Tag: uttarakhand
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Prayers for Nepal
The reconstruction work that has been done after the Uttarakhand Floods of 2013 by Amma’s “Embracing the World” teams and other NGO’s could not have been completed without the help of Nepali workers. With grace, they have shouldered the burden of carrying construction materials over very steep trails to all of our housing sites. Their women break rock all day along the riverside, making gravel so we can pour concrete. They live for months in makeshift camps along the river, working to provide for their families back in Nepal. Please pray for these wonderful, gentle people as they return home…
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Actively supporting education in Uttarakhand
When I saw this room, I thought it had been abandoned for some time. Instead, I was shocked to find it was an active classroom in use only one week before. Judging by the posters left on the wall, this is a science classroom. As response to the immediate needs of Uttarakhand flood victims wraps up, Amma has asked us to focus on education to benefit the overall population. Our approach is four fold: 1) Using the labor of IVUSA volunteer students from Japan, we have demolished two old classroom buildings like the one above at Inter-colleges in Kandara and…
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Constructive destruction
Nothing is wasted and a great care is taken to keep everything from the demolition. Each stone is kept aside for the construction of the new building and the boards can be used for making benches and desks for the schools.
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Role models
More important than the physical work our team of Japanese students can accomplish, is the example of selfless service they provide for the young children and adults in the villages. Today in Kandara, it was most apparent. The teachers sat and read newspapers, men played cards, younger boys flirted with the Japanese girls. They had no idea to participate in building new classrooms that would benefit their own children. A few young girls came out to help, desperately attaching themselves to the Japanese girls. They have no role models for a life other than the women they see carrying grass…
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And the walls came tumbling down
After two days of heavy rain and cold which interfered with their work schedule. Two days work was completed in one. In true Amma fashion, all of the rubble is sorted for reuse: large stones, small stones, timbers, and tin sheets.
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Japanese university students at Uttarakhand
For the second year in a row, Japanese university students have come to Chandrapuri to help with Amma’s Uttarakhand Rehabilitation Projects. Last year they built houses for flood victims. This year 65 members of International Volunteer University Students Association will focus their work on two area schools. After two days travel from Delhi by train and bus, the students went immediately to work assembling new classroom desk and bench sets to be presented by MAM to 100 local schools. Earlier they were warmly welcomed by the community plus very special guestsEducation Minister Mantri Prasad Naithani and MLA (Kedarnath) Shaila Rani…
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They have an “Amma House”
Five people live in this beautiful one bedroom home, Dharmendra, his wife, and two children, plus his mother. There is a kitchen on the far end, bedroom in the middle, a sitting room at the front, plus the small veranda all packed into just 400 square feet. The kitchen is clean, bright, and very spacious by Indian standards. Dharmendra made the built-in cabinet/altar himself using plywood scraps from construction. Now they have an “Amma House”. – Scotti
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Four families, one house
One of the largest landslides from last years Uttarakhand flooding started far above the Mandakini River at Bhiri. Houses were destroyed, but because it happened one week after the flood, the government considered this a seperate incident. The affected families did not qualify for the same level of aid as other flood victims. We found five families living in tin sheds on a steep, unstable slope. They had no resources to relocate. In June, an experienced construction team arrived from West Bengal led by Br Ratnakar. On much more stable land, this unique four unit building plus a single…
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Uttarkashi houses
Three years ago, a group of houses in the village of Siror, near Uttarkashi, began to slide into the Ganges. Families were given temporary shelters like the blue structure below, on the left. However, they were not scheduled for any further assistance to build better homes. Many would be living in these tin sheds for years to come. In June of this year, MAM began construction of fourteen permanent homes on stable farmland around this village. Although the sites had no road access, after just five months the homes are within days of completion. Families are eager to move in,…