Group of Young Nepal Architects at work in Jhapa with Habitat……

Railing Completed

Helping others lead a better life without any selfishness is a very noble task. Three architects from Nepal; Ashmita Thapa, Indira Manandhar and Pooja Gautam volunteered for HFHI in Jhapa. They worked from Nov 18-20th 2007 along with Samjhauta Nepal. They helped in building bamboo railings and weaving bamboo walls and learnt about the technology of HFHI-Nepal.
The young professional architects received great experience, knowledge and technique about bamboo housing through working with Habitat which will help them further in their work. They began their work in PrithiviNagar VDC, Jhapa. They learnt more about Habitat as an organization, its mission, working procedure and various other details. This gave them a clearer picture of how Habitat is working through community's involvement and microfinance to enable people to have decent houses to live in. They also learnt how Habitat has been motivating women to come forward participate in social activities. This gave them a clearer picture about how they were going to work with the community and motivated them more to work properly. Later, they visited the work site and talked to Habitat personnel and Samjhauta Nepal staff for all the technical details. The team then helped in building the bamboo railings. The villagers shared their ideas about how the railings should be built and they worked accordingly. They tried their best to make the most out bamboo and implement it for cost effective housing.

Making holes for Rails

Bamboo, if used properly can prove to be an excellent material for people with low income. It is strong and requires very low maintenance. Determined to help the community by keeping Habitat's mission in mind, the architects toiled a lot to weave walls and also intermingled with the local community. The villagers shared their gratitude and were impressed by the service offered by these young people. An old home partner woman shared, "you are god sent angels for me, and you made my dreams come true."

The work experience, they explained, was tremendously fruitful. They had learnt a lot through each activity. One architect shared, "We are really overwhelmed to see what Habitat is doing for the community. The women are getting a chance to participate actively and also build better habitats for themselves. “They gained more experience of construction through locally available materials. Also, they were overwhelmed to know about the developing status of women in the society. Apart from this; a poor family in Jhapa got a decent house to live in.

The Team

For Habitat too, it was a gainful experience. HFHI - Nepal is proud of young, versatile people showing interest to work for the organization. This will help the organization extend its service to wider areas. The architects left by sharing their views about cost effective construction. The team is now more motivated to work and serve the community. They have also shown additional interest to research on locally available materials through Habitat itself.