Red Crosser Diana Coulter is currently in Nepal, where she is sharing updates on how the Canadian Red Cross is providing aid after the recent earthquakes. Here is her previous update on helping to save lives of mothers and babies in Nepal.
Tucked in her mother’s lap, two-year-old Sandya Tamang watches other children build blocks, count wooden beads, and tussle over stuffed toys.
It’s Sandya’s first day at the play space created by the Canadian Red Cross for children affected by the Nepal earthquakes; but she isn’t quite ready to join the fun.
Her family of six arrived a week ago from the Haku area, high on steep mountain slopes that crumbled and destroyed an estimated 90 per cent of the homes there. Located across a deep valley from Dhunche, where the Canadian Red Cross now operates a field hospital, Haku was home to about 2,000 people before the earthquakes. But now many, like Sandya’s family, have moved to safer ground, and are living in tents and under tarpaulins on grass terraces around Dhunche.
The monsoon rains will start soon and bring the added threat of more landslides, so Sandya’s mother, Ranimaya Tamang, said they had to leave their home behind.
The family was in their house when the disaster happened and some were hit by falling stone walls as they ran for safety. No one was killed but the dwelling was destroyed, she recalled.
“We came here because we had no shelter or place to stay, so this is a good place, especially for our children. We are very sad but we are here now,” she said. “I think to play here will make my children feel better.”
The family was pleased to discover both the Canadian field hospital and the play space for children, Ranimaya said.
To create the play area, Red Cross donated a large white tent, and toys to help children deal with their emotional trauma after the disaster.
Set up in a Dhunche schoolyard, the play area is open to children for several hours each morning. Recently, about 25 kids played there, while Sandya, her sister, Revika, 4, and grandmother Jiptong Tamang, 64, looked on.
“It is their first day here so they are scared,” said Ranimaya of her children. “But I heard this is a very good place, so I brought them here.”
Revika is enrolled at the school, thanks to funds sent by a relative overseas. But the family is sharing a tent, divided in two by a curtain, and just hoping they can make it through the monsoon. They brought few possessions from Haku because the trek was long and hard.
An added difficulty is that Ranimaya’s husband is disabled. His left arm and foot were damaged in a childhood accident, and he walks with a severe limp. After arriving in Dhunche, he sought medical care at the Red Cross field hospital and had minor surgery for a bowel problem.
“We feel good here because we have found many of the things we need for our family. We are feeling better. We can be more comfortable,” said Ranimaya.
Canadians are encouraged to donate to the Nepal Region Earthquake Fund.