37-year-old Dhanamaya Chepang lives with her family in one of our project villages in Chitwan in southern Nepal. Dhanamaya has a large family, nine of them live closely together in a small wooden house on the edge of the forest, at the very end of the village of Dhamili.
The family does not own any land that they could farm. Neither Dhanamaya’s husband, Akal Bahadur (48), nor her eldest son, Suresh (19), nor his wife, Kabita (19), have any formal education; they cannot read or write and work as day laborers. Every day, they walk through the neighboring villages looking for work in road construction or as porters, hoping to find work in the fields or at a bazaar. In addition to Suresh, Dhanamaya has five other children. The youngest is still a baby.
Hope for an end to poverty
Since April 2011, Dhanamaya and her family have been participating in the savings groups and all the training sessions that Back to Life offers in this village, with the goal of improving the families’ income and, in the long term, their living conditions, and of sending the children—especially the girls—to school. Despite their poverty, Dhanamaya sends her youngest children to school.
When her family, like the other families in their village, received solar panels and a pair of goats for breeding from Back to Life, they were already looking forward to better times. But then, unfortunately, fate dealt them a harsh blow.
All is lost in one fell swoop
In early May, a major storm hit Chitwan. Shortly before evening, a fire broke out in the forest—presumably caused by a lightning strike—which spread in the blink of an eye and completely destroyed Dhanamaya’s family’s small wooden house. The village community was unable to save either the house or any of the family’s belongings. Everything went up in flames. The family of nine was now left completely destitute.
The two goats they received as part of our income support program also fell victim to the fire, as did the solar panels, clothing, food and everything else the family owned. All that remains is the clothes that they wore during the night. They were always poor, but now they no longer had a roof over their heads.
Immediate aid and new school supplies
In a first quick relief operation, our Chitwan team is distributing food for the near future, cooking utensils, water buckets, blankets and clothing to the family. She was also given a tent as temporary accommodation.
To the children’s great joy and relief, we replaced their burned school supplies—from uniforms, backpacks, and shoes to books and notebooks—so they could quickly return to class. The children had already been afraid they would never be able to go to school again.
Existential fear because there is no social help
The family cannot afford the material for a new house. Dhanamaya reports to our teammate: “We have always been poor and felt the hardship of life every day. When our house burned down, my husband was in despair. He was worried sick. I woke up at night and heard him cry bitterly. I’ve never seen my husband cry. He told me he was terrified that we would all end up on the street and that our children would become street children with no hope or chance. ”
In Nepal there is neither the possibility of fire protection insurance for the poor sections of the population nor any kind of support from the state in times of need, because the state itself is far too poor to be able to offer such social benefits.
The new house is built quickly
But with the support of our donors, we were able to help the family build a new, small wooden house with a tin roof. Not a palace, of course, but one that matched the standard of the neighboring houses to avoid envy within the village community. The family, of course, actively pitched in with the construction work themselves. We provided the necessary materials and also paid for additional labor to complete the house as quickly as possible. Shortly thereafter, the monsoon season began, but thanks to having a roof over their heads, the family no longer had to fear it.
The finished new wooden house of the family in the front and back view:
In addition, the family will shortly receive another solar system and two goats in order to have light and an alternative source of income again.
Dhanamaya and her family are very grateful and happy: “It sometimes feels like a dream to us that someone has helped us in this very difficult situation. Thanks to Back to Life and everyone who opened their hearts for us. “
We couldn’t agree more, and we’d like to extend our heartfelt thanks to all donors.
Your Back-to-Life Team
