SEEDS-LEDeG SHELTER PROJECT IN LEH-LADAKH

SEEDS-LEDeG SHELTER PROJECT IN LEH-LADAKH

rewa soma

. . . new hope for a safe future

LADAKH A land of paradoxes and extremes

The ancient wisdom in Ladakh was more attuned to the lay of the land and soil, the flow of water and the feel of winds. In the past thirty years, this has slowly changed . . .

17 year old Sonam Namgyal walks towards the ‘sur’ (the burning pyre, which means food for the dead souls), hoping the lives gone rest in peace. He lives in Leh Manay Tselding and is fortunate that all his family members are safe.

The unprecedented flash floods triggered by the cloudburst in August 2010 created havoc in Leh-livelihood and leaving the city paralyzed. Thirty-four villages in Leh were affected and Choglamsar was worst hit by the flash floods.

Leh Manay Tselding

Taxi Stand at Mane Tselding, Leh-Ladakh in August 2010. The taxi stand and the new bus stand are now restored.

Flooded hospitals, flattened bus stands, washed away houses floating cars and heaps of debris was all that was left after the flash floods . . .

The monks passing by along the Mane Tseling road where maximum damage occured due to the flash floods in Leh-Ladakh.

13 year old Jimat Namgyal, along with his mother, jumped in panic from the second floor of his house to save his life. His mother is fine but he suffered from bruises and a cut in his leg. He is now admitted in the govt. hospital. (Sonam Norboo Memorial Hospital), Leh.A makeshift dispensary soon after the August 2010 flash floods.

Sonam Norboo Memorial Hospital, Leh-Ladakh

Shanty towns like Choglamsar, essentially a suburb of Leh have sprung in the desert often in areas vulnerable to floods and landslides. These were the places where the worst damage occured.

Choglamsar

The children are still in shock after the flash floods that partially destructed their house on Aug 5, midnight. Saspol village, Leh-Ladakh

Saspol

Primary School, Phyang

“There is a change in the climate in Leh-Ladakh. Children should be made aware about global warming.” Dawa Dolma, Primary School Teacher, Phyang

Primary School in Phulungs

Muhallah, Phyang totally

got washed away after the

flash floods in Aug, 2010.

Initially for a month, the

two teachers of Primary

School taught eight

children in a tent. A two-

room temporary bamboo

structure is raised by

Bamboo Mission, where

the students are currently

studying.

Role of religious organisations in flood relief

Religious organization has played a very important and essential role in the flood situa-tion. Both of them, Buddhists and Muslims also played a significant role at that time.Most of them participated in helping the helpless people at that time because everything was washed by the cloudburst.

Mostly, youth of different religious organizations played a crucial role. These include Ladakh Buddhist Youth Association, Muslim Youth Association and All Ladakh Gonpa Association.

Sonam YangskitIII year, Degree College

Leh-Ladakh

The affected families in Phyang took refuge in Phyang Monastery after the flash floods that occured on Aug 5, 2010. For several days, the monastry provided food and shelter to the villagers and took care of them.

“Now, we need to change the structure and design of the construction of houses in Ladakh. Houses should be constructed on a higher and safe level. The roofing requires slope.” Dawa Dolma, Primary School Teacher, Phyang

Vernacular Architecture

A traditional house in the Shankh village, Leh-Ladakh

the settlement

The morphology of the settlement depends solely on the availability of the land and its orientation. Since most villages of Ladakh are within the valleys. The universal factor always considered is that the land should be as flat as possible, both for agriculture and dwelling units and close to grazing pastures for the animals. Thus the size of the land solely depends on the amount of land available. If a flat land is a rarity, the entire village evolves on the hill slopes with favourable orientation. i.e. South-southwest. The slopes are determined keeping in mind the factors of sun movement and wind direction. Most settlements are either riparian or close to glacial stream which takes care of their most important and elementary requirement of water. Most of the villages are smaller in size. These villages originate and subsist only because of the high altitude pastures, which they convert into fields. The people are mostly self sufficient and rely on barter system, a system practiced for centuries. Thus trade is restricted only to the local villages and does not travel to other places because of geographical constraints.In most of the villages, along the slopes of the mountains facing south for sun, the houses skirt the fields and are placed above them.

The houses are largely goverened by the micro-climate and geographical conditions of the area. The people managed to counter the natural forces effectively through architecture. There are some common features in the house design, example most of the houses in ladakh are built at two levels, ground and upper.

In most of the case, the ground level is reserved for animals and storage of their fodder and wood for winter. The upper level has the habitable spaces. In most old houses, there will be only a single room with an oven in the corner, which is a multi purpose in function. It is used for cooking as well as heating up the interior space. This room is the main area to be used throughout winter.

The concept of partitioning this room into bedroom and kitchen is modern usually adopted for status elevation ignoring the benefits of indigenous system.

The importance of the planning concept from the city is now gaining popularity amongst the locals and most of the new houses have the standard divisions as found in any two bed-room flat.The houses are made of mud sometimes reinforced with horizontally placed timber members. The walls are either made of sun dried mud bricks or rammed earth system1. Internally, the walls are mud plastered while flooring could be either in mud or wood. The ceiling height is low and spaces

traditional house in Ladakh are dimly lit because of small fenestrations. Every possible care is taken to trap the heat inside and maintain the temperature inside for a conductive living.

Thus, the house in ladakh are essentially utilitarian. The houses are white washed externally and present a very interesting contrast with their stark surroundings. Owing to the Buddhist majority, nearly all the houses have traditional black bands at roof bordering the window and door openings and flags fluttering above them. At some places, on the roof level, the black band gives way to more traditional more traditional band of hay and wood adding an elevational feature.

However, in the recent years Leh-Ladakh is facing problems of

- Snow accumulation over the years weakens the roof due to water penetration once the snow melts. - Rainfall over the past few years have played hovoc.- The entire region is in a highly sensitive earthquake zone.- Landslides, ground settlements, abrasion of rocks are some of the other natural disasters which have affected historical buildings in the region.

Mother and daughter in a conversation in the traditional Ladakhi kitchen also known as ‘chandsa’, Saspoche village, Leh-Ladakh.

Jito Tambarig-ga

In Leh-Ladakh, religion is a way of practicing life. A two day pooja (prayer) ceremony at Tsering Mutup’s house in Shey. The sowing season in Ladakh starts in April and the Ladakhis believe that while working in the fields and watering the crops, many insects and living things are killed accidently and unknowingly.

Also, during the six month period, till September, when the harvesting starts, there are times when they might have indulged in an unfair act. To cleanse oneself from the sins and attract a promising future, a three day pooja ceremony takes place in most of the houses of landowners and zamindars.

phashisang lud kyas thu

The carrying of manure is more important than father’s death.

“My land has been washed away but I am not asking for anything as I am already working here as a teacher. Government should first cater to those who are needy.”

Gulam Raza, Primary School Teacher, Phyang

Downturn in the agrarian economyThe flash floods of August 2010 extensively damaged the agricultural farms. Irrigation canals have been severely eroded. The loss to standing crops and agricultural infrastructure has been heavy, particularly affecting those with agriculture as their only economic activity.

The biggest challenge is to restore the agricultural infrastructure destroyedin order to ensure timely revival of agricultural work.

Seventy year old Sonam Dolma monitoring the

clearing of debris of her farm, Taru village. As a response

from government, the fields are cleared in several villages in Leh-Ladakh but still a lot

needs to be done.

The natural harvest . . .

Ploughing a field in autumn, Shey. The dzo, cross of yak and cow, is the most valued animal in Ladakh.

The harvest season in Leh-Ladakh is usually in Aug-Sept, followed by preparing the fields ready for the next season in Apr-May.

Sixteen-year old Deachen Angmo helping her mother Yangchen Dolma early morning to set up a dryfruit stall in Leh main market. Yangchen earns two thou-sand ruppees a day during the season (summers) and around twelve hundred ruppees a day during winters.

Fruits, apricots, apples, mulberries and walnuts are grown at lower elevation beyond Khaltse towards Kargil. Yangchen originally belongs from Khaltse dis-trict and buy dryfruits from the surrounding villages and sell it in Leh.

Before the onset of winters there is a critical need to provide shelters to those rendered homeless.

A consortium of like minded NGOs; SEEDS India (Sustainable Environment & Ecological Development Group) and LEDeG (Ladakh Ecological Development Group) took the initiative to restore and reconstruct disaster resistant shelters promoting solar passive housing using local technology and indigenous architecture.

Rigzin Angmo and her son in the fields after the flash floods, Shey, Aug 2010.

Traditional manual production of mud blocks, Shey, Leh-Ladakh. Two workers can produce appox. thousand blocks a day. Each block costs eight ruppees excluding the transportation.

If we talk of culture, then it is compassion, love, brotherhood, fellowship and humanity. A house structure as a part of culture, I do not believe in that. Change is a must for the progress and we have to go with the pace of the environment. Dr. Tundup, Director, LEDeG

nyingpa la bugpa soma

A new tunnel in an old hill

when a man breaks an old custom and introduces a new one

yai le yangsol yang le . . .The Rural Building Center in Choglamsar echoes with the lyrical humming

yai le yangsol yang le . . . chong le chong, hands working in tandem on the manual block machine, a worker pouring the mixture, the other two pulling the lever and another labourer ready to pick the magical earth block churned out for stacking. Somewhere on the other side few labourers are sieving the soil, synchronizing their movement with the free flowing lyrics and carrying on with their work. The humming never stops and neither does the pace of the labor. The words ‘yai le yangsol yang le’ have no meaning. It is the secret mantra that builds energy and inspires the goodwill for enduring work.

LEDeG’s Rural building center is surrounded by Sabu mountains in the north, Zangtok pari in the east and snowcapped Stok mountains facing south. A small gonpa (monastery) in the east with swinging colorful tarchok (flags holding mantras) keeps offering strength whenever the work decelerates.

An integral component of SEEDS-LEDeG Shelter Project involved constructing houses with stabilized compressed earth blocks (SCEB). The blocks have seven percent of cement mixed with local soil for strength and water resistance. One of the reasons of heavy damage and collapse of building structures during the flash floods was due to the mud mortar used in local mud blocks and stone masonry that was not water resistant and could not hold the blocks properly.

Labour and procuring the raw material for blocks has not been an easy task. Initially, SEEDS-LEDeG team and volunteers also extended a helping hand in the production of the blocks. Using six manual block-making machines, around forty-five labourers produced sixty two thousand earth blocks in one month.

SEEDS-LEDeG have constructed fourteen core shelters including local Ladakhi toilets for families in Leh-Ladakh using stabilized compressed earth blocks. As the initial phase of house reconstruction comes to an end, the numbers may not be huge but the houses certainly hold promise for a safer future, protecting the families from floods in the region.

1.

Rural Building CenterChoglamsar

2. 3.

4. 5.

1. Production of Stablised Compressed Earth Blocks (SCEB) from the manual block machine. 2. Ajay Yadav, SEEDS-LEDeG Architect, preparing the earth blocks. 3. Labourers at the Rural Building Center sieving the soil for stabilized compressed earth block production. 4. A worker passing the fresh block for stacking. Around five-six workers are required to work on the single block machine. That includes sieving the soil, block production, stacking and curing.5. Jayanti Gupta, a volunteer, stacking the earth blocks. The blocks are stacked and cured for fourteen days before using it for construction.

“People don’t think that they generally build houses once in their lifetime. In the Solar Colony, flood affected families from Tashi Gatysal , Choglamsar are reconstructing houses using the same mud blocks without realizing that it can be washed away easily in case of floods in future.”

Gyaltson, Supervisor/Coordinator, Rural building Center, Choglamsar

Gyaltson and another worker covering the mud blocks with plastic sheet. Usually after curing the blocks, it is required to dry naturally so that it absorbs the water to retain strength.

Gyaltson is a twenty four year old progressive Ladakhi youth who foresees Ladakh’s future in maintaining a right balance

between tradition and the rapid modernization influencing Leh-Ladakh.

He joined LEDeG in the last week of September

Gyaltson Supervisor/Coordinator, Rural building Center, Choglamsar

and was given the complete responsibility of supervising and regulating work in the Rural Building Center (RBC). Prior to joining LEDeG, Gyaltson has worked for two years in SECMOL, Shesyon Solar Earth Work Section and managed around twenty-five workers. For him, supervising fifty labourers in RBC was a major challenge.

His job responsibility at RBC also involved procuring the labourers and local material like logs, twigs, cardboard, jute sacks, soil for roofing and flooring; supervising Stablised Compressed Earth Blocks(SCEB) production, procuring raw material for the prototype construction, in all, arranging all the logistics for smooth functioning of the work at RBC and the construction sites. ‘It was a huge task and I have been able to give my eighty percent’, says Gyaltson.

Gyaltson strongly feels that with the climate change, the construction techniques also necessitate certain changes. He does not completely support concrete structures but thinks that the traditional structures can be modified using improved blocks, cement and better technology that keeps the structure warm, safe and rainproof. Working at the Rural Building Center was a great learning experience for him. I learnt a lot from SEEDS team, especially from Kamal Chawla, Architect, on the shelter architectural drawings. Gyaltson firmly believes that the future of construction in Ladakh lies in SCEB or a similar technology. Although highly appreciated by all those who visited RBC, the SCEB blocks are not so popular because of lack of awareness, high cost and small size as compare to the larger size

“A prominent problem in Ladakh is that the roof leaks during the time of rains.”

“Our traditional looks are vanishing in the concrete structures.”

“I am surprised that people who build these concrete structures are rich as well as educated. Still, they are least bothered about culture. “

“A major problem our city is facing is the overlapping of buildings and shops without proper planning and consid-ering the solar orientation. Also, it is seen that all the Government buildings are concrete structures even in the villages.”

of local mud blocks. Also variation in the block size can do wonders for the proper marketing of the SCEB, says Gyaltson.

Although, the project has completed, Gyaltson is eagerly looking forward for the next phase of reconstruction in Spring, ready to face new challenges and this time giving his hundred percent to the work.

Twenty-nine year old Nilza Angmo has been living in the LEDeG’s Rural Building Center, Choglamsar, for past three years. She works as a caretaker and labourer at the Center.

Originally from Thikse, Leh-Ladakh, she studied in Mumbai polytechnic and got trained in tailoring. After working for a couple of years in Mumbai, she followed her roots and her heart, came back to Ladakh and got married to Tashi Norbo. Thirty-year old Tashi is a driver and is also working for LEDeG.

Nilzim worked on the SEEDS-LEDeG prototype and also during the construction of LEDeG-Jeres prototype. A quick learner, she has grasped the technology of solar passive housing and DRR features introduced in both the prototypes.

Tashi Norbo hails from Tangtse village. The couple started the construction of their house in Tangtse last year. They hired a mason and worked along with him on the design of the house. So far they have build three rooms, introducing the direct gain features in the central room. The direct gain room requires insulation in the front wall and the back wall, says Nilzim, since there

Initiating a new housing culture . . .

is no external wall in central room, there is no need for insulation on the sidewalls. The thickness of the total wall is eighteen inch with six-inch space filled with sawdust as insulation.

Not only that, the plinth level including the foundation is also build around four and a

half feet and have used stone for a strong base of their home. Nilzim and Tashi have blazed a trail for others, not only working on and learning the technology but also practically executing it on their new house to make it secure and warm.

“It is right to use cement in the construction of house. With the climate change, the mud blocks cannot just sustain. Use of mud blocks is good but we can plaster the walls using cement.”

LEDeG’s Rural Building Center in Choglamsar, supported by HUDCO, demonstrates ecological friendly technology of building shelters in Leh-Ladakh. SEEDS-LEDeG team at the Rural Building Center is developed a prototype by using environment-friendly and energy efficient materials. The design is based on the traditional Ladakhi house, adding new disaster resistant features for future safety.

prototype in rural building center

The initial design for shelter was conceived to provide direct solar gain and to build as day room. Hence, the design of the prototype is different from the design at the construction sites where a night room is constructed using trombe wall technique.

Features of the Prototype

Direct solar gain provided by appox. 8 x 7 ft window.External double wall insulated with saw dust providing thermal comfort.A layer of saw dust for insulation roofing and flooring.Stone Foundation in Cement Mortar3 ft high Stone PlinthSeismic bands in RCC at plinth and lintel levelVertical reinforcement at corners and around doors / window openings.Walls in CSEBsA layer of clay and plastic sheet in roofing for waterproofing with appropriate slope.

appropriate shelter designTo build safe, comfortable and environmentally & culturally suitable houses for affected families to help them survive the approaching winter.

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE PROJECT:

• Use of locally available materials as far as possible to reduce environmental impact.• Incorporating new building techniques such Compressed Stabilized Earth Blocks and seismic bands to ensure safety from future disasters like floods and earthquakes.• To achieve appropriate thermal comfort levels, features like Trombe Wall and thermally insulation in exposed surfaces have been incorporated.• Promoting local building skills to reduce dependence on external aid.• Participation of families in design to help preserve local architectural and cultural heritage and also to provide a scope for expansion.

DISASTER RISK REDUCTION FEATURES:

• Foundation & high plinth: depth of foundation depending upon the soil strata [2’-3’] and height of plinth depending upon the proximity to water streams.• RCC seismic bands at plinth and lintel level including reinforcements at wall junctions and around door/window openings.• Compressed Stablised Earth Blocks are used for masonry upto sill level.

THERMAL COMFORT / ENERGY EFFICIENCY FEATURES:

• All the houses are oriented to achieve maximum solar gain.• The southern wall is designed to maximize direct/indirect heat gain by using features like Trombe Wall or window openings with double glazing. Rest of the external walls are cavity walls filled with sawdust for insulation.• A layer of sawdust has been introduced in roofing as well as floor for insulation purpose.

SEEDS-LEDeG Shelter Project emphasised on the involvement and participation from the beneficiaries so that they have a sense of ownership.

Although they are funded to build the shelter, they had to level and clear the land for excavation, carry out the excavation process, arrange the labourers and masons, provide them with food and tea onsite, procure stone aggregate and sand from the market and participate in the daily construction activities.

Stanzin Dorjuay is a lama in Hemis Monastery and went to the Monastery when he was barely 10 years old.

He is helping his mother Punchok Dolma at the construction site and comes often to Shey whenever he finds time.

many drops that made the ocean . . .

Tsering Angchuk from Shey, cutting the poplar log for the roofing of his house along with his brother-

in-law Namgyal and elder son.

Rigzen Angmo and Sonam Angchok loading cement bags to carry to the site where their new house is being constructed.

Initially, they took the responsibility of distributing cement bags to all the other beneficiaries in Shey.

Fifty one year old Chinba Tobyess from Norgyas Ling, painting the trombe wall of his newly constructed core shelter.

Tundup Dolma, daughter of Rigzin Chorol, studies in tenth standard in Govt. High School Shey. Today she decided not to go to her school and cook for her parents, labors and masons working at the construction site. A quiet girl, Tundup Dolma has seen a lot and is quite mature beyond her age.

Chinba Tobyess’s wife Dolma Lamo serving early morning breakfast to the labourers and masons in Norgyas Ling.

All friends and family members passing the mud blocks at Sonam Dadul’s site in Choglamsar.

Om mane padme hum

The mantra om mani padme hum reverberate the energy in Leh and its ambience. It is engraved on the stones and mountains all around Leh-Ladakh. The mantra is chanted for the well being for others. One can find Ladakhi’s chanting the mantra every where they go, while carrying rosary beads, moving huge prayer wheels, taking a round of ‘chhorten’, mane walls or holding a hand held mane lakskhor.

pidnying rigmola Tangsum Tosummithse ringmo la skid sum dugsum

There are three cold and warm periods in a spring day; and in a man’s long lifetime there are

three joys and three sorrows.

Mask dance at Thikse Gompa

ustor means ‘sacrifice of the 29th day’, as the festival is held on 28th and 29th of the 11th Tibetian month. The lamas of the monastery perform the sacred dance-drama in the monastic costumes. A hallmark of Thikse Gustor is the mask dance performed by the monks who sport various masks representing the guardians, protectors and the gods and god-desses. An effigy symbolising evil forces is burnt at the end of the festival symbolizing destruction of all forms of evil.

Shey

A drawing of Shey Palace by Tundup Dolma. Shey Palace is centrally located at a steep hill overlooking the entire surroundings of Thikse, Stagna, Matho, Stok and even a far stretch of Leh. It was once a capital of Namgyal Kingdom.

Tashi Ringmo

Sixty year old Punchok Dolma is a widow and a mother of four. She lives with her son Tsewang Paldan in Shey.

A women of wisdom and extreme patience, Phunchuk did not cry in

Phunchuk Dolma wanted to construct a

new house and ordered the production of

40,000 mud blocks. The mud blocks for

the new construction were ready on Aug 2, 2010 and three days

later, the flash floods washed her hopes and the dream of the new

house. Her only source of income was also

gone as the layers of mud silt destroyed her

fertile land.

front of others when the floods took her home. Her only consideration and consolation was that all the members of her family were alive and safe. She thought that for a while she will stay with her elder son Tsering Samphel, whose house was

close by and still unscathed by the flash floods.

Few days later, her son’s house also broke down. For two months, she stayed in the tent, actively participating in the construction of her house under SEEDS-LEDeG

Shelter Project. A very active woman, Phunchuk’s day starts early morning doing household chores, procuring water from the hand pump and cooking food. Along with SEEDS-LEDeG team, Phunchuk had several hands to help her speed up the construction of her new home.

Her twenty three year old married daughter, Jigmet Yangchan, stayed with her for two months and helped her in cooking and working at the construction site.

Jigmet’s youngest brother, Stanzin Dorjuay, a lama in Hemis Monastery, also helped his mother at the construction site and came often whenever he could find time.

A traditional Ladakhi house usually has several rooms. A big kitchen facing south, that also serves as a day room and

is used for cooking as well as heating up the interior space, especially in winters. Apart from the bedroom, a pooja room is a must too, usually on the first floor of the house, demarcated from the other rooms.

Guests and relatives occupy the several other rooms during the time of death, birth or any other special occasion. Phunchok has

also constructed two more rooms along with the SEEDS-LEDeG Core Shelter and she intends to extend her house in the next summer.

This year, the winters started a bit late and just before the onset of winters, Phunchok’s house was complete.

Jigmet Yangchan walking past her damaged house, Shey, Leh-Ladakh.

Rigzin Chorol never dreamt that one night could change the course of her life. Along with her husband and two children, Rigzin escaped barefoot on the night of vile darkness shrieking with loud thunder noise. The next day when she returned back, she still had hope as her two-storied house had withstood the flash floods, although her standing crops and vegetables were totally washed away. The water channels flooded for three-four days consecutively and her house finally gave in to the forces of nature.

Thirty-four year old Rigzin studied till eighth standard in her village. After her marriage to Tsering Samphel, eighteen years of her life revolved around her two children and farming in her fields.

So far, this is the toughest time in her life after losing everything she called home. She still has fond memories of her daughter’s birth celebrations, Dun, in her old house. All close friends and relatives visited her house to bless the baby girl, Tundup Dolma.

In Ladakh, the birth of a child is a special occasion for a family. The arrival of male and female child is equally welcome in a Ladakhi house. Infact, woman holds a respectable position in the family.

A flicker of hope . . .“my field . . . vegetables . . . my house . . . all gone, the floods took everything”

“I no longer have time to pray. The whole day I am busy on the site to help in the construction of my house. Even though I am tired at night, I cannot sleep”

“When I wake up every morning in the tent, the blanket is sopping wet.”

Rigzin also reminisces the occasion of Raktak, a ceremony after two years of her marriage when her mother gave her perak and several clothes, jewellery and utensils. Now living in a tent for over two months, everything is like a dream of the past.

SEEDS-LEDeG team has build a core shelter for the six beneficiaries in Shey, her family being one of them. At the time of first snowfall in Leh, Rigzin and her family could not bear the cold winds and took refuge in the traditional toilet built by SEEDS-LEDeG team. Despite all the struggles, a flicker of hope kept her spirits alive and now she along with her family is in the warmth and comfort of her new home.

Dun- The period of first seven days of the birth is called ‘Dun’. During this period, the nearest relatives and friends visit the house to bless the baby.

Perak- ‘Perak’ is one of the most costly ornaments of women’s outfit. A headgear decorated with precious stones also signifies the influential status as well as family’s assets. Traditionally, the ‘perak’ goes from mother to her daughter as a wedding gift.

Thirty-seven year old Tsering Samphel’s life had been quite simple before the August 2010, flash floods. He lived in a two storied house with his wife Rigzin Chorel and two children, daughter Tundup Dolma and fourteen year old son.

It was a traditional family house and Samphel had renovated it according

“I am constructing house for the first time, definitely it has not been a smooth and easy process.”

“I and my wife had promised Madam (SEEDS team leader Rekha Shenoy) during our first meeting that we will fully support in the construction of our house. So we participated happily and my wife never complained.” Tsering Samphel

to his taste and requirement. A temporary labour job in army supplies, a green house and a vegetable garden provided decent returns of around forty-thousand during the season that had kept them going comfortably if not living luxuriously.

The flash floods of Aug 5 changed his

life overnight, damaging his house completely, ruining his land, the standing crops and the supporting income that he and his family had worked hard for five months.

SEEDS-LEDeG Shelter Project once again gave him confidence and revived his prospects for a new home. Tsering Samphel and his wife Rigzin Chorol worked shoulder to shoulder with SEEDS-LEDeG Team. Apart from the core shelter, they have also constructed two more rooms this year and plan to build five rooms next year. Tsering Samphel’s efforts have now made him the proud owner of his house.

Tsering Samphel cutting willow twigs for the roofing of his house.

Sonam Wangchuk took eighteen years to build his house in Shey and when he thought it was time to reap the benefits of several years of hard work, the flash floods in August 2010 took away that hope and security.

Due to the vulnerable location of his house near the water channel, the house was completely damaged along with his father’s house. The standing crops, mainly vegetables and several apricot and apple trees were washed with the flash floods leaving the land barren and covered with five feet of mud silt and sand and no roof over his head.

SEEDS-LEDeG Shelter Project once again gave him the strength and courage to start afresh. For few days after the floods, he stayed in a tent and later on shifted to panchayat ghar in Shey.

Forty-two year old Sonam Wangchok, son of Tsering Tashi lives in Shey with his wife Rig-zen Angmo and works as a lineman with PDD. Rigzen Angmo is forty-two years old and a housewife. Their elder son is taking training in the army, a daughter studies in Jammu and a fourteen-year old younger son studies in Drup Padma Karpo School in Shey.

Rigzen Angmo is engaged in farming and grows vegetables like cauliflower, cabbage, potato and

My house got washed away, look at my hands . . . after so much of work. I have turned old just constructing this house. – Rigzin Angmo, wife of Sonam Wangchuk from Shey

Shanku

onion and sells it in the market earn-ing around twenty thousand during the season. The flash floods washed her land and her cattle shelter, leav-ing her with nothing for the rest of the year.

For years, the people in Leh-Ladakh have developed a way of life to make the best use of scarce natural resourc-es and cope with extreme winters. In autumn after the harvest, grains are stored and vegetables are dried that time to prepare for the oncom-ing winters. Onions are kept open in jute bags and vegetables like potato, carrot, radish and turnip are buried under ground during winters.

Every home has a storeroom to stock food for this purpose. Most of the households have several trees and the wood is used as fuel for traditional heating system called bhukhari in winters.

Similarly, the soil is spread in the cattle shed that mixes with the cow dung and urine and used as manure in the fields. A traditional Ladakhi dry toilet too serves the purpose of

practical utility in winters as well as preparing manure for the fields in spring. The winters this year are a tough time for each flood-affected family, despite the relief and help provided to them.

As a part of beneficiary participation process, Sonam Wangchuk and his wife Rigzen Angmo involved them-selves completely in the construction of their house. For three months, they fed and took care of three Nepali labours working on their site. Slowly as the weather changed in November, sometimes Sonam Wangchuk’s day started at five am. The water chan-nel near his house had slowly dried by that time and he would walk for an hour to Thikse, to procure water early morning.

Sonam Wanchuk also constructed two more rooms, a kitchen-cum liv-ing room and a store. He has adapted the SEEDS-LEDeG solar passive housing technology and constructed a trombe wall for his room too. To-day, Sonam Wangchuk is happy with his new home and spending the cold winters in his warm house.

Rigzin Angmo finally in her new home, Shey, Leh-Ladakh . The winters have arrived and she is cooking food on the traditional heating system popularly known as ‘bhukari’.

Partially frozen Indus at Zampa, ChoglamsarThe Indus, historically and geographically one of the great rivers of the world, from which the very name India is derived.

Choglamsar

Workers happily engaged in block making activities in LEDeG’s (also know as Ecology Center) Rural Building Center. Just across the Rural Building Centre, relief camps are set up in the Solar Colony. On the left is the prototype center designed by Geres and LEDeG for solar passive housing. About Rigzin Nurboo – Rigzin is ten years old and lives in Choglamsar. He studies in Ringjung Public School and is good in studies and extra curricular activities.

On the early morning of Aug 5 , Tsering Mutup left for Nubra valley but soon after hearing the news of the flash floods, he came back the very next day searching for his family. For four days, his family stayed on Renak hill in Choglamsar without any tent.

Tsering Mutup had carried a blanket to Nubra and that was the sole possession left with him to keep his family warm at night. Slowly help started pouring in from the army and they got food and

Gyamso Namkham Farok Shagar Namkis

Till the time Indus won’t dry and the feathers of crow won’t turn white, this land remains your property. A written paper contract from Hemis Gonpa (Monastery) gave Tsering Mutup and his father Tsering Dorjey the right to stay in five and a half canal land as care tak-ers forever. The proud own-ers had to succumb to the fate of nature when not only their house but their stand-ing crops, six hundred trees and two cows were callously washed in the flash floods on Aug 2010.

a tent, finally ended up living on the hill for one month.

Apart from taking care of his land, twenty-eight year old Tsering Mutup plays Dhaman with his father on festivals and other occasions. During winters, which is a lull time in Leh-Ladakh, he takes up labour job if can get one. His twenty-year old wife, Kunzes Angmo is a housewife. The flash floods left an impact on his three-year old boy Skarma Tashi, who slipped in the muddy water. Soon after the floods, Skarma suffered from fever for several days. Today, he still fears to go and play in the water stream.

Left - Tsering Mutup lending a helping hand on his site, Chowglamsar, Leh-Ladakh.

Right - Tsering Dorjee, still living in his old house in Choglamsar.

The SEEDS assessment and the decision to build a core shelter for him, once again revived his hopes of living in a home. He was allocated land from the village in Choglamsar.

Tsering Mutup worked diligently to help in the construction of his house and also built two new rooms along with the core shelter. With his limited funds, he has plastered the outer wall of his two rooms with cement to prevent water from seeping in. He has also been provided two additional interim shelters by Prefab India Limited.

Tsering Mutup’s loss cannot be measured in terms of money. Although he has constructed

a new house, he misses the greenery and his farm. The lack of space and the barren desert hill where he is living now is not fit for farming.

Recalling his childhood, Tsering Mutup feels that the the nallah from Sabu used to be quite wide and it slowly got shrunk with the encroachment of new houses on either sides, leaving a little passage from water to flow. Tashi Ghatsyal in Choglamsar, that suffered the maximum damage, was habited around the same nallah.

Leh-Ladakh has indeed paid a heavy price this year and its time for the people to get vigilant about their fragile eco-system and respect it.

Left -Skarma Tashi with his mother Kunzes Angmo

Right - Skarma Tashi playing pranks with his friend on the site in Choglamsar, Leh-Ladakh.

Popular Winter Sport in Leh-Ladakh

Children skiing in Norgyis Ling, Leh-Ladakh.In winters, the temperature in Leh-Ladakh goes below minus twenty degrees and thus most of the rivers and water channels are frozen. The kids enjoy skiing during the winters with indigenously made skiing boards.

Norgyis Ling

A drawing of old house in Norgyis Ling by Stanzin Wangtak. Stanzin’s house was completely damaged during the flash floods and his family stayed at Degree College Relief Camp.

“It was pitch dark outside and water started pouring in. At first, I thought it was coming from the slope. I started taking out the water. When it did not stop, I rushed, wore my boots and took refuge outside the house that was across my home. It was raining quite heavily. As I turned back to look at my house, at that moment . . . the flood gushed from both sides of the house where I was standing and swept away my home readily like a feathered toy.”, recalls Desqung Namgyal.

His wife, twenty seven year old Diskit Angmo and three and a half year baby girl Deachen Youtso were away during the time of flash floods.

Desqung is originally from Hemis Shukpshan village and like many others; he came to Leh five years ago to look for work. He studied till tenth standard and got married to Disket Angmo in 2006. His parents had built a two-room house in Norgyas Ling and he had been living there ever since. Desqung works as a salesman in an electronic shop and earns around Rs. 7000-8000 per month.

He feels that perhaps the reason for flash floods could be because of global warming, emerging fac-tories and additional number of vehicles and traffic on the road. Soon after the floods, Desqung and his

“Earlier I used to feel as if the whole world is coming to an end”

“I live in a rented house and I don’t like it”

“It’s a miracle that I am still alive. I am grateful for the second life.”

desqung namgyal

family stayed in the tent for several days. Later on they shifted to a one room rented place.

Fortunately, for Desqung, the provi-dential gods favoured him. The electronic shop where he worked was left unscathed by the flash floods and was able to retain his job. Few weeks after the flash floods, SEEDS-LEDeG Team found him and after the initial assessment, they decided to build a core shelter for him.

Today, Desqung is no longer living in a rented room. He has built a home together with his wife Deachen and started his life afresh.

Disket Angmo working at her site in Norgyis Ling.

People washing clothes in a stream, Skara.

“Earlier people used to consider water sacred. One major issue is the changing habits, and now they wash their clothes in the river or a stream. There is a lot of water stress and people need to learn and manage both fresh and waste water.”

Shalabh Mittal, Volunteer and Consultant on resource methodology on water

Skara yokma

Norzim Palmo visualised her new house, multicolored tiles at the base of the house with flickering lights on the staircase at night, Skara, Leh-Ladakh.

Several green and pale white cans of water stacked neatly in a row on one side at the entrance. Next to it, framed pictures of Dalai Lama and Buddhist deities placed on a chair along with a small alarm clock. Piles of blankets and clothes make a semi circle cushion wall to lean back, a rug used as a sitting space for guests. Further ahead, a single mattress for sleeping and in front is a withered wooden chog-tse (low carved

Living in faith …painted table) that becomes a makeshift dining area in the day and night time. Another long wooden table alongside the mattress and several memories and souvenirs of lifetime piled on top of each other. Adjacent to a pole in the center, a wooden desk with drawers serves as a kitchen area. This is not a Ladakhi house but Tsering Dolma’s tent where she is living for past two months.Her house totally collapsed in August flash floods. Tsering and her daughter Norzim Palmo escaped barefoot with only one blanket and spent five days in Spituk Monastery, Leh. Later on her neighbour Phuntsog Youdol gave her space in her compound and someone arranged a tent for her to live there.Tsering is forty years old and lives with her thirteen-year-old daughter Norzim Palmo in Skara Yokma, Leh. She got separated from her husband fourteen years ago while she was pregnant with a child. Since then, she has been working as a casual labour and making the ends meet. She earns around Rs. 3000 a month and gets Rs. 250 per month from her tenant, that barely helps her to sustain a decent living.

Tsering originally hails from Beyama village, Kargil. When she was seven, she told her father that she wants to study but her father did not approve of it. Attending school for a girl was unheard of in the village at that time. Having been a single mother and gone through many struggles, her major concern is to provide education to her daughter so that she does meet the same fate.A month before the flash floods, she also had an operation and has still not recovered. Tsering hopes renewed when SEEDS-LEDeG team decided to build a shelter for her. Tsering will be getting a compensation of two-lakh rupees from the government for her damaged house. She can secure that money for her daughter’s future now.A god-fearing lady, Tsering feels that she has done some good deeds in the past to receive such help. For past one month, Tsering is fully involved in helping workers at her construction site. A new beginning, a new home and joyful dreams for her daughter’s future, now Tsering Dolma has a lot to look forward to . . .

chir-chir kosIn Ladakhi, chir chir kos means ‘make a circle.’ Tsering Dolma is teaching her daughter to make chappatis. A day for Norzim Palmo to learn cooking and she is making chappatis for the workers at her site.

Mutup Gurmet, Goba, Skara

Forty five year old Mutup Gurmet is the appointed Goba (village head) of Skara, Leh-Ladakh, for past seven years. Originally from Shushod village, Mutup joined Ladakh Scout in 1985. Being the eldest son in the family, Mutup took-over responsibilities of his family since his childhood and never got a chance to study after second standard.A war veteran, Mutup got shot in his left leg during the Kargil war in 1999 and after eighteen years of his service, took voluntary retirement in 2003. Since then, he has been looking after the welfare of the village in Skara and did not join any job or service. “At that time, there were no proper roads, not even a ration store in Skara,” says Mutup Gurmet. He has formed a chokspa (group) of twenty-five families and they participate and support in taking crucial decisions in the village.Skara was not much affected during the flash floods. Only, the water chan-nels were damaged and around five houses were partially damaged. With-out taking the help of local administration, Mutup along with members of his chokspa, took the initiative to make temporary water canals and save the standing crops. He also helped in providing tents and ration to the af-fected families.Tsering Dolma’s one room house was also affected in the flash floods. Being a single woman, Mutup supported her in clearing the house and salvaging whatever was left. One of the prerequisite conditions of SEEDS-LEDeG project was the equal involvement of the beneficiary in the construction of house. Mutup Gurmet got a mason and two labourers to demolish the damaged house, helped in clearing and excavation of the land.Skara, is inhabited on a slope and he is aware of the vulnerability of his vil-lage. Gurmet is quite far-sighted and after the floods, he has emphasized on four to five feet foundation for new constructions in Skara. His army background certainly has helped him in taking prompt decisions during the time of accidents and emergencies like floods. After the floods, he held several meetings and shared about emergency response, safety and life saving skills. Mutup Gurmet’s selfless dedication for the people of Skara is a living example and an inspiration too.

“This year the water (flood) came for only fifteen minutes, but with such a force that the mud blocks were washed away. If it had continued for another fifteen minutes, not a single house could have survived it. The whole village (Skara) would have been washed away.”

“The climate has changed drastically over the years. During my childhood days, it used to snow a lot and very scanty rainfall. Now over the years, there is lot of vegetation, maybe because of that the climate has changed.”

“I cannot take the guarantee that the houses constructed in solar colony (construction by Prefab India Ltd.) are safe.”

“Now, with climate change, it’s essential to make slight modifications in the traditional Ladakhi house. The houses should be constructed according to the solar orientation. Earlier, the foundation of the house used to be one and a half feet and now I feel it should be around four to five feet. The rooms too should be constructed using cement so that it can withstand the pressure during the time of floods or an earthquake.”

Mutup Gurmet, Goba, Skara

mimanggi lagpala ser

There is gold in the hands of group of men

Rekha Shenoy, SEEDS-LEDeG Team Leader

“ Its my privilege to work with the organization like SEEDS that has a larger vision and is very professional with good work ethics.”

“ I believe in partnerships as long as both the partners are accountable to each other. Partnership should be your strength. It shows your ability to work and collaborate with others. There will be slight loss of identity in partnership but it maximizes the impact at the community level. It supplements and compliments each others efforts.”

“Water is a scarce commodity in Ladakh. Locals are used to the scarce resources and they recycle everything and there is absolutely no wastage. The tourists should be given some guidelines to preserve Ladakh’s ecological fragile system.”

With her slight demure, soft features and Kannadiga English accent, Rekha Shenoy may initially comes across as a fragile and reserved South Indian woman who is approachable yet difficult to please. Her profession somehow keeps her on guard but as you peel the soft layers and get to know her, she can be your mentor and a fun companion at the same time.

Rekha hails from Mysore, Karnataka and completed her post graduation in Environmental Sciences from Manas Gangotri, University of Mysore. She wanted to get into Administrative Services and moved to Bangalore for further studies. For her, it was ‘power in the right sense’, to reach out to the masses. Although she could not clear her IAS exams, he goal remained the same. The next best alternative for her was to work with an NGO and that’s how she could see herself ‘working with the people, if not masses, at the grass root level’.

In 1995, she joined ‘Development Alternatives’, a Delhi based NGO, with a field office in Tumkur, 160 kms away from Bangalore. There she was involved in two projects namely, National Wasteland Development Project and Wormiculture.

After one year, in 1996, she moved to Bangalore and joined Environment Support Group, an environmental activist organization working in environmental activism and environmental initiatives. Her job involved research, documentation, training and advocacy. It was also a time of globalization in India, when the rejected industries in the west had started approaching the Indian coast. There was a complete take over of the coast by polluting industries. ‘We filed quite a number of Public Interest Litigations (PIL), we lost more and won few’, says Rekha. She feels that environmental laws and labour laws are not taken too seriously in India. Although advocacy takes a long time, it does follow a huge impact.

After working for five year in Karnataka, Rekha wanted to venture out of her home state and got an opportunity to contribute to rehabilitation work in Gujarat post earthquake. Working in Gujarat changed her life. Initially, she started as a coordinator with Care International taking care of partnerships and livelihood for two years. Then she joined Oxfam Great Britain and worked on sustainable agriculture and animal husbandry with special focus on organic farming. In 2006, Care International came up with an integrated programme on sustainable nutrition, health and livelihood in four districts of Gujarat. Rekha joined Care International again and this time she worked in the capacity of Regional Manager. She worked with Care International for three years and then took a break of five months and went to Bangalore.

In 2010, Rekha got an opportunity to do a twelve-week course on ‘Government Relations with NGO’s and Civil society’ in Wolverhemptom, UK, supported by British High Commission. She came back to Bangalore and found herself alien in the city. After staying in Gujarat for seven years, Bangalore had changed drastically with the inception of IT boom. She felt the city had become more insular with the rest of India as it related more to the likes of UK and US.

Restless as ever, Rekha approached a friend in Chennai who had started a novel concept ‘Travel Another India’ promoting village tourism that is socially, culturally and environment friendly and generates income for the village communities. She got an opportunity to work on a programme ‘Himalaya on Wheels’, making tourist destinations in Ladakh barrier free and disabled friendly. It was during the midst of the programme, the flash floods happened in Leh.

At that time, Anshu Sharma, Director, SEEDS INDIA, had come to Leh-Ladakh for an initial assessment and offered her the opportunity to work as Project Manager, Operations, for SEEDS-LEDeG Shelter Project and facilitator for SPHERE.

Rekha has already worked on environmental friendly agricultural practices and this time she gained knowledge on environmental friendly housing. It’s been a great learning experience for her. Relating to both the experiences, she feels that there is a scope to provide alternative livelihood to people. ‘For production of Stablised Compressed Earth Blocks (SCEB) we provided employment to labourers for nearly two months. The masons can also be the brand ambassadors, disseminating knowledge and training other masons’, says Rekha.

Handling dual responsibilities, as a team leader for SEEDS-LEDeG Shelter Project and a facilitator for SPHERE was a major challenge for her. Her role as a facilitator was to bring all the agencies (around thirty-five agencies) on one platform and facilitate coordination and collaboration between them as well as with the government so that there was convergence of resources, no duplication, no overlapping. Another challenge for her was to manage the smooth functioning of SEEDS and LEDeG partnership. As a team leader, Rekha has the ability to get the best out of her team members without imposing her views. Managing senior people was also a difficult task for her.

Rekha has previous experience of working in relief and rehabilitation but never in reconstruction, that is, construction of houses. She received constant support and guidance from Shivangi Chadva, National Programme coordinator, SEEDS, New Delhi.

She feels that it was a good experience to work with a diverse team, be it Abhishek, a volunteer from the corporate background, Kamal, Ajay, Varun and Katherine from the architecture background and Ramesh Bhai, working at the grass root level.

For Rekha, SEEDS-LEDeG

Shelter Project has been like her baby as she was involved in it from the very beginning; identifying beneficiaries, monitoring the construction on the site, working on the logistics, coordinating with the district administration and today she feels extremely satisfied as houses are completed and the beneficiaries have settled in just at the right time.

Rekha Shenoy has been living in Ladakh since past seven months. Even in cold winters, she is up early in the morning to start her day. The strength to work persistently requires discipline, determination and endurance, that soft-spoken Rekha has no dearth of it.

Rekha has lived and experienced Ladakh unlike

others . . . she saw Ladakh in its peak glory in summers and also its decline after the flash floods. One of her major concern is the huge inflow of tourist population visiting Ladakh during the season. She feels that it puts burden on the already scarce resources so tourism should be regulated in a positive sense so that people would want to visit Ladakh for many years to come.

Rekha has left for Bangalore, as the shelter project has successfully completed . . . offering new hope to several others for whom SEEDS will be constructing shelters in the Spring and she is looking forward to be a part of it again.

Rekha Shenoy and Sonam Dorjee, Tehsildar, village Tia.

Kamal Chawla‘Life is only about exploration’ ‘I like working in a situation when everyone is

working towards a common cause, whatever the cause may be…when there is no comparison or competition between people, when everyone is learning and sharing everything with each other.’

‘I have always been fascinated with architecture that is evolved out of local materials and techniques, which is now becoming rare in our globalised cities.’

Twenty nine year old Kamal Chawla is an architect by profession and a maverick nevertheless, who believes that the cosmic forces work at an individual level and in unison creating harmony, given a chance. His life too follows the same conduit. Calm and serene as ever, his impish smile and twinkling eyes sometimes gives away the curious child in him who wants to explore and question the boundaries of the pragmatic world.

Architecture happened by chance in Kamal’s life. He did his diploma in architecture from Rao Tula Ram College of Technical Education, New Delhi, followed by Bachelors in Architecture from TVB School of Habitat Studies, Vasant Kunj, New Delhi.

Kamal is happy about the fact that he always had inspiring people around him, especially during his Bachelor Studies at TVB School of Habitat Studies.

Kamal recalls his internship with SEEDS as one of the memorable experiences of his life. In 2005, after the Kashmir Quake, he worked in Poonch, J&K, with SEEDS’ team for Interim Shelter Programme.Kamal has also worked in Bihar with SEEDS in post flood response in 2009. Working with local materials like Bamboo and Mud was again an interesting experience for Kamal, in terms of architectural and structural design.

Kamal has an inclination towards social change that is often reflected in his activities. He likes to use different art forms to convey his thoughts like writing, graphics, theatre, photography & film making. He doesn’t aim to excel in any of these fields but only likes to explore.

In Aug 2010, after the flash floods in Leh-Ladakh, once again Kamal got involved with SEEDS. For him personally, working on design of the shelter was a huge challenge. It had to be

designed & built as per climate, while keeping in mind vernacular/traditional architectural style & techniques that already existed and introducing DRR (Disaster Risk Reduction) and solar passive building features.

Other major challenges for him while working on the SEEDS-LEDeG shelter project was the procurement of the local materials, like different types of soil for block production, roofing, plastering and flooring, finding right kind of talu (twigs) and timber logs for roofing and to achieve quality in carpentry work. Other local raw and waste materials like jute bags and cardboard had also to be procured from different sources which are not easily available as there is no market for it. There was also not sufficient number of masons and workers on all the sites at the same time.

Kamal is fascinated by the traditional architecture, construction techniques and local materials in Leh-Ladakh. As an artist and an architect, Kamal finds the traditional roofing with timber logs and taalu quite interesting. He likes the fact that there are no rigid connections between the multiple layers of roofing. He feels that structurally and aesthetically there is a lot of scope to play with its form. He also likes the intricate work on timber, not only because of its beauty but also for its craftsmanship. He feels that it’s an art that becomes a part of architecture (building process).

Kamal is quite satisfied with the design and the construction process at sites, in given set of conditions. Kamal believes in a collaborative work and respects the decisions taken by different people

at different points of time in a project like this. He feels that such decisions may be considered wrong later but one has to realize that they were taken in a certain situation which demanded that.

Kamal stayed in Leh-Ladakh for two and a half months and during this period he visited sites everyday without taking a day off. His patience and perseverance to carry out work in the difficult terrain and a smooth coordination with the team of masons, workers and fellow architects shows the spirit of true camaraderie.

Kamal’s work got completed in mid November and after two and a half months in Leh-Ladakh, he left for Delhi feeling the need for a break from work. It was only on his way back that he realized the eternal ties he

‘The masons from Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh were really helpful in the reconstruction process. But if we do not use RCC (Reinforced Cement Concrete) and SCEBs (Stabilized Compressed Earth Blocks), the local masons can easily complete the work.’

Kamal Chawla, Architect,

‘I find it interesting that if a mud structure collapses, one can simply rebuild it using the same material. The process is so simple and close to nature, as the Ladakhi lifestyle is.’

Ramesh Bhai Thakur,Site Supervisor, SEEDS-LEDeG Shelter Project

Born in early seventies in a small village called Patanka in Gujarat, Ramesh Bhai hails from a family background that can be considered traditional and conformist by all mainstream terms. From the very beginning, Ramesh Bhai has defied those norms and practices.

After completing his Higher Secondary from the capital city Ahmedabad, Ramesh Bhai was offered a job in a transport company. He tried completing his graduation

“SEEDS have constructed my village Patanka after the earthquake. I am indebted to them forever. That is why wherever there is SEEDS work, I take full interest and work with sincerity.”

“SEEDS management is very good. They do not compromise on the quality. That is why they have progressed so much and have gone international.”

“I have worked with the architect Kamal Chawla before. It is a good experience working with him again. He takes interest in his work but its difficult to work with two NGO’s and complete the design quickly.”

“Rekha manages everything and takes good care of everyone.”“Although Abhishek jokes around, he takes interest in his work. From the beginning he took a lot of responsibilities.”

alongside but was unable to devote time to his studies.

With a job, life changed for Ramesh Bhai. The only thing constant was a childhood school friend and a companion, Rohini. At a very young age of twenty-one, Ramesh Bhai decided to marry her.

A Kshatriya and a Brahmin match at that time were unheard of. Knowing that no one would approve of it, Ramesh Bhai and Rohini started their

life together with a court marriage and small traditional marriage ceremony without informing their respective families.

Just before marriage, Ramesh Bhai had left his job and started doing odd jobs. He was very honest about it with Rohini since she belonged to an affluent family. Even after their marriage, Ramesh Bhai gave marriage certificate to her. Incase she changed her mind, she could get rid of them and be free.

Rohini Ramesh Bhai Thakur never looked back and today after more than twenty years of their marriage, their bond is still stronger, giving space and mutual respect to each other.

After six months, Ramesh Bhai learnt construction work and progressed as a mason. It took some time for both the families to accept their marriage and eventually life became smooth for them. For two years Ramesh Bhai worked as a mason and then started his own work as a contractor. His

hard work and patience paid him eventually.

Ramesh Bhai joined SEEDS in 2001. SEEDS took the lead at that time to construct shelters in Patanka village, Gujarat. Ramesh Bhai played crucial in mobilizing other masons to join them.

He joined SEEDS earning two thousand five hundred rupees per month for that project. Till today, Ramesh Bhai feels that money is not so important when working on projects that have a humanitarian purpose.

After constructing two hundred and fifty shelters in Patanka, Ramesh Bhai worked on several projects with SEEDS in Himachal Pradesh, Barmer (Rajasthan), Balasur and Puri(Orissa), Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Poonch (J&K) and now finally in Leh-Ladakh. He is also a member of SEEDS Mason Association and has trained local masons in various parts of the country wherever SEEDS have

stepped in during the time of a disaster.

For SEEDS-LEDeG Shelter Project in Leh, Ramesh Bhai mobilized five masons from Gujarat and supervised the fifteen sites in Leh-Ladakh and areas around.

The major challenge for Ramesh Bhai in Leh was to get the work completed before the onset of winters and faced problems due to the unavailability of labour and procurement of local material.

Ramesh Bhai had initially come to Leh in August during the time of assessment for just ten days and ended up staying for nearly three months, till the time of the completion of the Shelter Project. A commitment to ones work in such a situation is rare and commendable.

Ramesh Bhai with the workers in the Rural Building Center helping in the roofing of the prototype. The traditional roofing included stacking a layer of sawdust bags for thermal comfort.

Volunteering in Leh

“ I felt bad when ninety-five percent of the Indian tourists fled and none of them volunteered during the flash floods in Leh-Ladakh. Volunteers for SEEDS-LEDeG project, even though they are handful, again revived my hope. I felt that the youth today is no longer insular and would like to contribute to the society and the nation.”

Rekha Shenoy, Team Leader SEEDS-LEDeG Shelter Project

A volunteer from Shynam finding her way in Sonam Norboo Memorial Hospital (Govt. Hospital,Leh) to clean the mud sludge that blocked the ground floor of the new hospital building.

Seventeen year old Tashi Dolker studies in Central Institute of Buddhist Studies. During the time of floods, she and the other students helped at the Police Line in Choglamsar to clear the debris.

“Getting together in a face of calamity and helping people is fine, but being decent towards another human being is something I will take back from the people here.”

Sonal Makarand Kokate, Volunteer

“Being nice to strangers, humming while working, and the openness that people share with others is something that I am taking back from Leh”

Sonal Makarand Kokate Sonal Makarand Kokate from Pune describe herself as a fly on the wall that simply observes. Not too vocal in large social gatherings, she is good with one to one conversation. A linguist with a Bachelor in German, Masters

in French, Postgraduate Diploma in Journalism and a Diploma in Screenplay Writing from FTII, Pune, Sonal is quite humble in revealing her credentials to others.

At twenty-six, she may appear fragile at a first glance but having gone through many struggles after her parents death at an early age, Sonal is tenacious and has the strength to pave a path for herself.

She has worked as a door-to-door newspaper campaigner, customer sales associate in men’s dept., instructional designer for an e-learning company, editor and researcher in Ameya Publications and Maharashtra Herald and senior copy editor for the Times of India, Pune.

She was planning to pursue Masters in Developmental Planning and Administration when her education loan fell through. Her friend Saurabh Arora, also a Program Officer, Communications and Fund raising in SEEDS, suggested her to try her hand at volunteering in Leh. Sonal welcomed the idea.

Sonal wants to be a farmer one day, build a house on a farm, raise livestock and grow crops. She

“Personally I never thought that I would enjoy volunteering

so much because having been through so much

in my life, I am a self made person. I feel that if you are a human being and can think for

yourself, then you can definitely make

your life better. Coming here, I realized that there

are certain things that you don’t have control over and

also, which you can’t really change like that. It can take time and time is the luxury that they don’t have. This is where I

can help. At some level we are giving them something new,

making a slight difference in their lives.”

“I am not a very conventional person, I don’t follow the rules and have

never felt money criterion for anything. But in

everyday life you are surrounded by people

who talk about money all the time. Meeting SEEDS team and volunteers like Kamal, Rekha and Abhishek who

are working for something more is

reaffirming and gives me hope that its okay not to be

in the rat race.”

satisfying experience so far for Sonal has been churning blocks in the Rural Building Center, surrounded by mountains and listening to the melodious humming of the labourers while at work.

In 2009, Sonal took a sabbatical from work and even though she has been working for past eight years, sitting at home made her feel worthless. In our society, ‘doing something’ is relative in terms of ‘earning money’. After coming to Leh and meeting the SEEDS team, specially a fellow volunteer Abhishek Kumar Tiwari, SEEDS architect Kamal Chawla and the project manager Rekha Shenoy, she now feels that there are many options which she can pursue and it does not have to be necessarily about money or her career leading somewhere. According to Sonal, ‘Doing something you like and deriving satisfaction from it is something I have learnt from past ten days in Leh’.

One of the people whom she most admires is SEEDS Master Mason Ramesh Bhai, from Gujarat. She feels that ‘to

felt that it was also an opportunity for her to learn about the building technology that could help her later in building her house on the farm.This is her first venture in the mountains. “ To be in such a beautiful place and yet there are so many hardships… living here everyday and surviving is such a struggle for people, I have realized that now.”, says Sonal. She feels that if people have to struggle every day to live then they tend to become bitter towards life but surprisingly it is not the case here.

Her volunteering for Aranyavaak as a trekking and a rock-climbing instructor in Pune and for an NGO Aakansha, as a summer program coordinator for the underprivileged kids has been a personal based work, coordinating tasks mainly with the manager. Here she feels that there are different levels of work and coordinating with so many different things is quite difficult. It’s a race against time…a race against weather.

Sonal’s volunteering work in Leh involved making and loading blocks, maintaining site reports, preparing daily progress reports, maintaining stock registers and payment of labour. The most

make a difference’ for her generation comes from so many influences but him being a conventional person, married with four kids, it is remarkable that he is doing something which is very different. Sonal also thinks highly of Rekha Shenoy, Project Manager, SEEDS-LEDeG Shelter Project, whom she finds very patient with people and likes the way she includes her team in every possible way.

Sonal likes reading books, writing poetry and loves editing. Her favourite authors are Noam Chomsky, Krishnamurthy, Joseph Campbell, Murakami, Dostoevsky and Milan Kundera. She enjoys books that has strong father figure theme. Harry Potter series is something that she loves reading again and again, Dumbledore being her favourite character.

After the death of her father, her husband Mack has been a constant support in her life. According to her, he is the rational logical one who has given direction to her otherwise vagabond life. Sonal is also proud of the way she has raised her younger brother Amod.

To work as a teacher in a govt. school and learn sign language (for teaching deaf and dumb people) are some of the pursuits she wants to engage in future. Sonal has now left for Pune with a reaffirmation of faith that its all right to chase ones dreams that gives one happiness and satisfaction.

Twenty-four year old Abhishek Kumar Tiwari has a different take on life and sees it with bare eyes without wearing colored glasses. His father worked for Coal India in Singrauli, Madhya Pradesh and Abishek had a relatively comfortable childhood. He finished his Higher Secondary studies from Delhi Public School, Singrauli and pursued B Tech in Biotechnology from Tanjore Sastra University, Tamil Nadu.Soon after his graduation, he got a job with WIPRO on-campus placement and started working as a Project Engineer. He worked

for WIPRO in Bangalore for eight months and Greater Noida, UP as a Associate Supply Chain Management Consultant for eight months but did not enjoy the work as much as he had anticipated. After a while, it became a monotonous routine for him.While still at WIPRO, Abhishek took a no-pay leave in April 2010 and volunteered for Drishti in Swaran Jayanti Swa Rozgar

“I want to do all that I am scared of doing. That is how the feeling of fear will no longer be there. Life is not about being afraid in making mistakes, it’s about experiencing them.”

“I started my work with SEEDS-LEDeG team with zero expectations. I tried my hand in every work, even picked up stones and realized that even for a labourer, it is not an easy job.”

“Volunteers should be flexible in their approach and work. As a volunteer, they should take the initiative and be able to generate work for themselves.”“This sector is unorganized but at the end of the day you feel you have done something.”

Abhishek Kumar Tiwari

Yojna. His work involved teaching computers, public speaking and personality development in various villages around Mathura. Although, he immensely liked what he was doing, he felt that the NGO sector was very unorganized and unplanned.In June 2010, he also got associated with ‘Dream a Dream’ NGO in Bangalore that worked with underprivileged kids, teaching life skills through adventure sports and creative arts. Working there, he was inspired by Shalini Menon, an Adventure Trekking Leader with ‘Dream a Dream’. Finally, Abhishek left WIPRO in July 2010, to pursue his heart’s desire that at least gave him satisfaction at the end of the day.A small yet significant incident of his childhood changed his perspective and way of looking at the life. Abhishek’s father was a farmer when he was still single. After his marriage and joining Coal India, he took Abishek to the village once when he was barely

two months old. Due to some personal reasons, Abhishek’s father lost all ties with his side of family and relatives. This left an unfathomable impact on him. He somehow misses ‘the connect’ with a part of his family and perhaps that has led to his choice for working at the grass root level in the social sector. Besides interacting with people and traveling, Abhishek is fond of reading. Some of his favourite authors are George Orwell, Ayn Rand and Jiddu Krishnamurti. Abhishek came to Leh in September with the hope to do voluntary work with any NGO. He started his journey from the capital city, New Delhi and somehow reached Leh-Ladakh via Manali highway. After a strenuous journey, for two days he survived in Leh without much food. The third day he reached LEDeG office in Leh, met Rekha Shenoy, SEEDS-LEDeG team leader and got enrolled as volunteer for SEEDS-LEDeG Shelter Project.With SEEDS-LEDeG team,

Abhishek has worked on almost everything he got his hands on; maintaining the stock and attendance register, making Stabilized Compressed Earth Blocks (SCEB), procuring and supplying material for housing, marking the sites for excavation and labour coordination and payment. The most challenging task for Abishek was to mobilize labourers and masons early morning, to work at the Rural building Center and on construction sites in Leh and around. Abishek has a gifted ability to communicate with people of any level or cadre and that is why he is a favourite amongst SEEDS-LEDeG team and quite popular with the field workers. The early mornings at Yangpheel guesthouse usually started with chants of Abhishek, as our Team Leader Rekha Shenoy would try to wake him up. Abishek learnt a lot during his stay in Leh but felt that the project was unorganized in

planning and setting up targets. There was no work pressure and the structural engineer was also missing. The design of the prototype is different from the actual execution of the design onsite. He felt that prompt decision-making skills are required while working on projects like these that already have time limit and many other constraints.For Abhishek, the whole experience while working on the project was to test his limits and he realized that he was able to achieve a lot more than he thought was capable of. He also enjoyed the fact that people valued his decisions while at work and he developed a fine rapport with the beneficiaries too. As a volunteer, Abhishek got the opportunity to reassess his strengths and weaknesses, make new friends and carve a niche for himself. As aptly complemented by one of the shelter project donors, Mr. Munish Kaushik from Cord

Aid, Abhishek served as the backbone for SEEDS-LEDeG Shelter Project. Abhishek has left for home now, with new hopes, aspirations and adventures that await for him . . . on his journey to experience life.

“ In any situation, any society has to move from water scarcity to water security. The idea is not to be vulnerable around water. One cannot stop melting glaciers and avert disasters. The biggest challenge is to prepare communities to deal with them.”

Thirty-four year old Shalabh Mittal came to Leh as a volunteer in September and worked with Ladakh Arts and Media Organisation (LAMO) as a consultant on resource methodology on water, helping them in building their perspective on water. In the span of twenty-three days, he visited Leh town and villages around like Taru, Ego, Phyang and Mattho. Shalabh Mittal is a freelance consultant, based in Delhi and holds a Human Rights Law Diploma, NGO Management Diploma and MBA in finance. Email- shalabhmittals@gmail.com

shalabh mittal

Twenty three year old Jayanti Gupta from Delhi is unlike other youngsters who only believe in enjoying fast pace metro life, working in the corporate sector and buying tech-savvy gadgets. Belonging to a traditional Marwari family, she is quite different from her two siblings. For her parents, giving donations define ‘social work’ but for her it a level of personal involvement. A graduate in Bachelors of Commerce (Hons.) from Delhi University, Jayanti is outgoing, loves to travel and constantly seeks adventure in her life to break the usual monotony. She works in Standard Chartered Bank and also pursuing CFA (Chartered Financial Analyst) alongside.When Jayanti watched the news of flash floods in Leh , she immediately made up her mind to volunteer. As a teenager, she read a novel where two young girls from California go to Puerto Rico and construct houses

Jayanti Gupta, Volunteer “I had a different perspective of how NGOs work. Working here for five days, I have realized

how organized and professional they can be.”

on bamboo poles along with other children in the rain forest. The story remained with her and led her to a fifteen day volunteering for SEEDS-LEDeG project in Leh. She googled ‘flash floods in Leh’, found ‘SEEDS’ and contacted them on her own initiative. Getting a positive response from them, Jayanti is now working in Leh in the Rural Building Center, building blocks, collecting daily updates from SEEDS-LEDeG team members and generating reports.

Clearing stones and digging the foundation of Sonam Angchok’s site, Shey

So far, Jayanti’s experience of working with the NGOs has been limited to fund raising. As a student of management, she is impressed with the SEEDS-LEDeG team leader Rekha Shenoy, her way of working and handling people and situation. Volunteering started during early college days for Jayanti, when she used to read out to blind people. As a part of Standard Chartered’s CSR

(corporate social responsibility) initiative, she is also an HIV champion.

Jayanti alongwith Sonam Angchuk’s dog on the site in Shey, Leh.For her, its too early to talk about her volunteering experience as she is still in the process of acclimatizing herself with the environment and the designated work, she definitely want to take time off from her work every year and set aside few days for volunteering. Jayanti came to Leh with the dream of constructing at least five shelters, I pray for her and say ‘Amen’.

Spituk Angling Pang

Tsering Dolker’s old house in Spituk Angling Pang. Due to the vulnerable location, the affected families of Spituk Angling Pang are now relocated in Palam Area. Twenty-four interim shelters have been setup by the Ministry of Science and Technology. These interim shelters are water retardant and fire retardant.

Twelve metal poles form a base for a bamboo structure of 16 X 16 ft area. A room of 12 x 16 ft and a 4 ft verandah, insulated with puffed material at the panels is the new home for twenty-four socially excluded flood affected families of Spituk Angling Pang that have been living in relief camps at various places since Aug 5.

They have now finally been rehabilitated at the Egoo-Phey Command (also known as Palam) area. The twenty-four interim shelters have been setup by the Ministry of Science and Technology. These interim shelters are water retardant and fire retardant.

The families of Spituk Angling Pang do not own

any agriculture land. They are mainly daily wage labourers and belong to the lower strata of society.

SEEDS-LEDeG team did an assessment and found out that their traditional heating system has been lost during the flash floods.They provided these families with bhukari’s, fuel

(wood) and quilted mattresses.

SEEDS-LEDeG Team constructed fourteen core shelters and all the affected families were able move in their new homes just before the onset of winters.

SEEDS plan to resume its reconstruction soon after the winter months and more importantly will provide training to local construction workers on new improved compressed earth blocks.

Special thanks to

Rekha ShenoyKamal Chawla &

Suman Nag

for their inputs and helpto complete this photo-documentation