(As told to Gopal Dahal, Project Manager, LWF Nepal, on 18 August 2007. He visited some villages of Kailali, a far western district of Nepal. Saguni Devi is among 350 families who received ACT/LWF Nepal food assistance recently.)

BHAJANI, KAILALI: I have not seen such an intensity of flood in the past two decades or so. My husband died many years ago. I am 45 years old and live with my six-year-old niece. I have no other family members. I am a resident of Kusum Dhar.

The rainy season is not yet over in our region. The recent downpour is only a beginning. More rain will come. This means more pain and hardship for us.

The overflowing Kanara, Mohana, Kadha and Pathraiya Rivers started inundating our village. As the water level rose and reached our shoulders at around 11 pm, we left the house for a nearby higher land to spend the night. The next day we took the boat to take shelter at Bhajani School. We have been living in Bhajani since then.

Sand has buried paddy cultivation, which was completed recently. Some of the villagers’ lands have also vanished under the water. The only public tap used by 18 houses has also perished. Four of the houses have collapsed; the condition of the remaining ones is unpredictable. They will come down any time.

I have also suffered losses. My paddy field sprawling over 0.84 acres is under the sand. My hope for paddy harvest has all gone down the drain. I will have to wait for months for winter cultivation.

The situation is likely to impel me to consume seeds preserved for winter cultivation. For livelihood, I see no other option but to go to India and sell my labour. Here, one gets NRs 80 [1$=Rs66] for a day’s labour. That is meager. How can one stay alive on such income?