Relief rebuilding to 25 communities in Nepal

Case Story 1

Khem Rani, of Gorkha district, is a 30 year old mother of two sons. But during the devastating earthquake of 25th April, she lost her elder son who was 8 years old. She suffered extreme grief, was in trauma and was very quiet and introverted. She isolated herself from all the social activities.  Her grief was unbearable. Unaware of the mishap, the younger son, who is 4 years old kept  asking her about his elder brother.

Khem’s parents were seriously concerned about her. When they came to know about the training provided by the Shadow Barefoot Volunteers of Tewa, they asked Khem Rani to join the tailoring training. 

Few months later, she has now completed the course and learnt skills which has given her new hopes and opportunities. She was able to arrange a sewing machine after the training and  sews clothes for the local community, thus  generating income for her family. According to her parents, she is  more optimistic  now and has started to talk and laugh just like before. They thank the volunteers heartily for giving her a new life. She is an inspiration, of how a small support  with love and empathy and a listening heart can bring about transformative changes in others lives.

Case story 2

 Subhadra , a 24 year old woman from Dharmasthali, Kathmandu, whose husband was a drug-addict passed away a few months before the earthquake of April 2015 while Subhadra was pregnant.She gave birth to a daughter later who is now 1 years old. Although there were restrictions on her because she was a widow, she joined the training program organized by Tewa Grantee Organization. In a society bound by religion and patriarchal structures, widows are considered inauspicious and face a lot of discrimination.

She was not regular at the training and came late and left early. When she did not  attend the training for a few days, the volunteers reached her home to check upon her. When they reached her home, she was busy building a temporary shelter. Her mother-in-law, sounded very unsupportive towards her.

Thereafter, for the next few months, she did not come to the training. Upon checking, it was found that she had fainted while working in the field. Her parents came and took her and the child, she had pneumonia and the child had typhoid. After returning from her parents home, the mother-in-law who was not pleased with her, asked her to live separately in the temporary shelter which she had been building.

The place lacked  the basic necessities and was not appropriate to live in, especially with a child. The zinc sheet roof could be blown away anytime with the wind and if it rained heavy, would easily leak through. The place was very cold and there was no door or windows in place. Tewa Hamro  Gaon Gharma volunteers supported her to build the temporary shelter which was convenient for her and her baby to live. She now has a safe space to live independently and picked up her threads , is a confident lady, ready to shoulder responsibilites for the sake of her child.

 The earthquake, blockade and now the severe flooding has caused loss of many lives in Nepal.The earthquake affected districts have been hit both by floods as well as landslides with over 100 deaths, and  over 500 families homeless. Tewa and Nagarik Aawaz, who have the same Founder, working in close collaboration have reached out to our volunteers working in the districts and have started our relief work to the families most affected by the floods.

Tewa and Nagarik Aawaz  volunteers have built trust and confidence in the community with so many lives connected and stories of strength, to share the message that mobilization of local human resource and holding hands in times of need can bring about positive change.

Importantly, the volunteers are imbibing Tewa's example of local resource mobilization in the communities they serve. They even gifted to Tewa a community gift of Rs. 3600 ( $ 36) from Gorkha district! Similarly, the communities have been coming together to raise substantive money for a cancer patient and other community activities.

The women in various  earthquake affected districts, with the help of HTG volunteers, have been able to get necessary legal papers for the community women which will facilitate their access to state benefits. Savings and credit groups run by 4 women’s organizations in Barpak of Gorkha district have also raised funds to enable them to start their own entrepreneurial activities.  The self confidence and self worth that the community feels is remarkable. Instead of waiting for others to help them, they have slowly picked up the threads and are starting their own income generation economic activities as well as spreading awareness on rights. Currently, HTG volunteers are engaged in making the community women informed about their citizenship rights and other legal information which they were otherwise unaware of earlier. In another district in Lalitpur , the volunteers have started adult education and English language classes for women, so that the women are literate and can sign their own papers.

 Tewa with additional help from a gender and development expert has been monitoring the recovery work of the HTG volunteers and is also looking into the situation and condition of the affected local communities.

Much work remains since the Government has not yet moved effectively with its recovery work. At least in communities where Tewa/Nagarik Aawaz is present, we know that many lives are changing for the better.

• Barpak_Nirman_Maheela_Samuha_in_Gorkha.doc (DOC)
• Khem_Rani_with_friends.doc (DOC)
• Subhadra.doc (DOC)

Minimaya  is an earthquake survivor from Barpak,Gorkha district, the epicenter of the  devastating earthquake. About 18 years ago when her husband went abroad for a job, she was very happy and had high hopes of living a happy life with their 3 children. However, all her dreams and plans were shattered when Minimaya encountered the harsh reality - her husband’s dead body arrived  after one month of his departure. This left her distraught and she was left all alone to face the responsibility of raising her three children.

Minimaya was uneducated, poor and she had a small house where she lived with her 3 children. She was somehow managing to survive and feed her children. But then, on 25^th April, an earthquake hit the area with an epicenter in Gorkha. This destroyed the only house she had and she along with her children, were left seeking temporary shelter.

 Tewa's  Shadow Barefoot Volunteers - Hamro Tewa Gau Ghar ma programme , has been initiated in 6 affceted districts where 20 volunteers , 3/4 in each district are based in the districts, working with the communities to give support and strengthen the women's agency and be vigilant to reduce VAW and gender based violence, transfer skills and knowledge to make the communities self reliant. Our volunteers based in Barpak,visited the earthquake affected communities,  and provided livelihood training and grants to the most vulnerable and affected survivors. Minimaya was provided with 2 pigs to rear and her eldest daughter, Radhika, was provided tailoring training for 3 months. Radhika could not continue her studies due to lack of financial support but wishes that her 2 younger siblings would get education.

Minimaya still worries on how to rebuild her house as it is very expensive – a trip of sand alone would cost Rs 12,000 which is a huge sum for her. Further, she is still struggling to pay the tuition fees of her 2 children.

However, through pig rearing she expects to triple her profit by selling them after 7 months. She is also hopeful that with training provided by Shadow Barefoot Volunteers of Tewa, Radhika will be able to earn money by using her tailoring skills. She is very thankful to the Volunteers for providing them with a new life with the support and training, which has made them self-dependent.

Our Shadow Barefoot Volunteers have been deployed in 6 earthquake affected disctricts along with the Building Lives Inspiring Hopes , youth psycho social counsellors led by Naagrik Aawaz. They have formed more than  21 women's' groups , helped to dismantle and build homes, toilets, community taps, conducted 17 livelihood trainings , conducted trainings to women on rights based issues to minimize violence against women. More than 2000 people have been oriented about psycho social problrms , scool children have been approached and counselled as well, more than 100 one on one sessions with community members have been conducted  since there is a still a lot of trauma, fear and anxiety prevalent due to the aftermath of the earhquake.

There is a WAVE of CHANGE of self reliance, strength and resilience, and we hope to continue this support to enable communities to be strong and capable, especially the women and children  who have been most affected by disaster.

Radika with her sewing machine during the training                                          Minimaya 

Links:

• http://www.tewa.org.np

• Radhika sewing training (DOC)
• Minimaya (DOC)