Kaule families stories
Gunda Bahadur Tamang inside his temporary shelter, sitting atop the wooden platform he uses as a bed. The pink see-through material behind him is an improvised mosquito net, a bit of ingenious craftiness to help him sleep while otherwise exposed to the elements
Purna Bahadur Tamang Family
Before the Earthquake, Purna lived in his stone masonry house with his father, mother, wife, sister, and daughter. Now, he lives in a temporary shelter made from what he could salvage from his old house; bits of plastic and timber, the zinc that was in the old roof now used sparingly and preciously to cover those areas that need the most shelter from the elements. In the year and two months since the earthquake devastated his former home, Purna has received 20, 000 nepali rupees and one bag of rice as aid from the government (100 nepali rupees is roughly equal to one US dollar). His family has used this money to survive during this time, but their main source of sustenance and income is agriculture, which demands hours of work on the field everyday and leaves no spare time to build themselves a new home.
Dil Maya Tamang and two of her children in the doorway of their shelter.
Indra Bahadur Tamang family
Indra, his wife Dil Maya, and their four children used to live in a stone masonry house before the earthquake destroyed it on April 25th, 2015. Like so many others they now live in a temporary shelter they built from the bits and scraps of their former homes. Their makeshift house it at least enclosed, its walls and roof made from overlapped corrugated zinc sheets. They have received a total of 15,000 nepali rupees from the government as aid after the earthquake. When we visited, Indra’s wife, Dil Maya, was in their house with two of her children. Indra, she told us, was working their land somewhere down on the intricately terraced mountains in Kaule.
Jhalak Man Tamang
Jhalak Man Tamang family
In rural Nepal, informal land ownership and subdivision deprives people from the little help they would otherwise receive from their government, which requires official papers. While this requirement may seem like a necessary precaution, it gets in the way of thousands of people for whom a little help can make a big difference.
Jhalak Man Tamang lives in a temporary shelter with his wife and daughter. He does agriculture and other forms of labor work for a living.
Gopi Tamang
Gopi Tamang and Chinni Maya Tamang family
Gopi Tamang used to live in his stone masonry house with his wife and son. His sister, Chinni Maya Tamang, had left her husband and was living with her father and mother when the earthquake hit in 2015. Ever since the earthquake, Gopi, Chinni Maya, their father, mother, their two brothers, their sister, their nephew and Gopi’s son all live in the same shelter they built from whatever they could save from the disaster. Like many others, they have not received any aid from the government due to the strict requirements of formal land ownership.
Gopi returned three months ago from Qatar, where he was doing different kinds of labor work to maintain his family. Chinni Maya and him now survive from what they grow in Kaule and from what little labor work they can help with.