In connection with its post-earthquake activities, ICA Nepal is working in close collaboration with ICA Japan for renovating the learning center for women and children in Changunarayan. Along with this, programs for senior citizens and children are also being planned. The learning center for women and children was built by ICA Nepal.
A great deal of household damage and many injuries were reported after the earthquake in Changunarayan. This has left many people psychologically traumatized for several months now. Hence, the current project for renovating the learning center along with support for women, senior citizens and children.
Women, senior citizens and children are those most affected. Therefore to help heal them psychologically and to provide a safe and suitable environment, ICA Nepal is planning to construct a senior day care near the learning center that senior citizens can come to during the day time and return to their home in the evening. Various engagement and psychologically supportive activities would be carried out there on a weekly basis as well. At the same place, a play zone for children will be constructed to help with the normalization of the children. This program doesn’t just focus on earthquake rehabilitation, but rather it will be for the long term support fof senior citizens and children. Similarly, the program will also include a women empowerment approach by providing income generation training for them.
ICA Nepal is working to generate resources to build permanent houses for earthquake survivors. From this perspective, we are in the process of communicating with our peer ICAs, including ICA Japan and ICA Australia. Currently, we are planning to build permanent houses in the Khatrithok village of Sindhupalchowk district. Along with that, the planning sessions for building a permanent shelter for 25 people with disabilities, are going on with ICA Australia.
ICA Nepal is also receiving varied support through its volunteers from India and the USA, this is for a new initiative in the building of Earthship homes. This would give continuation to our work at Changunaryan where we built an Earthbag home for an earthquake victim.
ICA Nepal is very grateful for all the support received during the earthquake relief and recovery phase. We would like to thank Emerging Ecology for providing donations of a significant amount after the earthquake which proved to be hugely helpful for earthquake victims. A special thanks to Peter who is helping us update our website and helped us throughout the period when ICA Nepal’s website was hacked.
Besides the earthquake rehabilitation programs, ICA Nepal is speeding up its NGO support programs which would help various NGOs grow their impact on society.
Also, check out the ICA Nepal blog for more updates.
This post was first published in the Global Buzz, August 2015.