Improving lives on the margins of Nepalese society

LOUISVILLE — High in the mountains of Nepal, hundreds of remote hill villages dot the landscape in a terrain that is as precarious and vulnerable as the people themselves.

People like Dilliram Bhatta.

Bhatta, his wife, Goma, their two sons and his elderly parents live not only at the edges of society but also on the margins of disaster in the world’s 11th most earthquake-prone country.

Because the village of Gorkha, where Bhatta and his family live, has historically had no source of clean drinking water, he and the other villagers regularly walked 45 minutes down the hill to get water for their households and livestock, only to have to carry it all the way back home.

Water scarcity became even worse for the village when, in April 2015, a massive earthquake hit Nepal, killing some 9,000 people and injuring nearly 22,000 others in the worst natural disaster to strike the country since 1934.

And Gorkha was the 2015 earthquake’s epicenter.

The unprecedented disaster left catastrophic damage in its wake, including the destruction of the village’s closest water supply, leaving Bhatta and the other families no choice but to travel even farther for water. Their appeals to the local government for a solution to their water crisis proved fruitless.

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But Juneli Nepal — a small nonprofit run primarily by women — heard their cries.

Founded shortly after the earthquake, Juneli Nepal sprang into action to provide urgent relief to earthquake victims while continuing to honor its original mission of improving the lives of Nepalese girls and women by confronting gender-based untouchability in Nepalese society.

Today, under the leadership of its 30-year-old president, Anjila Khadka, the organization works to empower Nepalese communities and individuals by addressing such systemic issues as inadequate infrastructure and lack of access to education, skills training, health-care services, proper hygiene, basic human and women’s rights and disaster preparedness.

To address Gorkha’s — and Bhatta’s — immediate need, Juneli Nepal worked in collaboration with Presbyterian Disaster Assistance (PDA) and the local government to provide the village with its own water supply. By 2018, a total of 75 households were provided with safe, clean drinking water.

“Juneli Nepal aligns with PDA’s values of compassion, collaboration and empowerment, working alongside communities to rebuild infrastructure, restore livelihoods and strengthen resilience against future disasters,” said Khadka. “The villagers appealed for the drinking water, and thanks to PDA we were happy and lucky to solve the problem.”

The humanitarian mission of Juneli Nepal is made possible, in part, through a grant from PDA, which is in turn supported by Presbyterians’ generous gifts to One Great Hour of Sharing.

For more than 75 years, the Offering’s purpose of helping neighbors in need around the world remains constant, giving the PC(USA) and other Christian denominations a tangible way to share God’s love. In addition to PDA, One Great Hour of Sharing also benefits the ministries of the Presbyterian Hunger Program and Presbyterian Committee on the Self-Development of People.

Although the Offering may be taken anytime, most congregations receive it on Palm Sunday or Easter Sunday, which this year fall on April 13 and 20, respectively.

"The work that Juneli Nepal has done in partnership with PDA is a very strong testimony of what working together looks like for sustainable change,” said PDA director the Rev. Edwin González-Castillo. “Through our joint efforts, we are able to provide not just immediate relief but long-term solutions that empower communities in Gorkha to rebuild their lives again with dignity and hope.”

In collaboration with Khadka and others in the organization, González-Castillo said that they are working toward addressing the root causes of vulnerability so that communities are better prepared to face future challenges, of which there are many in Nepal.

Khadka — a young entrepreneur and a trained social worker as well as the owner of both a small hotel and a jacket-manufacturing factory — said that one of the most critical problems in the country today is “brain drain” because of Nepal’s unfavorable economic conditions and lack of job opportunities.

“We are missing youth in our country these days,” said Khadka. “They’re flying to the U.S. or to Australia or Canada for studies and they are settling there and not coming back to Nepal. Juneli Nepal is trying to keep the people in the villages by helping them build their own small companies, start small agricultural or livestock farms, or give them sewing or electrician training. And PDA is not only helping us empower the people back in the villages; it is also helping to get young people to stay in the country and work for the people.”

Before the 2015 earthquake, Khadka said she never imagined that she’d be doing social work.

“Growing up in a small city, I was privileged to have a good life and education,” she said. “I never knew the villages, but after the earthquake when we started going there, I came to know that people in our country are suffering so much. In the villages, life is terrible. People are living with the bare minimum.”

Yet thanks to One Great Hour of Sharing, life for the villagers has steadily begun to improve.

Khadka could see it in the faces of Bhatta’s elderly parents when they asked her to express their gratitude to the PC(USA) for helping to solve the village’s — and their family’s — water issue.

“Giving to this Offering helps build a sense of global community and solidarity, reminding Presbyterians that their contributions are part of a larger effort to bring about positive change and address systemic issues,” said Khadka. “Giving generously to One Great Hour of Sharing is a way to live out the Christian values of compassion and service. It reflects the call to love and support our neighbors, both locally and globally, without any discrimination, in line with Jesus’ teachings.”

Through One Great Hour of Sharing and the generosity of its donors, Presbyterian Disaster Assistance and its partners like Juneli Nepal will be able to continue to extend God's love to the most vulnerable.

“This is a very tangible example of how this Offering enables us to provide support in times of crisis as, together, PDA and Juneli Nepal work toward long-term development,” added González-Castillo. “This is what the gifts to this Offering do: help transform communities, bring hope and healing where it’s most needed, make a difference in life around the world and express Christ’s commitment to justice."

Give to One Great Hour of Sharing to enable Presbyterian Disaster Assistance to respond quickly to catastrophic events.