The child who was trapped, and the house that followed
- Published
- Reading time
- 1 min
- Written by
- MRN
- Filed under
- Reconstruction
Aggregate numbers are how a rebuilding programme is judged. They are not how it is experienced.
In May 2016 the organisation published a photograph taken by Kamal Bhatta, its country director, outside one of the completed transition homes at Sipapokhare. The child in it had been trapped in the earthquake the previous year. The house was funded by the Greater Rochester Nepali Society in the United States, whose name is on the plaque above the door.
The organisation kept the details brief and did not dwell on the rescue. What it emphasised instead was the chain: a community association in upstate New York, a wire transfer, a procurement manager, a mule track, a plaque, and a family with a roof.
Kamal Bhatta led the Nepal team through the second half of the programme, taking over from Kirti Thapa. Both are named in the president's account of the project as the people who made a US-registered charity function in a district with no road access.
