Humanitarian Efforts in Nepal prove challenging

Taking the initiative to raise funds to help others in need of food relief, CCF Partner and Nepali citizen, Kesang Yudron, shares her experience with us.

Kesang purchasing wholesale food for distribution

Kesang purchasing wholesale food for distribution

by Kesang Yudron

In response to the Covid-19 public health crisis, Nepal, like many countries, announced a lockdown on March 24, 2020. For a developing country like Nepal, the lockdown has come at an immense cost, pushing 22% of the population already living under $1.25 a day towards extreme poverty. With the extension of the lockdown in Kathmandu, the homeless and daily wage earners and their families cannot afford to buy food and essential medicines. Municipalities and ward councils throughout the country have been carrying out food relief distribution programs targeting the poor, daily wage earners, and other vulnerable groups. However, there have been many reports of deserving people being left out, and in some cases sub-standard food has been distributed. 

Thirty years ago, my family, who are Tibetan refugees, built a small house in a neighborhood in the old city of Kathmandu. The surrounding community is full of rickshaw drivers, small vendors, and tailors. Wage workers live in small rental spaces close to the tourist hub, where they gather and find work for the day. A majority of them come from villages in search for a better life for them and their families. Their families are dependent on them sending money home. 

Distributing food in metal box maker Alum’s shop

Distributing food in metal box maker Alum’s shop

The other week, while I was relaxing at our family’s new space, which is far from the old city, I received a panicked phone call from Alum. Alum is a box maker living in our old neighborhood. He said that he didn’t have enough food for his family for the next week. They hail from the Terai but were unable to return home due to the immediate implementation of the lockdown. Because he is not an official residential constituent of Kathmandu, he had been left out of the ward’s food relief program.

I felt a concoction of apathy, guilt, compassion and anger. Having lived in the old city, I knew that the spiral of poverty is a greater fear than the pandemic for many people, not just Alum.

I called some friends to raise money for these food insecure communities. Conscious Connections Foundation, a foundation based in Spokane, was especially generous, thanks to my contact there, Denise.

My plan was to work with Hiteri, a social organization based in Kathmandu, which has been very active in food relief to vulnerable communities  amid the lockdown.  Separately, I wanted to do a food distribution in my old neighborhood in coordination with the ward.

My aunt, who lives within walking distance from our old neighborhood, went to meet ward representatives and get a feel for what was happening on the ground. My aunt met an individual in front of the ward office who claimed to be a ward representative who was collecting funds to feed people every day.  

Pemala and volunteers dividing about 2 weeks supply of food into packets for 53 families.

Pemala and volunteers dividing about 2 weeks supply of food into packets for 53 families.

Afterwards, my mother, sister, and I joined my aunt to buy the necessary supplies from a wholesaler in Naya Bazaar neighborhood.  On our walk through the empty streets, I noticed a man and his daughter peering through a small window in an old brick house overlooking the streets. Their only window to get fresh air after being cooped up for over a month.  These tight spaces make “social distancing’ a luxury only the privileged can afford.

In Naya Bazar, we bought sacks of rice, lentils, cooking oil, salt, sugar, and tea for the needy families.  Our contact from the ward came in a private vehicle to pick up the food relief. We went to my aunt’s house and, with the help of some friends, divided the rations into approximately 53 sets for 53 families. Then we reloaded the vehicle and headed off toward our old neighborhood. The car sagged with the weight of all the food. 

 
 
Distributing food to those who have slipped through the cracks of government aid

Distributing food to those who have slipped through the cracks of government aid

We distributed relief in an open area, with four volunteers directing recipients to maintain social distancing. Everything felt like it was going as planned until a policeman came by and asked us to come to the municipality ward office.  Our contact from the local ward clinic slipped away at this point, and we went to the ward office alone. I sensed some tension between our ward contact and the police, but didn’t think it was something to worry about.

As soon as we entered the ward office, the ward chairman began angrily berating us for giving food relief in his neighborhood without coordinating with him. We were confused because our contact had assured us that he was affiliated to the ward, and his local clinic was assisting us with the relief work. However, we would later find out that our contact had lied to us—in fact, he was not an elected representative, but rather a political rival of the ward chairman. This is no doubt part of the reason why the ward chairman was so angry.

The chairman threatened to throw us in jail for 10 years. To this my sister said, “You are treating us like criminals when all we did is distribute food to people in need. How do normal citizens jump over government loopholes to help people in need?”

To this the ward officer said, “What you did was criminal and you should be punished.”

It was a messy hour filled with a cocktail of fear, anger and humiliation.  We knew from the beginning we needed to work with the ward, and we had tried to do so.  Unfortunately, we had been duped and made a mistake.

All the same, was there a need for the ward chairman to be so angry?  I was reminded of the saying, “No good deed goes unpunished.”  We swallowed our pride and reached a common ground by promising to provide more relief materials directly to the ward office. 

Donation of food purchased by CCF donations to the Hiteri Foundation

Donation of food purchased by CCF donations to the Hiteri Foundation

Towards the end of the day, we met with Kusum Tamang-Poudel from Hiteri, a non-profit doing relief work in other areas around the city. We donated 18 sacks of rice, 4 sacks of lentils, and 10 cartons of oil. In the areas where she was working, she said that hunger is “immediate and immense.”

Small non-profits like Hiteri are continuing to fill the hunger gaps for people who are on the fringes of society, including people who don’t have any form of identification, a prerequisite for receiving food relief from the government. Kusum said that local governments hassle her and her team every day. It was part and parcel of the work. Nonetheless, she and her three volunteers were continuing to work compassionately and tirelessly satiating people’s hunger around the city. I think, they’ve been the true heroes during this pandemic.  

Kesang and volunteers working with the municipality to distribute food

Kesang and volunteers working with the municipality to distribute food

A few days later, we bought more food essentials to the local ward officials and accompanied their team to witness the distribution process. They did a thorough job keeping records of the recipients, and they tried to maintain the WHO-recommended standards for social distancing.

With the extension of the lockdown until May 15, vulnerable communities are to be in a very precarious position. It is essential to make sure that the poorest and most needy are not left out of government relief programs. 

It gives me hope that in these difficult times, many private citizens are coming forward to help. While the government needs to continue its work and maintain oversight of the overall process, government officials should keep in mind that citizens trying to help are their friends, not their enemies.