Gairimudi sits atop a stunning mountain in Dolakha district. Home to 550 families across three wards, the village had one death, many injuries and few standing buildings when the second of two large earthquakes struck Nepal in May.
Prem Das Shrestha, a retired teacher, has lived in Gairimudi his entire life. His home, a grand three-storey stone structure, isn’t safe to live in anymore. Its outer wall on one side has fallen exposing three floors and what’s still standing is propped up with wooden beams while he figures out how to take it down safely.
“The earthquake has devastated this village, including the schools,” Prem Das Shrestha said. “We brought these tents, benches and all these materials and managed to make this shelter.”
Despite the hardship of the near total destruction, the community is moving on and healing, in part, due to the work of Shrestha’s son, Kailash. An artist living in Kathmandu, Kailash is showing kids how to use creativity to heal their trauma.
Kailash and his friends had an established space called Artudio in the city where visual artists meet, create and share. Kids are always welcome. He was there the day of the first quake with a group of children. The studio had survived the tremor, but they were deeply shaken.
With everyone, particularly young people, doing their part to help any way they could, Kailash took his art for healing from his studio to the hard-hit areas. “Kids needed to play and express themselves,” he said. Armed with coloured pencils and paper, Kailash visited a camp in the capital city where displaced families had taken shelter.
“I just sat down on the ground and started colouring,” he said. “One by one, children came out of their tents and watched. I said, ‘Hey, you can do this too,’ and pretty soon there was a crowd of kids and adults colouring pictures.”
In those early days following the disaster, much of the art depicted suffering, anger and desperation. Over time, and with Kailash’s help, the pictures turned from traumatic imagery to peaceful ones. Instead of smashed houses and fear, the kids started drawing flowers and clouds; houses that were standing tall.
“There was one boy who was always angry,” Kailash said. “He would always have a stick in his hand or some sort of thing that he would point at people and shout. But soon he was less angry. He laughed a lot more and now he’s much better.”
When Kailash went back to Gairimudi for the first time since the disaster, he brought his idea to his home town to help his community.
It’s just after sunrise in Gairimudi when the kids start trickling in. They gather under a temporary awning brushing sleep from their eyes. Older kids arrive and begin lifting tables and benches and soon a classroom emerges where people had been sleeping earlier.
Sobha Shrestha, a grade 10 student, volunteers with a few of her classmates every Wednesday and Saturday. She guides the younger kids through a series of sessions like drawing, reading and playing games and she says having this creative space has helped her community.
“We have gathered here to do some fun stuff because the earthquake has affected the minds of the children,” she said. “We teach what we know to the kids.”
Shortly after the quake, Prem and his son Kailash pooled what they had to buy tables and chairs, and build a makeshift classroom.
“We invited all the interested kids here for extracurricular activities. My son took this initiative thinking that this will bring new energy and hope for the kids,” Prem Shrestha said.
It’s undeniable that the kids have renewed energy.
Some kids concentrate on their art, making sure every line, every colour is perfect. Some kids hide their drawings as other kids borrow their ideas. But for the kids, it’s more about the process and not about the final result.
“We express what is pent up inside our minds through drawings, singing and other activities,” said Sarashowti Thapa. “We also bring out our hidden talents. I have sung songs, drawn buildings damaged by the earthquake, of the natural beauty around.”
By 8am, the kids pack up the supplies and stow them safely in a glass cupboard until the next session, then they trundle off down the hill to school.
“They have been motivated and inspired to do something. I believe they will be able to do something in the future,” Prem Raz Shrestha said.
During the three-month mark since the earthquake, local photographer, Laxmi Prasad Ngakhusi, with support of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) held a six-day photography exhibition: Rising from the Rubble. The photographs captured before and after shots of famous Nepali relics and heritage sites, the immediate after-effects of the disaster, UNDP work, and the people who make up this diverse nation.
The proceeds from the exhibit went toward Kailash’s Healing Children Through Art project. The funds, just over US$1,500, will go to Gairimudi’s kids and Kailash’s vision for the future. He hopes to build an art centre on his family’s property. That’s something the kids in the village are looking forward to.
“We are soon making a community art centre down there,” says Dhiren Shrestha, a youth volunteer to the project as he points toward the donated parcel of land. “It’s where we can do many creative things. If we want to dance, we can dance and if we want to sing, we can sing.”