Nayagaun, a small village roughly 45 Km South East of Kathmandu
was also severely hit by the quake making none of the house habitable. There is a small ‘Tamang Community’ spread in ‘Torikhoriya’
and ‘Gurdum Danda’ and this ethnic minority group has been suffering from poverty for decades as
they don’t have their own legally registered land or property. They have a very
limited farm and their production is not adequate enough to feed their
families for half a year which is why they have to rely on labour work for wages. Nearly 40 families have never received any attention from dozens
of government over the decades and their situation has been worse after the
quake. Many stone mines are not currently in operation and they have no other
source of income rather than selling a few liters of milk every day.
Some individual groups went there and helped them with some
urgent relief materials right after the quake but how could bigger families
survive with some packets of noodles and biscuit for weeks? Born and grown up
in the same village, it made me very emotional to know the difficult situation
of these people and I decided to raise some funds to help them.
Many of my friends here in New Zealand had already donated
through various charity organisations but some of my mates still wanted to help
my villagers and their support has made a huge difference to them.
My brother Uddhav Acharya distributed 30 kg. of rice, salt and
some vegetables to 40 families last Monday which has brought back smiles in their faces.
“We thank the generous donors from the bottom of our hearts
for distributing food supplies right before the monsoon”, said Indra Bahadur
Tamang, adding that they now have enough food to feed their families at least
for one and half month.
On
the phone conversation, Bhana Bahadur Tamang said, “Santosh brother, I would
like to thank you and your friends who have remembered us in a difficult time”.
We
made a small attempt and for them it brought enormous joy. They are still
worried how they are going to rebuild their houses as the government hasn’t
reached to the community yet with the promised support for the temporary
shelter. Since they don't have ownership of the land they are using and proper house to live in, they feel like the state has treated them as refugee in their own
country which is really heartbreaking.
I
will strongly keep an eye on how the government will address their needs in the near future but we
have to be there for them with what we can till they overcome the monsoon. They
are extremely hard working people and they will find some ways to help each other
and survive but I will be still keen in figuring out how we can support them for
long term.
Their
kids are limited to primary education as higher education is beyond their affordability.
Secondary level schools are hours away from the village and they choose not to
send them that far as their children could look after the house when they are busy
in farms and stone mines during the day. This has to change and apart from awareness,
they also need enough financial support for their children education.
I
deeply thank to my lovely friends Kathleen, Paula, Hiroshi, Siva, Barbara and
Lily for their valuable contribution and warm support in helping these
wonderful people of my village.
Together
we can make a difference……..!!!
