Rebuilding Fund for Rural Dalit Women of Nepal

In Bakreswori, a village in Gorkha, 80% of homes were destroyed in the earthquake. Now it is the site of EDWON's first reconstruction project.

Our primary concern is to provide a dry, warm temporary home for every needy family; our second is sanitation: clean water, adequate sanitary facilities and awareness to prevent outbreak of disease.

Bakreswori has seen improvements already, and our partners, ADWAN, have begun work on 51 dwellings, 20 latrines and 56 wash stations. 

Community involvement is key to effective and equitable reconstruction. That is why creating a local Women's Committee is step one: women now play an important role in organizing their community and as monitors of fairness and progress.

Tukumaya, a longtime member of Bakreswori Women's Group A and now on the Women's Committe, has helped mobilize volunteers to form work-teams, first to build shelters for families with infants or with pregnant, old or incapacitated members. While community members provide the labor and local building materials, ADWAN staff procures roofing material and cement and bears the overall responsibility for success. All workers and volunteers are served two meals a day, cooked by other volunteers. 

Initially the project was plagued by a host of challenges: from difficulties motivating traumatized victims to dealing with delays and shortages of building supplies. But in a month, much has been accomplished. 

Two thirds of the 51 temporary homes now have walls and a roof structure waiting to be covered by zinc sheets--the roofing material of choice. But for weeks now, the delivery truck has been delayed, caught up in roadblocks and violent protests against Nepal's new constitution. We are hoping for a breakthrough this week so that Bakreswori's most vulnerable families can move into small, dry homes of their own.

In the meantime, women have carried bag after bag of cement from the main road up to their village, which has been used to build 29 wash stations: concrete platforms to accommodate piped water and a drain for each household. Combined with new, additional latrines, and with so-called WASH (WAter-Sanitation, Hygiene) Training, the wash stations will represent a huge improvement over pre-earthquake conditions. 

Thanks to generous donors like you, EDWON is able to fund similar improvements in two additional villages this fall: temporary homes, improved sanitary facilities and WASH training to give over 100 families (about 500 people) a dry temporary home, new and life-saving sanitary conditions, and much improved safety and comfort. 

We have heard that villagers are truly moved by the generosity of far-away strangers and they wish they had a way to show you their gratitude!