The women rebuilding Nepal

They’re recovering from an earthquake and coming back even stronger. From the woman training and employing women to weave, to the women building houses and bringing clean water to their communities. Nepalese community members spoke with two amazing women from the UK, Hifsa and Jacqui, about how life has changed for them since the disaster.

How are farmers using polytunnels to make a decent living?

Local farmers growing cabbages, broccoli, potatoes, tomatoes, chillis and more talked to Oxfam supporter Jacqui about their farming techniques.

“This is something completely new that we are doing,” said farmer Kamala, who farms tomatoes in the Arghakhanchi district of Nepal.

This woman trains others how to weave

Sunita, who lost her business after the Nepal earthquake has now reestablished it – with support from Oxfam and Fair Trade Group Nepal. She employs ten women.

“We give them looms and provide training as well as work,” Sunita said.

Engineers in Nepal have come up with this gravity fed water system

Looking out over deep, deep valleys in Nepal, local engineers tell Oxfam supporter Jacqui about their community water tanks.

“We lost many things in this place. We were struggling for a long time to fix the problem of proper water supply,” said Sushila, who lives in a village in the Dhading district of Nepal, where the earthquake made the underground water supply move and the existing water supply completely dried up.

“The engineers came up with this fantastic gravity fed water system where there’s no pumps required. It doesn’t matter if it rains or not, the water still comes from underground.” supporter Jacqui said.

This community built a space that helps empower women

Women in the Nepalgunj district of Nepal sing songs about empowerment. They spoke with Oxfam supporter Hifsa about their women’s group, which is supported by Oxfam’s partner Social Awareness Concerned. Social Awareness Concerned work to reduce child marriage and violence against women, to protect and empower women and girls. Sita Pun, a member of the Sathi Community Discussion Centre said, “when women get married at a young age, we face and suffer many difficulties. We do not want to see our children suffering.”

“We are happy.” These women in Nepal are building houses and bringing in clean water tanks

Women on local management committees in Nepal told Oxfam supporter Hifsa about what they are building.

One woman, 25 year-old Kopila is the Treasurer of the Water User Committee in a village in the Dhading district in Nepal. She said, “before, water came directly from the pipe. We drank dirty water. Now we will be able to drink clean water directly from the tank.”

Reflecting on their conversations in Nepal, Oxfam supporter Hifsa said, “I don’t want to leave a world for my children and my grandchildren where they are still having to worry about the rest of the world. I want to start creating a world that is a lot more fair because I think it’s our duty.”