realised it didn’t help as I was suffering from PTSD. Then I came up with the idea of using what I had written to turn it into a book to raise money.                                

Why did you decide to write this book?

When I returned I helped a lot of people from Nepal financially, using most of our savings. I could no longer afford to do this out of my own pocket and wanted to find a sustainable way of helping the Nepalese people. Also, I wanted to raise awareness for Nepal and what it is like to suffer from PTSD after such trauma.

How did you find the process of writing the book?

Working with Story Terrace and Emma (my ghostwriter) was amazing. Emma turned my traumatic (very long story) into a good read for people to get my point across in a shorter version.

To Story Terrace:

All of you were and have been brilliant and made this project possible. Knowing you all did it to help such a great cause without making any profit was amazing. I thank you all from the bottom of my heart. I couldn’t have done it without you.

After writing the book I felt so proud of my achievements. I felt a lot of my guilt had gone, as I could say to the Nepalese people I can now help through sales of my book (rather than not being able to help them personally).

Were you happy with the final product?                                               

I would have liked the book to be longer as there was a lot more that happened whilst experiencing the trauma, however we couldn’t raise enough funding to do this. However I was so happy with the content that we did cover and the finished book.

After writing the book I felt so proud of my achievements. I felt a lot of my guilt had gone, as I could say to the Nepalese people I can now help through sales of my book (rather than not being able to help them personally).

What impact did the book have on a larger scale?  

It’s raised awareness for some of the awful events that we experienced but more importantly raised awareness for the Nepalese people. Many people have since been able to approach me to ask further questions.

I think it’s so important to talk about PTSD as it raises awareness. I’ve also helped many people to consider therapy. I desperately wanted people to relate to us so they could see how much worse it was for the local people. It would then encourage people to donate money or tell people to buy the book.

What impact did the book have on you personally?

The biggest thing for me has been the amount of people that have contacted me privately about the book. Many survivors from Langtang have come forward to tell me their stories relating to what happened and how they also suffered from PTSD. My book made them feel normal as they realised someone else had also suffered from it.

I also found I had some pieces of the jigsaw answered. For instance, survivors contacted me telling me the about the deceased woman I climbed over on the avalanche. One man helped rescue her husband and child, and they have remained friends since. They also told me that the two women with broken backs had been rescued and were taken to hospital. There were many parts of my survival story about certain individuals that were left unanswered, so it was nice to have some clarity.

I desperately wanted people to relate to us so they could see how much worse it was for the local people.

Why do you think it was so important to tell your story?

I wanted to tell people about our experience, not out of sympathy for us but to make people aware of the sufferings in Nepal.

So many people lost EVERYTHING — their entire families, limbs, friends (anyone they ever knew), their homes, and their jobs. Simply everything. It is so hard to imagine but everything was completely wiped out and we saw it with our own eyes. The government did not help them and still hasn’t, they are solely relying on charities or individuals to help. I’m hoping my book will continue to be a huge success and will slowly start to rebuild Nepal. The devastation was so huge I don’t think in my lifetime it will ever return to the way it was but knowing I’m trying my best to help people is good enough.