Disaster Response Nepal Project #20329

Help vulnerable families rebuild homes in Nepal

by GoodWeave International

Project Report | Nov 24, 2015
An update on the road to recovery.

By Nina Smith | Executive Director

Mother and child living in temporary housing.

Dear Global Giver,

Recently our project page underwent several changes, from the title all the way to some very specific details about how and who your donation is going to help. Your support has been essential to our response in the months after Nepal’s massive earthquakes in April and May, and I want to thank you and explain why we made some of these changes. I hope you’ll be as excited as we are about the projects we have been able to launch in Nepal with your support.

As you know, our immediate response to the earthquakes last spring focused on providing urgent relief in the GoodWeave community- with beneficiaries including former child laborers, vulnerable carpet weaving families, and carpet industry employers. Initially, our project on GlobalGiving generated funds that went directly to our Nepal Earthquake Relief Fund to provide food, water, medical care and shelter to those most in need. Then we evaluated the damage to our program facilities, as well as to the homes of weavers and industry infrastructure.

While a majority of weavers live and work in Kathmandu, in many cases they leave behind both immediate and extended family members in rural villages who they support financially. Through this evaluation process, we found that approximately 800 families of weavers had lost their homes to the disaster with the majority in the districts of Makwanpur, Dolakha, Ramechhap, Nuwakot, Sindupalchok and Kavrepalanchok. For these vulnerable families, the risk of going into debt is acute. Until they rebuild their homes, most weavers cannot return to work in Kathmandu and earn an income – an income they depend on to provide for their children’s wellbeing and education. At the same time, the carpet industry, which was experiencing a severe worker shortage prior to the earthquake, now struggles with an even greater dearth of skilled weavers as producers attempt to restart their operations.

Part of our long-term plan is to offer vulnerable families an integrated package of support to rebuild their homes, educate their children, and receive psychological counseling. We’ve received funding for some of this project, and are now seeking your support so that more of these families can fully rebuild safe, permanent houses in their home villages. Every family that receives housing support will also have school tuition paid for their school-age kids, provided through a match by a generous donor.

The homes will be earthquake-proof and made with high-quality materials to last for decades. When offered together with education support and counseling, the housing will enable these households to regain economic stability and avoid falling into severe poverty. Not only will they have access to stable housing in their home communities, but they will also be able to avert exploitation – including debt-bondage and child labor in factories or brick kilns. This near-term support will enable weavers get back to work sooner, restore their previous income, and be able to cover short- and long-term family needs. Children will also be protected during this period of vulnerability as they continue their educations.

I hope you will continue to support our efforts to bring stability to the lives of vulnerable weaving families. Please let us know if you have any questions about our ongoing work in Nepal.

Thank you again.

Sincerely,

Nina

The family of a GoodWeave-licensed factory owner.

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Sep 1, 2015
An image I won't forget.

By Nina Smith | Executive Director

Som's children in their makeshift tent.

Dear GlobalGivers,

The images from my recent trip to Nepal are still fresh in my mind. One in particular is hard to forget.

For my second update, I’d like to tell you about my talks with weavers to hear their concerns, meet their families, and ask for their ideas. I spoke with Som, who had recently returned to Kathmandu from his village in Sarlahi, along with his wife and three children. At first, they rented a room in the city, but because of all the aftershocks, they found it hard to summon the courage to sleep inside. So, like more than 100,000 others, they set up a tent outside.

I walked into the tent that is now Som’s temporary home and I saw a sarong stretched into a makeshift cradle with a baby inside. The air was heavy and damp, as monsoon rains have already begun and will only get worse.

The image above - which recently won the most votes in the Relief category for GlobalGiving's yearly photo contest- was snapped at that moment. As I looked at this scene of incredible vulnerability, I thought of the words from GoodWeave partner and respected exporter, Bala. Reflecting on recent months, Bala said: “Stability has been dismantled.”

The instability applies to emotions, infrastructure and to the economy. GoodWeave Nepal was retained by the International Finance Corporation to contribute data on the extent of damages to the carpet industry, because it’s a primary sector to Nepal. In our assessment, we found that at least 800 workers in our licensee supply chains had their homes totally collapse. We also estimate that 30% of carpet workers have fled the city. Some left to check on their family, others feared the outbreak of disease, and many went abroad in search of better opportunities.

At GoodWeave, our main mission is to protect children. The adult labor shortage poses a huge risk to boys and girls who are already being recruited by traffickers seizing on the tenuous situation. As a result, many conversations in the field centered on one question – how to bring adult workers back to the capital? I’m happy to report that GoodWeave is working on both a short and long-term solution.

In the short-term, GoodWeave has secured funding to support vulnerable workers to rebuild their homes, pay school fees for their children and receive psycho-social counseling. We heard that restoring stability in these fundamental ways will enable weavers to get back to work.

In the longer-term, GoodWeave is expanding its Weaving Opportunities program, which trains women in this craft and to be breadwinners for their family. It is a way to ensure that children do not fill the void on the looms and that Nepalese rugs retain their place in the world’s market.

With your support, GoodWeave is getting adults into safer homes and better jobs, so that children can be children. On behalf of Som, and the all those who are feeling a newfound sense of stability – thank you.

Gratefully,

Nina Smith

Executive Director

Som, a carpet weaver, at the factory site.

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Jul 23, 2015
"You came to us!": A story of rebuilding in Nepal.

By Nina Smith | Executive Director

Bimal at the site of his collapsed factory.

Dear GlobalGiver,

I’ve just returned from Nepal, a country still reeling from two devastating earthquakes this spring that killed nearly 9,000 people. I spent the last two weeks of June with GoodWeave’s local staff, licensed exporters, grantors, partners, as well as government officials. As a generous donor to our Earthquake Relief Fund, you are receiving this report of what I witnessed on the ground. Here is my first field update, as drafted from my room in a Kathmandu guest house:

Today, we visited the hardest hit of GoodWeave’s 75 licensed exporters in Nepal. While most are back up and running, this was a site of devastation. This is what we saw as we approached – the owner Bimal seated outside what was once a beautiful, sprawling building that had overlooked the Valley and combined his home and factory.

The first 7.8 magnitude earthquake on April 25 left the building with significant cracks. The second earthquake 16 days later brought it tumbling down. All the looms, raw materials and finished rugs inside were destroyed. Bimal and his family were left with nothing.

In the immediate aftermath of the earthquakes, GoodWeave Nepal visited Bimal and 274 other participating factories to provide emergency assistance, offering medical aid, then food, mattresses and tents to more than 5,700 workers and their families.During a second phase, the team assessed the damage and safety of weaving facilities. According to my colleagues who worked round-the-clock during those harrowing days, the owners and weavers cried out with relief: “You came to us!"

When I met with Bimal, he showed me the makeshift loom shed he built from metal sheeting – a temporary solution, but one that is more comforting than concrete. Seven weavers have returned from Sarlahi and Sindhupalchowk districts, eager to replace lost income. With support from his buyer and GoodWeave, Bimal will soon begin production on two rugs – his first order since the earthquakes.

Now, more than two months after the first quake, the initial shock has worn off – but much remains to be done. At the moment, we estimate that at least 800 individual weavers in our community have completely lost their homes to the earthquakes. As we begin to focus on longer-term rebuilding, your gift is helping us to provide housing assistance, school fees, and psychosocial support for these weavers and their families, enabling them to return to work and continue earning much-needed income. Your generosity also enables us to provide technical assistance for factories to build back better and restore jobs in the carpet industry, Nepal’s largest export sector.

On behalf of Bimal and all those who are literally rebuilding with your support – thank you.

Gratefully yours,

Nina

Bimal's granddaughter smiles for the camera.

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