"Right now for us the sky is the roof and the ground is our bed," says Shamshuddin Miyan, a teacher at a local Madarsa, which is a Muslim learning centre, that was destroyed in the massive Nepal earthquake.
One month on, the Muslim cluster of Deragaon village in Gorkha district is still in ruins. Of the 76 houses in the village, 70 are completely damaged. The Madarsa, which had a strength of 90 students has been reduced to rubble.
Recalling the day of the disaster, six-year-old Asif said that students in the Madarsa were sleeping when the massive tremors hit.
"We are all sleeping, when our beds started to shake violently. We were rushed out and moments later the building collapsed," said Asif.
A team of Oxfam from India reached Gorkha district, via road. Being the epicentre of the earthquake, Gorkha is one the worst affected regions. Oxfam is in Nepal for the long haul. We are providing food, water, shelter, hygiene amd sanitation support people in seven districts of Nepal, including Gorkha. But we need your support.
"It has been a month and the children are just loitering the village, as their books are buried under the rubble. They have no place to study and we are really concerned that all the efforts which we and the students put in will go to waste," Miyan said.
Villagers have now taken the task of rebuilding the Madarsa on themselves. The locals are saying it will soon be ready and the students can get back to their education.
Monsoon a concern
With most of the houses in Deragaon village completely damaged, people there are deeply concerned about the soon-to-arrive monsoon season. "When the monsoon starts in the next 10 days, we would have to take shelter under trees," Miyan said.
(Written by Gunjan Jain. The author is Media Manager, Oxfam India)
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