“In front of my eyes I saw my house collapsing. It was built by my father and grandfather. Legacy that has been left to me remains no more,” recalled by Janak Lal Shrestha.
Janak lal Shrestha (age-69), of Ugrachandi Nala VDC, Kavre District, Nepal was harvesting potatoes with his family when April earthquake took place. Mr. Shrestha lives with his wife and four children (2-boys, 2-girls) in a temporary shelter built above debris of demolished house. The main source of income of Janak lal is Agriculture and both the Shrestha couple knit sweater when they don’t have work in field.
“In front of my eyes I saw my house collapsing. It was built by my father and grandfather. Legacy that has been left to me remains no more,” recalled by Janak Lal Shrestha.
Janak lal Shrestha (age-69), of Ugrachandi Nala VDC, Kavre District, Nepal was harvesting potatoes with his family when April earthquake took place. Mr. Shrestha lives with his wife and four children (2-boys, 2-girls) in a temporary shelter built above debris of demolished house. The main source of income of Janak lal is Agriculture and both the Shrestha couple knit sweater when they don’t have work in field.
After the devastating earthquake, for many months he along with family lived in the temporary shelter made by tarpaulin sheet. They didn’t have their own toilet, as with house they lost their toilet too. They were using neighbor’s toilet, “Using latrine of neighbor for time and again was making me distraught, but due to economic condition we didn’t have any option too.” shared by Janak Lal. During day time it was easy to share the neighbor toilet but for his age using toilet at night time was quite a risk.
Janak Lal hardly managed to build a temporary shelter with CGIs (donated by different organizations) above the debris of this old house. But he wasn’t able to build proper latrine. Being selected as a beneficiary for toilet support from CIUD, he has built toilet up to pan level inside the temporary shelter. When asked why didn’t he made a concrete wall for toilet with prospective of DRR he said, “I am planning to build a house soon, so keeping it on mind I have used wall of my neighbor and cover it with CGI so that I can build concrete wall later when I build a new house.” He seemed happy to use latrine nearby and shared with pride that, “Having own toilet near to the shelter has added value to the sanitation of my own house and to village.”
Janak lal has been actively participating in any WASH related program conducted by CIUD. He is native of Nala and feels proud to live in ODF village. So he knows the importance of sanitation and hygiene. He thinks that, after the construction of toilet he has good impression on the community. He is indebted to CIUD for the support and moreover he is thankful to the neighbor who allowed him to use toilet for long while.