Out of Ashes Sweden, visited last year in September a community in the Kailali district in western Nepal. Our goal was to find out what needs existed and what we could do more to stop trafficking. The wish that the village then presented to us, was that they wanted help with housing. The villagers now live in what we would like to call huts built of bamboo sticks and mud with thatched roofs.

After the visit, we decided to take the initiative for a holistic long-term housing project. Our focus is Ending trafficking, Restoring lives and we want to do this through a holistic approach in a model village where we can help children with school, create jobs and skills for parents, and provide opportunity for hygienically safe living conditions.

In the caste system most professions have been closed to the Badi people. Back in history, they have often earned their living by playing and dancing at different royal palaces. As society changed and that opportunity disappeared, their main source of income has become prostitution. First locally, but later also by selling their children to India’s brothels. Among women, unemployment is almost 100%. The only source of income is prostitution, so even in this Badi area we visited. This village however will be built primarily by the locals themselves as they receive education and training and a sense of pride in building their own future. 

The Swedish social company Build Up Nepal, which was started in 2015 after the Nepal earthquake, will be the builders. They have extensive experience and have built more than 3500 houses in Nepal with a special method that is earthquake proofed and thus extremely suitable for conditions in the country. It is a big project and we expect it to be divided into several phases that can be fully adapted to how much funding we can get. The first phase stretches to the middle of March.

Build with us!
We are incredibly excited about this project. We will have much more to say about it in the future. We have already received a great response from the government / local authorities, from whom we will receive a substantial contribution. We are already planning for a trip in March for people who are interested in financing part of the project when the first phase is complete.