Children maimed in post-quake Nepal
More than two years after the 2015 earthquake, temporary shelters are still a way of life for many Nepalese families. But the makeshift homes are no place for children. Kirsty Lawrence witnessed what can happen to those forced to live in these shelters
magnitude 7.8 earthquake in April 2015.
Its primary focus, when established in 2008, was to support people who had suffered burns in accidents or from acts of violence. But the 2015 quake has changed that.
About 100,000 people are still living in temporary shelters, cooking with basic means in a confined space. It has proved to be a recipe for heartache.
‘‘Because they cook on an open cooking fire... they put vessels on the floor with hot water, hot oil and the kids [trip on] the vessel and get burnt, and there are so many cases like that,’’ says volunteer co-ordinator Laetitia Vanderstichelen.
‘‘Most of the time they come from very low economic backgrounds.’’
Krish Bista is nine months old and has been in the hospital for three months. He was lying next to an open fire in a temporary shelter while his mother went out to collect water. When she returned, she found him alight.
Both his legs had to be amputated. His mother, Parbati Bista, 25, worries about what more life can take from her son.
Her husband is living in Malaysia, where work is easier to find and better paid, so it is up to her to care for Krish while he is in hospital. Her other children, who are 8, 5 and 3, are being looked after by relatives back in her village, Dadeldhura. The children’s walk to school each day takes three to four hours. Krish will never join them.
‘‘Often I don’t want to eat because I’m scared. Who will support him?’’ Bista says. Burns Violence Survivors is helping cover medical costs, but without legs she does not know how Krish will survive. Bista says she might have to consider adopting him out, ‘‘if someone can take care of him for life’’.
Tears start to roll down her face as she struggles to speak. Cases like Bista’s have put Burns Violence Survivors under strain at a time when money is tight in Nepal.
New Zealander Rosie Heaton is one of its volunteers. She says Burns Violence Survivors Nepal relied on the UK for most of its funding, but this dropped by 15 per cent overnight due to Brexit.
In some cases, ongoing support for injuries needs to last years: ‘‘If their accident involves amputation of a limb, our need to support them multiplies as a future life as a labourer or farm worker is no longer viable.’’
Vanderstichelen says Burns Violence Survivors helps support victims and pay for medical expenses, but it is on a caseby-case basis.
‘‘We are the only organisation working for burns patients.
‘‘We saw this problem coming and it’s important to support these patients because they already have nothing, not even a house.’’
But the children, burnt and scarred, can still sparkle.
Walking around the hospital, little smiles peak out from behind their mothers’ hips. All of the mothers look young. Sapana Sitaula, 19, is caring for her 3-year-old daughter Grishma. She burnt both her hands after dipping them in a pot of hot oil.
Sitaula says it was sitting on the ground in their temporary shelter.
Her husband Gokul Sitaula, 21, was working in Malaysia and had not managed to send any money home yet.
It is a familiar scenario – Nepalese men travelling to other countries, desperate for a steady income to support their families.
The family is from Gorkha, one of the hardest-hit districts in the earthquake. They lost their home and land.
Before the quake, Gokul had been a waiter in Kathmandu. He was gone only a month before his daughter was burned.
Sitaula said he would be working in Malaysia for three years, hoping to earn enough to buy a house.
Until then, a temporary shelter was the only option.
Sitaula said her brother-in-law was helping pay for her daughter’s care and it was expected they would pay him back. Somehow.
Gauri Karki, a nurse on the children’s ward, said this situation was common, and some families had no money at all.
The hospital would provide a bed and food free of charge, but no treatment unless Burns Violence Survivors stepped in.
But the charity is also unsure about its own future, with a growing demand and diminishing funding.
‘‘Too many worthwhile charities are fighting for the same dollar,’’ says Heaton, ‘‘which complicates our fundraising efforts – in a time when it has been never been as important.’’
You can donate to Burns Violence Survivors at its Givealittle page.