” I feel odd living in a tent. I am eager to see my new home. My father told me that the new house is very good.“- Tsering Dolker (fourteen year old Tsering Dolker is living in Spituk Angling Pang Relief camp for over two months. Hindustan Prefab Limited is constructing a bamboo room for them and the rest of the families living in the relief camp.)
A local ladakhi saying “Water is warm, sand is cold” in context with using cement in construction of houses. All the traditional Ladakhi houses are made of mud blocks and the practice still continues. – Sadiq, a mason from Kargil
“Volunteering is not new to Ladakh. In some villages, whenever in need, the whole neighborhood comes to help. It is there in the culture of society.” – Sonam Yangzes, Asstt. Prof. Sociology, Degree College, Leh
“In Ladakh, both buddhists and muslims are peace loving people.” – Sana Ullah from Leh. He drives a shared taxi from Leh to Choglamsar.
The Rural Building Center in Choglamsar echoes with the lyrical humming yai le yangsol yang le . . . chong le chong, hands working in tandem on the manual block machine, a worker pouring the mixture, the other two pulling the lever and another labourer ready to pick the magical earth block churned out for stacking. Somewhere on the other side few labourers are sieving the soil, synchronizing their movement with the free flowing lyrics and carrying on with their work. The humming never stops and neither does the pace of the labor. The words ‘yai le yangsol yang le’ have no meaning. It is the secret mantra that builds energy and inspires the goodwill for enduring work.
LEDeG’s Rural building center is surrounded by Sabu mountains in the north, Zangtok Pari in the east and snowcapped Stok mountains facing south. A small gompa (monastery) in the east with swinging colorful tarchok (flags holding mantras) keeps offering strength whenever the work decelerates.
An integral component of SEEDS-LEDeG Shelter Project involved constructing houses with stabilized compressed earth blocks (SCEB). The blocks have seven percent of cement mixed with local soil for strength and water resistance. One of the reasons of heavy damage and collapse of building structures during the flash floods was due to the mud mortar used in local mud blocks and stone masonry that was not water resistant and could not hold the blocks properly. The local mud blocks are also irregular in shape with uneven surface as they are produced manually, so gaps are left while filling in the mud mortar.
Labour and procuring the raw material for blocks has not been an easy task. Initially, SEEDS-LEDeG team and volunteers also extended a helping hand in the production of the blocks. Using six manual block-making machines, around forty-five labourers produced sixty two thousand earth blocks in one month.
SEEDS-LEDeG is constructing core shelters including local Ladakhi toilets for families affected by flash flood in Leh-Ladakh using stabilized compressed earth blocks. As the initial phase of house reconstruction comes to an end, the numbers may not be huge but the houses certainly hold promise for a safer future, protecting the families from floods in the region.
SEEDS-LEDeG plan to resume its reconstruction soon after the winter months and more importantly will provide training to local construction workers on new improved compressed earth blocks.
“I no longer have time to pray. The whole day I am busy on the site to help in the construction of my house. Even though I am tired at night, I cannot sleep.”
When I wake up every morning in the tent, the blanket is sopping wet.”
“After so much of hard work, I still don’t know if the floods will again wash-away my house.”
“my field . . . vegetables . . . house . . . all gone, the floods took everything” – Rigzin Chorol from Shey. SEEDS-LEDeG are building a core shelter for her family.
Rigzin Chorol never dreamt that one night could change the course of her life. Along with her husband and two children, Rigzin escaped barefoot on the night of vile darkness shrieking with loud thunder noise. The next day when she returned back, she still had hope as her two-storied house had withstood the flash floods, although her standing crops and vegetables were totally washed away. The water channels flooded for three-four days consecutively and her house finally gave in to the forces of nature.
Thirty-four year old Rigzin studied till eighth standard in her village. After her marriage to Tsering Samphel, eighteen years of her life revolved around her two children and farming in her fields. So far, this is the toughest time in her life after losing everything she called home.
She still has fond memories of her daughter’s birth celebrations, Dun, in her old house. All close friends and relatives visited her house to bless the baby girl, Tundup Dolma. In Ladakh, the birth of a child is a special occasion for a family. The arrival of male and female child is equally welcome in a Ladakhi house. Infact, woman holds a respectable position in the family.
A drawing of the old house by Rigzin’s fourteen year old son Tsewang Chosdan.
Rigzin also reminisces the occasion of Raktak, a ceremony after two years of her marriage when her mother gave her perak and several clothes, jewellery and utensils. Now living in a tent for over two months, everything is like a dream of the past.
SEEDS-LEDeG team is building a core shelter for six beneficiaries in Shey, her family being one of them. At the time of first snowfall in Leh, Rigzin and her family could not bear the cold winds and took refuge in the traditional toilet built by SEEDS-LEDeG. The shelter project is now nearing completion on her site. Despite all the struggles, she still has a flicker of hope that soon her family will be in the warmth and comfort of a new home.
Copyright – SEEDS/Sarika Gulati/Tsewang Chosdan
Leh and its surroundings bequeath a sense of calmness and purity that seemed like a puzzle initially. For a city dweller, it can be a total bliss, away from insanity, clatter and blast of every day. The secret I think lies in the mantra om mani padme hum, that reverberate the energy in Leh and its ambience. You will find Ladakhi’s chanting the mantra every where they go, while carrying rosary beads, moving huge prayer wheels, taking a round of ‘chhorten’, mane walls or holding a hand held mane lakskhor.
Copyright-(photo) SEEDS INDIA/Sarika Gulati
sarikagulati.wordpress.com 