We recently held our first retreat for the 30 new Disaster Response Project staff. We are pleased that they have quickly settled to be an excellent, committed and well bonded team despite the geographical and logistical challenges of working in this spread out, steep remote area. It was inspiring to hear each one share about the highs and challenges of their work and realise what has been achieved despite trying conditions. Our staff have written some short accounts, based on their conversations with local people, which show some of the positive changes that are happening as they begin to rebuild their lives.
" I can now safely reach my land"
Baman (45 year old)
lives in Lapa in the far North of Dhading. There are 7 in his family including 4 children. Because of earthquake damage causing landslides, he faces difficulties in accessing his land to cultivate the crops. 'Macho Somniu' is the main foot trail which almost all of the Lapa Thulogaun
residents use to reach their agriculture land. Villagers were panicking after
the road was completely destroyed by the earthquake of 25th April 2015. Baman, along
with other residents of Lapa Thulogaun had no option but to use an alternative very steep, slippery road which put them at risk - Rita Ghale, a local resident had already fractured
her leg.
Baman could
not survive without cultivating his land because agriculture is his only option for survival. Fortunately, Dhading Disaster Response Program had a 'Cash
for Work' programme for repair and maintenance of foot-trails in Lapa .
Namaste Rural Development Society (NRDS), a local partner of UMN carried out an assessment of destroyed pathways and the Somniu foot trail was given high priority for reconstruction. Local workers received direct benefit through the 'cash for work' and the residents gained easier and improved access to their land. Biman said, “I am really very
thankful to NRDS which has solved our big problem and we will never ever forget
this great help. I tell you most honestly there is no
limit of happiness between us from Lapa residents of ward 1, 3 and 5.
"My traditional building skills have been transformed"
Nar Bahadur Gurung, 52 year old, lives in Lapa-8, Khading and has been wholeheartedly committed to construction
work for more than 20 years. He has been involved in the construction of many
houses in Lapa VDC and said “I am always anxious and eager to build good quality houses in Lapa- the
correct shape and size etc”. From the beginning he used to follow traditional designs,
tools, techniques and methods. He never had the opportunity to study or receive training in improved construction skills.
He added, “The dreadful and disastrous earthquake of 2015, 25th
April has proved that the houses we built were not secure. We were really devastated by the situation
made by the earthquake. I heard that there is going to be an earthquake
resistance mason training but was not sure that the date and my chance to
be nominated as a trainee would actually happen. But happily, due to my previous skills in construction, I was selected to participate and felt really lucky to be among
the trainees”.
“From the
mason training I learnt the different ways to tie bands such as corner band,
seal band, lintel band, roof band etc. I learnt the ways of using a plumb bob
line which was completely new to me. I learnt bands can be tied with timber,
bamboo and reinforced concrete. Likewise, I also learnt the way of observing a pipe level to maintain proper level. In addition to that I learnt the ratio of
cement, sand and aggregate required for different construction purposes.
Furthermore, I learnt the length, breadth and height of window and door
compared to the length and breadth of wall”.
The
training provided by NRDP and Dhading Disaster
Response Program was very successful and I know the learnings will help to
revive our lost hope and dreams of providing shelter to our families. I am hoping that similar trainings can be given to other
masons of Lapa VDC so that they can also
construct earthquake resilient homes in future. The training was very useful and meaningful to me from which I got the opportunity to learn more new
things than I have ever learnt in my life. I learnt that earthquake resilient
houses can be constructed even just using locally available materials - that is
how my traditional skills have really been transformed. I gained a certificate as a skilled mason worker. This will enable me to find opportunities in building earthquake resilient houses in our community and there is good chance of improved earnings for me in future.
" At last I can go back to school"
I am Yomaya Tamang. I am 10 years old and Jharlang ward number 8 Kandrang is
my home village. I am a student of Nekomo primary school and I study in class
four. The earthquake disaster was so frightening for me. Our whole house was shaking and walls falling down but our family managed to get outside. My school was badly damaged…. I think me and my friends would have been killed there if the earthquake had not happened on a Saturday. After the earthquake I couldn’t go to
the school because of the damage and because the foot trail which we used to walk along had been totally
destroyed. We couldn’t go to school for almost four months after the disaster until we got a temporary school shelter. Our
village people found another foot trail but it was a very long route to the school...it took almost 2 hours to reach there. It was so hard to study as we were tired from the long and difficult walk.
All our village people were
facing problems with lack of safe walking paths. HIMS-Nepal (UMN local partner) started to repair some of the foot trails in
different places around our village. I saw my villagers working with
HIMS-Nepal to repair foot trails from Kyung to Thali, Kandrang and Gorgang. I am really happy they have repaired
the foot trail to my school so now I am having more time and more energy and I feel safer and I can now get to
school on time. Not only we students but many of our villagers are also so happy. They can travel to many places like Okthali,
Dundure and towards Dhading Besi [district centre].
'Namaste', my name is Cheja Tamang
and I am 60 years old. Jharlang VDC ward no 8 kyung is my home location. Since my birth I have been doing just farming.
We cultivate maize, wheat, potato and different kinds of vegetables in
our village which is for our own consumption. I had no other business, that’s
why I was always struggling to survive. HIMS-Nepal [UMN partner] gave me the opportunity to join a new training. We learnt many new things like making different types of pickles, candles and liquid
soap using local materials. This training has given me new hope and ideas for different ways to earn money for my family to survive. My heart is so thankful - I did not think to expect this kind of help - thank you to HIMS.
"I now have a kitchen garden"
"Namaste",
I am Bishnu Maya Tamang and I am 24 years old from Jharlang VDC, ward no. 8,
Thali. I am a housewife and I do farm work on our own land. Thali is one of the remote areas of Jharlang VDC. We villagers here depend on farming to survive. But the food we produce is enough for only half the year... for the remaining months we have to buy
food. This year the earthquake disaster gave us more trouble and more shortage of food since we lost all our stored grains. We didn’t even have cereal and vegetable
seeds for planting in the coming season. We were really worried about if we could feed our families enough to stay healthy..especially the children and the older people.
We always used our own local seeds for farming but we have been harvesting less and less and getting poor grains and
vegetables. Soon after the earthquake one of the organizations of
our village replaced our lost farming tools. They also gave us some better and different kinds of vegetable and cereal crop seeds such as cauliflower, bean, wheat etc. and training on how to cultivate these. I have used what I learned through the training on our own land. Now I already have
different types of vegetables in my kitchen garden ready to eat. I have also earned
some money by selling the vegetables to local households and shops.
In spite of all this encouraging activity we face delays because we still await the needed government permission related to the house building. An article in this week's Nepali Times sums up the frustration we feel:
Last week, the [Government] National Reconstruction Authority (NRA) announced a temporary ban on all reconstruction related activities conducted by NGOs/INGOs. The NRA said this was to bring all organisations involved in reconstruction under its jurisdiction, and asked them to temporarily halt the distribution of aid money and rebuilding of houses until the procedural guideline to involve non-governmental sectors in reconstruction process was published.
Spokesperson for NRA Suresh Adhikari told Nepali Times the ban was to ensure uniformity in the design of houses and distribution of relief and ensure all reconstruction work met government standards.
http://www.nepalitimes.com/blogs/thebrief/2016/03/04/temporary-ban-on-reconstruction/
Despite this frustrating delay, in DDRP we are all ready to go, with masons trained, so we are starting by building 'demo' houses as the second phase of their training. This is a way of making some progress until the main building programme can begin.
First group of masons trained. Shiva, DDRP Team Leader on far right. Can you spot Finlay?!
No comments:
Post a Comment