Distribution near Birpur

Birpur is a small town almost on the Indo-Nepal border (5 km east of  Mahendra Rajmarg H01,Nepal) and in very close vicinity of Kusaha where the breach took place. It was in the line of new breakaway Kosi as it charted the course of least resistance ..tearing apart everything that came in its way. 

We always wanted to do work at Birpur ,Chatapur & adjoining areas where the damage is unbelievably raw till date. It is still very difficult to undertake relief work in this area.

Relief work was undertaken at Balua Bisdhanpur with the help of local volunteers & members of AMURT who have been working with us in distributing blankets and other warm clothing for the distressed population in the interiors of this region.

It was one of our toughest relief trips in these areas. We travelled in mini truck  close to 1000 km on rough roads..loaded with 600 blankets, 400 sets of clothes for small children, shawls, medicines et all.

Crammed in space of about 8 x 6 feet, with all these materials , Guneshwarji & Srikant ji spent  nights parked at broken culverts & river banks; totally cut off from everything.

To their credit, they did carry out what was charted for them. They personally distributed more than 1200 KG of relief materials in this area .

It is always a learning experiance to work with passionate people whose only objective is to help the poor.

The heart of a volunteer can never be defeated,they say.

And that works so well out here.

Last fortnight was tough; we had a crash ,we lost the vehicle, driver ran off,we got ripped, it was cold & lonely..so lonely.What happened in Mumbai really ate deep into me..and for the first time in four months..I felt like quitting.

Guneshwar called me from Gujrat and said he was coming down for flood relief work for a week.

And then Srikant Ji told me that the work we are doing cannot be done if one does not have a deep conviction for the cause. No amount of money can bring in the kind of commitment thats needed to 

a long sustained lonely relief effort like this.

That helped a lot; really, I coudnt have asked for a better team than this. Instead of running away from the prolonged discomfort zone ( as many have), these guys actually wanted more of it !

So, here we go again. No deadlines,no cutoff dates.. we will work as long as it takes.

Thank you Guneshwar for all the help and for sharing our burden. At the railway station, I saw a proud father..and he should be. We are all very proud of you. 

As promised, we will be going back to Birpur, to finish what was started by you.

Be well & God bless you.

~chandan

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