A volunteer from Nepal shares her story on World Humanitarian Day
#WomenHumanitarians
The Lutheran World Information Centre
When Amrita Rai was only nine years old, she was forced to leave her home in Bhutan and move to Nepal, where she grew up among people who struggled to find shelter, food and clean water.
At that early age, she decided that when she grew up she would devote her life to serving vulnerable people – those who lack safety and protection.
Now, at the age of 36, Rai works voluntarily and tirelessly in the Sanischare refugee camp in Nepal and in the wider community on refugee reception – working with women, children and older people to help them achieve a better life.
As the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) country director for Nepal, Dr. Prabin Manandhar, says, “Amrita Rai is a role model. Our society needs many Amritas to fight against injustice and inequality”.
The LWF in Nepal, with the support of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), has provided shelter to Bhutanese refugees since 1991, finding long-term solutions to increase self-reliance by providing opportunities to obtain housing and protection.
Bringing change to people’s lives
About 6,500 Bhutanese refugees have lived in the Sanischare and Beldangi refugee camps since the end of the resettlement programme in December 2018. Women make up about 35 percent of their residents. Many experience double discrimination – both because they are women, and because they are refugees.
At the age of twenty-three, Rai joined the association of the Federation of Woman Entrepreneurs of Nepal, drawing the public’s attention to the malnutrition of children, promoting the building of women’s self-confidence and self-reliance, as well as educating them in bamboo handicrafts, mushroom cultivation and jute production.
For nine years, Rai worked in the Reclamation Gardening programme, promoting organic vegetable production, organising groups in communities and teaching them about the dangers arising from excessive use of pesticides.
By distributing seedlings and ensuring appropriate vegetation, the community activist also wanted to share people’s sorrows and change the lives of these women. In 2017 she left her well-paid job and joined the Bhutanese Refugee Women’s Forum (BRWF) to do volunteer work.
Defending refugees’ rights
She soon became the secretary of the BRWF, providing women with counselling and encouraging them to become financially independent and offering help when needed. In 2018, Rai was appointed as a focal point for issues of sexual and gender-based violence, taking on the task of monitoring such cases and reporting on them.
In the case of the rape of a fourteen-year-old child, she submitted a report to the local police, but they were not responsive. She raised this issue at a meeting of the Child Protection Working Group (CPWG) and, together with UNHCR and the LWF, arranged a meeting with the deputy mayor and the local police, in order to ensure that matters involving refugees would be taken seriously.
Now the local police consult with her on matters concerning the refugee camp.
In July a child was abducted, and Rai, in cooperation with the local community and the police, found the child in Ilam and quickly secured the child’s rescue. Afterwards she gave the rescued child advice on safety.
In 2018, Rai invited the International Home Care organisation (IHC) to see the difficult conditions that elderly people face in refugee camps. The IHC agreed to build a Seniors’ Recreation Centre, which about 80 older people visited each month to socialise, rest and have a good time.
She has also pushed the local government to provide free health check-ups and medicine.
“I am truly happy about it. It is something I speak about with pride – that I changed the lives of so many vulnerable seniors,” says Rai.
Volunteer work after the 2015 earthquake
Rai’s passion for humanitarian aid is not confined to the Sanischare refugee camp alone. When a donation programme was organised in her place of residence for people who survived the 2015 Nepal earthquake, she collected funds for support and sent them to Sindhupalchok, which is one of the worst-affected areas. She has also donated a month’s supply of food to earthquake survivors.
“When I see people helping other people, I rejoice and gain hope for humanity. I know what hardship is, because I have faced it myself, and I know how much even a little bit of help can do,” Amrita Rai, volunteer.
Despite all that she has done for the area where she lives, Rai is sometimes criticised for having left a well-paid job for volunteer work. Despite that, she never lets such thoughts darken her soul.
Rai, a mother of three children, one of whom is adopted, having been separated from his parents at an early age, hopes that the children will achieve even more than she has herself in the field of humanitarian aid. She is also raising a child who has dropped out of school and who has behavioural problems.
“When I see people helping other people, I rejoice and gain hope for humanity. I know what hardship is, because I have faced it myself, and I know how much even a little bit of help can do.”
“This is what I want to do in life, and this is what I will always do,” Rai concludes.
Article from the LWF in Nepal
Kathmandu, Nepal / Geneva
16.08.2019.
Source: Lutheran World Federation news
Photo: LWF Nepal