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2 July 2003 by Bijoy Patro in Chitwan ‘May you have a safe journey’, says the board on the way out of Jagatpur village in the southern Nepalese district of Chitwan. Dil Bahadur Magar must have read it many times. But on that day, in late October last year, he wouldn’t have cared less. For the 25-year-old was leaving behind his aged parents, son, daughter and a pregnant wife. Homeless. In July last year, the flooded Rapti River took away the home of the family of six. It also left them landless as it swept away the three hectares of their farming land. In return, it gave them penury. “I worshiped the Rapti every day since we migrated to this village 18 years ago,” says Dil Bahadur’s mother Masina Magar. “I never imagined it would be so cruel to us.” The old woman can only think of the good life they had: a home, a small farm, livestock, grand-children going to school, a television, radio, good clothes to wear, good food to eat. When they were done with farming on their modest land, the father and son would go out to labour on others’ farms. But with the floods last year, all that was gone. They were not alone. Most of the other villagers they had worked with also lost their farming land to the swollen Rapti. They were also left homeless. Young men like Dil Bahadur migrated to be able to feed their families – adding to the cold statistics of migrant workers torn away from their families, exposed to debt and the hazards of life in South Asia’s slums. Dil Bahadur travelled very far from home, possibly one of hundreds of forced migrants to Malaysia. To pay for the air fare and commission for the agent who found him a job in a plastics factory, the family borrowed 80,000 Nepali rupees (over US$1,000) at a 36 per cent interest rate. And since they had nothing to pawn to the money-lender, the family would stand guarantee that Dil Bahadur would repay the loan. It would be a word of honour. They would never leave the village. If all goes as planned, Dil Bahadur will not get to see anyone in the family for the next three years. When he returns, the latest member of the family will be over two-years-old. Hopefully, the loan will have been repaid by then. His aged parents may still be alive. He will also return to a new home that the Nepal Red Cross Society has built for his family. The Chitwan branch of the Nepal Red Cross society has built houses for 40 families like the Magars, all of them extremely vulnerable and who lost everything but the clothes they wore on the day the Rapti flooded their village. The families now have a modest home – two rooms made of brick and concrete. There is also space around the house for the families to create more accommodation, which most have done for cattle or poultry. To reduce their vulnerability further, the houses were constructed on higher ground, the plot of land acquired for the purpose. In addition, realising that the region is highly earthquake-prone, the houses incorporate features to help them withstand tremors. Millions of people across Nepal were affected by the floods. Yet the Nepal Red Cross was the only indigenous organisation with access to most of the country, then in a state of conflict. Even many of the international organisations had left the country. Even the government was depending on the Red Cross. Assistance to the affected communities couldn’t be delayed and the International Federation launched an appeal for 2.47 million Swiss francs (US$ 1.64 million) to help the Nepal Red Cross bring aid to 130,000 of the worst affected people. “It was realised very early on that relief aid, both food and non-food, would just be the beginning. Many families would also need to be rehabilitated,” says Bob McKerrow, head of the Federation’s regional delegation for South Asia. "Housing was turning out to be a priority for the most vulnerable people in one of the poorest countries in the world.” Many recall the words the Federation’s Disaster Response Delegate, Eelko Brower, said when he returned to Kathmandu from an assessment tour of the affected areas: “I was standing on this fallen house. Then people told me that there was a dead child buried under its debris, right under my feet.” That statement summed up the need to undertake a housing programme as part of the Nepal flood and landslides appeal. A project was soon drawn up to construct 225 houses in some of the worst flood-hit villages across the Himalayan kingdom. Most of these villages were remote, with little or no means of transport and home to very vulnerable people. “There was a lot of advocacy to be done at various levels,” says Mr Badri Khanal, Executive Director of the Nepal Red Cross. “In many places, we asked the government to provide safe land for the construction of the houses. We also got the design of the houses approved by the government, even if that proved to be time consuming,” he adds. Some, like Bali Ram Darji, even found it difficult to move their meagre possessions from their makeshift thatched houses to their new homes. Darji is the elderly village Kotwal or messenger-man whose business it was to inform the village of important events such as the government and Red Cross programmes. When Nepal Red Cross and Federation representatives met him, the 80-year-old Kotwal seemed not to know what fate held in store for him and his wife. They were told they would have a new house, but did not realise that it would be “beyond our dreams”. “There is still so much we would like to have. But the truth to be told, we wouldn’t have even realised that we needed more. This house has taught us how to dream,” Darji says. Says Chitwan Red Cross branch president, Hari Neupane: “We had the difficult task of selecting the 40 most vulnerable families in a village where none was left unaffected by the flood. At the end of the day, we think we have done an honest job. All the villagers are satisfied about the choice of the 40 beneficiaries, especially because they were all involved in the choice of the families. This was a practical experience of implementing the fundamental principle of impartiality on the field.” Related links: Nepal floods appeal News story: Nepal villagers take the higher ground Nepal Red Cross Society Responding to floods Make a donation |
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