Halchok Village update: 22 June 2015

(click on thumbnails to see larger images)
As of my last update from Kathmandu on June 3 we were concentrating on our search for the corrugated tin roofing material, Jyestha,; this was rewarded when Sukri and Buddhi Bahadur gave an advance for 27 bundles of thick gauge roofing in several sizes on June 7th.

In the meantime, the villagers had decided that, rather than staying behind the village on the land below, owned by others and thus presenting a potential risk of eviction, they preferred building their shelters at the place where their houses had stood. The first areas were cleared and prepared, by the afternoon of June 9th.

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Later that evening as the first drops of the pre-monsoon rains began to fall we took delivery of the first jyestha.

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The day after the delivery of our first shipment of jyestha, work on the first shelter, that of Bal Bahadur, was begun, and by the end of the day the simple bamboo frame and corrugated tin roof were in place and the crew gathered for a pic.

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With supplies in place, work concentrated on constructing the shelters and clearing the places for others.

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From June 11th on, more shelters were built as spaces were cleared.

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Ian left Kathmandu on June 14th and returned via Hong Kong to Santa fe.

A week later the shelters have sprouted throughout the village. Everyone is sheltered either below the village or now, increasingly, in the village itself. The shelters are improved with walls and floor coverings.

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As the work on the shelters continues and more and more of the villagers find themselves in safe and dry conditions, we will turn our attention to post-monsoon plans for helping with rebuilding.

Ian and Lois and Vasundhara and Vajra Alsop, Santa Fe
Manika Rai, Kathmandu
Elizabeth Winthrop, fund raiser extraordinaire, New York
Sukri and the builders, and all the villagers of Halchok