Chandra Bahadur Kunwar, 80, from Adhikari Danda in Annapurna Rural Municipality Ward no. 1 isn’t excited about Dashain.
His only worry as of now is to build his house, which was damaged in the 2015 earthquake. With that worry, he spends around 8-10 hours in someone else’s paddy field who pays him minimum wage.
Kunwar doesn’t have a choice because he knows even at the age of 80 he has to take care of his wife and three daughters.
Of the three daughters, two go school. But after lack of funds, one dropped out. “I did want to study but had to quit in grade 10 because I had to be sent to a hostel and we didn’t have money,” shares Sangita Kunwar his eldest daughter.
Sangita now looks after her sisters Meena and Leela who study in grade 10 and 8 respectively. “Meena might have to quit too. Her case is similar to mine as the school has made hostel mandatory in class 10,” shares Sangita.
After the earthquake, they moved into an empty house of a Brahmin family who live in Pokhara but the sisters share that they rather live in their own house. “This house doesn’t feel like our own. We are constantly worried that if the house owners decide to come back we will have to move,” adds Leela, who shares that it is only their house that doesn’t have electricity in the village.
Both sisters share that life is tough at the moment. “Studying with the help of a kerosene lamp is hard and hurts my eye too. Rather than studying I look at the other houses in the village and ask parents when will we build a house of our own,” shares Leela.
The Kunwar family has received its first instalment and with help of a contractor have set up pillars for their house. Engineer Jamuna Bhattrai shares their second instalment has come too. “We hope that this money will help. But we know it will not be enough to rebuild the entire house.
At times like these, I wish I could help but my hands are tied,” shares engineer Bhattarai who adds that this is one of the poorest families in Annapurna Rural Municipality.
The Kunwar family’s pain is similar to Sukyama Darji, 45 who shares that she doesn’t care about Dashain anymore. “I don’t know how Dashain feels like anymore. Right now all I care about it earning money by working for others and build a house of my own,” shares Darji who has been living in a temporary shelter.
A resident of Damai Danda in Waling-08, Syanja, she first lost her house to the earthquake. After she received the first grant of 50,000 from the government she took a loan from acquaintances and built a house. Her family had happily moved but her happiness was short lived as a landslide took away the front part of the house with it.
“Thirteen of us live under this tent because our houses are uninhabitable during the monsoon,” she shares.
While her house is in a decent state, her in-laws are in a state of despair. “The landslide entered my mother-in-law’s house and took her with it. But with God’s grace, nothing happened as she only suffered minor injuries but her house is now in a state of disrepair,” adds Darji.
When asked why she didn’t complete her house, she shares, “The engineers have said that this area isn’t safe. This is why they haven’t passed my second instalment and without that money I can’t continue.”
“According to government regulations, houses in such hilly slopes are dubbed unsafe which is why we cannot pass her second instalment,” shares engineer Hemant Aire.
As of now they have set up a shack beside their house which accommodates 13 people. “We live here during monsoon because the rain enters our home and it’s impossible to sleep,” adds Darji who shares that the land owner regularly comes and tells them to move.
“The shack that they have made has been provided by the ward office and we have sent their case higher up,” shares Kamal Subedi, Chairman of Ward No. 8, Waling.
The municipality, however, is looking at relocating them because he only land they have is in the hilly slopes of Damai Danda. “We are trying to relocate them but due to lack availability of land, we haven’t been able to do so,” adds Dilip Pratap Khand, Mayor of Waling Municipality.
No such effort has been put to ensure Bhim Kumari Pandey, 60, resident of Rainas Municipality Ward No. 6 gets a roof under her head. Her house fell during the earthquake and even thought she got a red card, her name wasn’t in the list which got the first instalment of 50,000.
She then filed a grievance after which her name was listed under partially damaged list. Tired of going to the ward office every day, she then felt she’d live in the same house but patching it up in places. But then the ward officials came to her saying that her house was on the way of a road expansion of the Mid-hill highway.
“I have no other land. This is the only property I have,” she shares. With tears in her eyes she continues, “My only son had left for Saudi Arabia but then returned because he was cheated there. Now we have no money and I fear this road expansion will take away the only house I have.”
She adds that the loan taken to pay for her sons is yet to be repaid which often gives her sleepless nights. “How can I sleep when I have to keep worrying about what to eat?” she adds. “When we hardly make ends meet, how can i dream of making a home elsewhere?”
Engineer Sagar Ranabhat who is looking after this case says that due to government regulation, he can’t pass this house for a grant.
“Our hands are tied too. We can’t recommend this house for a grant. They don’t have a place to make a house and due to this expansion, this case is even more complicated. The government needs to do something about them. We have asked their names to be changed from partially affected to highly affected and that is all we can do,” shares Ranabhat.
On October 11, news broke that the government was buying a mansion for the Nepali ambassador to US in Washington DC. The cost of buying the mansion is $6.8 million which comes to nearly 700 million Nepali rupees. Money that could have been spent to help people like Kunwar, Darji and Pandey is being used something entirely different.
