Ms. B. K realizes a holistic recovery

56-year-old Ms. Kanchhi B.K. lives alone in the hills of Orang village in Dolakha district. It takes one and a half day to reach the village from Kathmandu by vehicle. Orang is among the remotest villages in Dolakha, a northern mountain district in Nepal. Many years earlier she decided not to get married considering that her parents would not have anybody to look after them. Ms. B.K. also had a sister who had a speech disorder and needed her care. Now her parents and her elder sister have passed away and Ms. B.K. has no one to live with her.

The earthquake of 2015 demolished her home and since then she was living in a temporary shelter, until Caritas Nepal motivated her to construct an earthquake resistant house. Caritas Nepal provided her housing grant and transportation assistance of NPR 350,000. Caritas’ engineers in the village helped her to supervise the construction work. She built a 2-room stone and mud masonry house, following the earthquake resistant design according to the guidelines of the Department of Urban Development and Building Construction Ms. B. K realizes a holistic recovery Project: Nepal Earthquake Recovery Programme (2016 – 2019) (DUDBC). She is glad that she could construct the house in a timely manner with the support of Caritas Nepal.

She and other villagers of Orang whose names were on the list of the National Reconstruction Authority completed shelter reconstruction early on. In May 2018, Orang was the fi rst village out of more than 600 villages damaged by the earthquake of 2015, to complete shelter construction – 560 households reconstructed their houses in a timely manner. With a safe and comfortable house to live in, Ms. B. K notes that she could focus more on pursuing livelihood activities. Caritas Nepal provided her with livestock grant and technical support to help improve her livelihood. “I bought 2 goats with the support. I sold one for NPR 12,000 some months back, and I have another goat that would bring me another NPR 12,000 at hand. I now have 5 goats, including two kids, and I am hopeful I can continue to make earning from livestock raising in the future”, she says.

The support was important to her because she has a very small plot of land and no other way to earn a living. In this way, Caritas Nepal identifi ed and Ms Kanchi B.K. standing at the door of her newly built house; the second picture shows the tap built in her yard; in the third image she is seen with her livestock. (Credit: Pratibha Acharya) provided targeted support to the most vulnerable households in earthquake aff ected locations. Besides the shelter and livelihood support, Ms. B.K. now has a drinking water tap in her yard. She also built a toilet with septic tank. Additional grant was provided by Caritas Nepal to Ms. B. K to construct the toilet, given her economically vulnerable situation.

“It used to take almost an hour to bring a single gagri * before CN constructed this tap. You see there, we had to go to that end of the hill. Our legs trembled having to walk uphill with a pot full of water”, she adds. Considering her deteriorating health condition and inability to seek medical treatment, she was also identifi ed and provided with NPR 4,000 as referral support. “I bought medicines for diabetes and ulcer with the money. Caritas Nepal has done all that they could to support me. The staff has been very approachable and receptive, I can’t thank them enough”, she says. Ms. B. K., a Dalit woman, is an example of a person both social and economically vulnerable who was supported by NERP to pursue a holistic (multi-sectoral) recovery.

Ms. B.K. also had a sister who had a speech disorder and needed her care. Now her parents and her elder sister have passed away and Ms. B.K. has no one to live with her. The earthquake of 2015 demolished her home and since then she was living in a temporary shelter, until Caritas Nepal motivated her to construct an earthquake resistant house. Caritas Nepal provided her housing grant and transportation assistance of NPR 350,000.

Caritas’ engineers in the village helped her to supervise the construction work. She built a 2-room stone and mud masonry house, following the earthquake resistant design according to the guidelines of the Department of Urban Development and Building Construction (DUDBC). She is glad that she could construct the house in a timely manner with the support of Caritas Nepal. She and other villagers of Orang whose names were on the list of the National Reconstruction Authority completed shelter reconstruction early on. In May 2018, Orang was the first village out of more than 600 villages damaged by the earthquake of 2015, to complete shelter construction – 560 households reconstructed their houses in a timely manner. With a safe and comfortable house to live in, Ms. B. K notes that she could focus more on pursuing livelihood activities. Caritas Nepal provided her with livestock grant and technical support to help improve her livelihood.

“I bought 2 goats with the support. I sold one for NPR 12,000 some months back, and I have another goat that would bring me another NPR 12,000 at hand. I now have 5 goats, including two kids, and I am hopeful I can continue to make earning from livestock raising in the future.”

The support was important to her because she has a very small plot of land and no other way to earn a living. In this way, Caritas Nepal identified and provided targeted support to the most vulnerable households in earthquake aff ected locations. Besides the shelter and livelihood support, Ms. B.K. now has a drinking water tap in her yard. She also built a toilet with septic tank. Additional grant was provided by Caritas Nepal to Ms. B. K to construct the toilet, given her economically vulnerable situation. “It used to take almost an hour to bring a single gagri * before CN constructed this tap. You see there, we had to go to that end of the hill. Our legs trembled having to walk uphill with a pot full of water”, she adds.

Considering her deteriorating health condition and inability to seek medical treatment, she was also identified and provided with NPR 4,000 as referral support. “I bought medicines for diabetes and ulcer with the money. Caritas Nepal has done all that they could to support me. The staff has been very approachable and receptive, I can’t thank them enough”, she says. Ms. B. K., a Dalit woman, is an example of a person both social and economically vulnerable who was supported by NERP to pursue a holistic (multi-sectoral) recovery.

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* Typical vessel to carry water in Nepal