Youth Build 2015

Youth Build - Habitat for Humanity Nepal

Between March 17 and 21, 2015, Habitat for Humanity (HfH) Nepal took part in the fourth annual Habitat Youth Build (HYB), a Habitat for Humanity Asia Pacific initiative dedicated to partnering with young people to create change. This year, fifteen different Asian chapters took part in HYB to combat poverty housing through building houses and providing education. HfH Nepal’s goal was mobilize 500,000 youth volunteers to build 5,000 houses. This year was a spectacular success, and this goal was easily surpassed. 7,491 houses were constructed or improved thanks to the hard work of 624,244 volunteers. 

HfH Nepal’s partner organizations were instrumental in the success of Youth Build 2015. They conducted an amazing amount of different builds and training sessions to provide decent homes for people in need, and to educate them on construction as well as hygiene and sanitation. Over 6,500 houses were constructed during Youth Build, and more than 850 were renovated, changing the lives of thousands of families around the country. 

The Rural Women Development Centre (RWDC), encouraged local people to learn construction techniques as part of the HYB, and helped to build over a thousand homes for people in need. In addition, they mobilized an amazing 285,000 volunteers, more than any other partner organization. In Kailali, the Kisan Multipurpose Co-operative Ltd taught people to make bricks and use mud plaster to build sturdy homes. Kisan also helped built 460 homes, giving locals a chance to apply their new skills.

In Morang, Jeevan Bikash educated children about the importance of keeping their environment clean and promoted personal hygiene. They also built 1,724 houses, the most of any partner organization. Mahuli Samudayik Laghubitta Bittiya Sanstha in Saptari and Kisan Nawa Pravita delivered WASH training to students and taught local people proper construction techniques.

Top Row:  A NawaPrativa build, A group from one of the Kisan Multipurpose Co-operative projects, Students practice washing their hands after receiving training from JeevanBikash in Morang.
Bottom Row:  A house constructed by the Rural Women Development Centre, Some of the students who received WASH training from Mahuli Samudayik Laghubitta Bittiya Sanstha

In addition, a number of Habitat Youth Build Ambassadors reached out and added their support to the Youth Build Campaign. Santosh Shah traveled to Sunsari to help fire victims. The well known T.V. journalist Prem Baniya helped construct houses in Ghorahi, Dang and participated in a press conference to raise awareness about poverty housing in Nepal. Reecha Sharma, the actress, painted houses in Kailali. Nirnaya Nsk not only helped in construction in Kavre, but also entertained the community by performing songs. He also advocated for better housing in Nepal. 

Clockwise from top:  PremBaniya helps construct a house in Ghorahi,  NirnayaNsk, works to build a house in Kavre, Santosh Shah helps the  families of the fire victims

Youth Build made a real difference in lives of many people in Nepal. One of the beneficiaries was Thagendra Chaudhary from Dang, a former bonded laborer who used to live with his family in a mud hut with thatched roof. The family’s poor housing situation led them to be marginalized from the community, and their hand-to-mouth existence made building a new home seem impossible. However, thanks to the hard work of volunteers during Youth Build, the family now has a new house made of bamboo with a galvanized iron sheet roof. Thagendra Chaudhary expressed his gratitude and delight, saying, “I am very pleased to have a new house. This is comparatively bigger and more comfortable. I heartily want to thank Habitat Nepal for serving needy families like mine.” 

Sharmila Chapagain, another beneficiary, exclaimed, “The future is bright,” after seeing the new house that was built for her and her two children during Youth Build by Global Village volunteers from St. John's School, in Vancouver, Canada. She had never had her own home before, but now has a safe and comfortable place to raise her family. 

From left to right: Volunteers work to build Thagendra Chaudhary’s new home, Sharmila Chapagain’s house under construction, the Global Village team from St. John’s School, Canada

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Mason Training in Dang

       One of Habitat for Humanity Nepal’s current strategic goals is to improve the lives of 24,000 Ex-Kamaiya people by 2016. Under the Kamaiya system, which was abolished in the mid-2000s, thousands of Tharu worked as bonded laborers to repay debts owed by their ancestors.  After the Kamaiya system was banned, many Tharu households received land grants from the government. However, the ex-Kamaiya communities still face a variety of problems.  Houses are basic, small, and unhygienic, and often lack access to clean water. Furthermore, land plots are often too small for traditional farming techniques.

The Ghorahi Community Development Project seeks to improve living conditions for Tharu ex-Kamaiya households in the Dang District, in the Western Region of Nepal. The project began in February 2014, and will continue until January 2017.

The participants of the training sessions with the home partners 

Habitat for Humanity held two mason training session in the village of Masina in the Ghorahi Municipality in Dang. There were two training sessions, both of which took place in Masina. The first took place from February 23 through March 1, and the second began on February 25^th and ended on March 4. Both sessions were well attended. The first session, which was sponsored by The Charitable Fund, had 33 participants, 28 of whom were women. The second, which was sponsored by Korean International Coperation Agency (KOICA) had 28 trainees, 21 of whom were women. Each session was also attended by several skilled masons, who helped train the participants.

These training sessions not only provided the participants with income generating skills, but also began construction on two houses for families in need. Bindyararani and Kaliprasad Chaudhary live in Masina with their two sons, Anup and Janak. They are seasonal farmers, but lease the land that they work on. They only own a small piece of land for their house, which was badly damaged during the monsoons last year. The heavy rains and the floods damaged the walls, and shifted the foundation enough that the whole house was tilted. 
Their neighbors, Juerani and Thaglal Chaudhary, also suffered similar problems. The walls of their house cracked due to the floods, which made the whole structure unstable.

The two families were in dire need of new homes, so that they could have a safe and sturdy place to live. Through the mason training, Habitat for Humanity Nepal was able to begin construct on these new homes, which were made of mud brick, with stone foundations. When complete, the houses will have two stories, as well as an attic.

The mason training took place over the course of a week. During this time, the participants learned how to construct a house step by step. They were taught construction techniques, how to use tools, and everything else that they needed to know in order to construct decent homes.  Every day began with an hour of theory, before the trainees went to the build site and learned from practical hands on experience.

On the first day, the participants learned how to create a foundation. They learned how to measure and dig a foundation, and on how deep it should be. They then went and dug and laid for the house. On the second day of training, the trainees laid two feet of stone masonry on the foundation, and then started laying bricks. They also created a mud floor on top of the foundation, and learned how to build a well.

Various stages in the construction process 

On the third day, the participants continued the brick work and placed window and door frames in the walls. They learned how to check if they were straight, as well as how to make a good quality mud mortar. They also began constructing a well, as access to clean water is vital for both preventing diseases and maintaining good sanitation.

The participants finished the well on the fourth day, and continued working on the brick walls. In addition, they learned to make bamboo scaffolding.  Work on the walls continued on the fifth day, where the participants also placed the timber beams that would serve as the base for the next floor.

The last two days of the program were spent finishing the first floor, and continuing to work on the second. On the final day of the program there was a certification ceremony for the participants. The participants in the KOICA session also received tools of their own, which surprised and delighted them.

HFH Nepal collected feedback from the participants, all of whom said they were very happy with the training. They were all excited to apply the skills that they had learned, and many of them said that they would help their neighbors and relatives with masonry problems.

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Japanese GV Team Feb 8-18th, 2015 - Parsa, Nepal

Parsa Build

Masiyani is a small village of around 130 houses in the Parsa district. The community is poor, and most of the people living there are illiterate. The nearest school is three kilometers away. Houses are mostly made of mud, and are poorly ventilated. Clean drinking water is rare, as are modern toilets and sanitation.

Lalsa Kumari and Munni Devi, two residents of the village, were in need of urgent help. The houses that they lived in with their families were starting to fall down around them, letting in the cold weather and the elements. On February 8^th, a team of Japanese students and a teacher from Kwansei Gakuin University arrived to build them better homes

The Global Village Team and the Home Partners in front of the new home

The volunteers had fun constructing the houses. While the work was sometimes physically demanding, it was also gratifying. The volunteers especially enjoyed plastering the houses, and mixing mud with the homeowners. Spending time with the women and their families was one of their favorite parts of the trip. Whenever the volunteers had time off from their work, they would play with the local children, who were all very excited by what was going on. The team was surprised by how close they became to their home partners, and how welcoming the community was. 

From left to right: Maho plasters the walls, Rika cuts bamboo, Sayaka says goodbye to the families 

There were a number challenges the team had to face. One was the lack of toilets and proper sanitation. As well as building houses, they also had to construct a temporary toilet facility. However, this challenge led to greater progress. The villagers were very impressed by the facility, and the principle of the local school highly encouraged parents to build something similar, promising a few extra marks for their child if they did so.

While there were other challenges, including the language barrier, and the distance of the site from the hotel, through hard work and perseverance, the team was able to overcome these to complete two houses.  Lalsa Kumari and Munni Devi were delighted with their new homes, which were constructed of bamboo and brick respectively. They thanked the volunteers for giving them a decent place to live and to raise their families.

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Meeting with Youth Ambassadors for ‘Habitat Youth Build 2015

On February 26^th, Habitat for Humanity Nepal had its first meeting for Habitat Youth Build (HYB) with new and existing ambassadors. HYB is a Habitat for Humanity International initiative dedicated to partnering with youth to create change. This will be the fourth year that HYB has taken place. This year, Habitat for Humanity (HfH) Nepal aims to serve 15,000 families across Asia during HYB, raise over U.S. $ 500,000, and mobilize more than one million volunteers.

Youth ambassadors along with supporting ambassadors and HfH staffs pose for a picture

Aruna Simittrarachchi, the former Country Director of Habitat for Humanity Nepal, introduced Habitat for Humanity’s work in Nepal, and talked about the organization’s future goals. HfH Nepal has helped over 58,000 families since it started working in 1997. The organization has nearly 800 partners, and works in 40 districts. HfH Nepal aims to help 100,000 people and work in 62 districts by 2015. HfH Nepal has won a number of awards for its work, the most recent being the first category prize in AGFUND 2014.

Lala Baldelovar, the Resource Development Manager for Habitat for Humanity Nepal, introduced HYB to the youth ambassadors. She explained that over the past three years, HYB has served around three thousand families around Asia. In 2013, there were approximately 800,000 participants from eleven different countries. This year, fifteen different Asian chapters will take part in HYB. They are: Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, Fiji, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, the Philippines, Nepal, New Zealand, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Vietnam and South Korea. The countries support the program in different ways. For example, last year Japan raised funds for the program, Bangladesh build houses, and Nepal and the Philippines campaigned for better housing. This year, Japan and South Korea are sending 400 and 300 volunteers respectively on Global Village teams to different countries, including Nepal, as part of HYB.

Sushma Shrestha, Habitat for Humanity Nepal’s Program Development Manager, shared HFHN’s plan for HYB. In Nepal, youths will assemble to demand stronger commitments to build one million houses by 2016. This year, HfH Nepal aims to build 5,000 houses in 40 districts by mobilizing 500,000 volunteers as part of HYB.

The meeting ended with a discussion where the ambassadors agreed they would support Habitat Youth Build. “Habitat for Humanity teaches us to respect what we have,” said Nirnaya Shrestha, one of the youth ambassadors and a performing artist, in reference to the importance of the project.  The youth leaders were enthusiastic about the Youth Build, and suggested a number of ideas to make the event even more effective. Prem Baniya, a TV journalist, proposed a media campaign, and emphasized the importance of media partners. He also discussed the benefits of engaging schools and universities. All of the Youth Ambassadors will take part in HYB and travel to different parts of the country to influence and mobilize youths. 

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