Child Care Space Offer Safety for Parents

Ranjana, a 28 year old mother, watches her two-and-a-half year old daughter Srishti enthusiastically draw a picture.

Ranjana has brought Srishti to the Child Care Space set up by SOS Children’s Villages in the relief camp in Bhaktapur, Nepal. And Srishti is in a drawing and painting workshop. She is trying to draw what she saw on the day of the earthquake on April 25th.

Srishti and her family used to live in a house close to the Durbar Square at Bhaktapur, one of the worst affected areas in the Kathmandu Valley, where many houses and been damaged. Ranjana says, “I was on the top floor of my five storey house while Srishti was watching TV with her grandmother on the floor below. Initially it felt like sitting on a swing. Everything was swaying. I held Srishti in my arms and ran downstairs. When I ran out, it was still shaking.”

The family’s house has collapsed and they are forced to stay in the relief camp set up on the grounds of a nearby college.

“The grounds were packed with people. The children were crying and we held onto our children tightly. I was on the ground when the aftershock hit. On the first day after the earthquake, we had nothing to eat. The next day, my husband went back into our house and came back with some rice. I was worried about my husband’s safety when he went inside the house but I had to let him go because we were hungry”, says Ranjana.

“The 300-400 people who are staying in the relief camp are afraid and have no home to go back to. “Srishti is too young. She does not understand much. Her older brothers and sisters play with her and keep her engaged”

SOS Children’s Villages is providing milk and food for the children at the camp. There are 10 SOS youth who are running the Child Care Space in the relief camp. Ranjana is thankful that SOS can provide food, water and child care for Srishti and her other children, but adds, “It’s difficult to go back to our house, it has cracks all over. My husband is a carpenter but his shop is also damaged and he cannot go back to work. We need help.”

Learn more about how SOS Children's Villages is helping in Nepal.