Unweaving Dreams

When even the basic became luxury
Although the conventional definition of ‘basic needs’ is accepted everywhere, but there are exceptions; cyclone Aila affected areas are one of the best examples.

Unweaving Dreams; the story of the cyclone Aila affected people - Part One.

NALIAN, DACOPE- People in these areas are being deprived of basic needs of survival. Needs like food, medicine, shelter and others are not being met and they remain scarce. May it be for improper distribution or may it be for some other reason, the fact is that the people still continues to suffer.

Photo: Muktadir Irtiza Miraj

For more than one year, people in these areas have been living in makeshift houses not higher than 4 to 5 feet. These huts, if I may call them, are close to eight feet in length and around four feet in width. It is not that the people here are small in structure (sarcastically), but this is all they have to call home. The people were never in such extreme condition before. On May 25, Aila has taken away every earthly possession they once had.

After the cyclone and the inundation of their lands, these people have moved to places even miles apart from where they used to live. Now all they have are the felled tree leaves and the plastic covering given to them during the initial relief period.

“The huts are all we have now, it saves us from rain”, says Bolraam Mondol about their misery and misfortune. “Regardless, we’ll never get back to our original homes, so what is the point of talking about it anymore? Nothing happened in even one year, nothing will happen in future?”

Here, hundreds and thousands of families are living in the same way, beside the streets with no apparent indication of proper rehabilitation or relocation. On our way around these areas, we saw thousands of people going through their daily activities beside these narrow and dirty roads.

Life or something like it
Security is a major concern at these areas. There is no telling when another disaster will come and destroy whatever the people have left. And even that kept aside, people here face risks every day. AUTUMN Foundation published news regarding an incident which took the life of a one and a half year old girl, a few days after we returned from those areas. The child died of drowning while her mother was busy cleaning. You can read more about it here.

Medicine and medical assistance is scarce, all the infirmaries have drowned during the catastrophe and never opened again. Although there are a few doctors available every now and then, but the numbers are too less and the patients are too many. Any illness is most likely to be fatal for the people here. The nearest hospital is far and there are no adequate transportation. Availability of basic medicines is also a matter of concern, and villagers cannot afford those.

Talking about food security Farmers don’t get enough food by cultivating other’s lands in distant areas during the seasons. Many families solely depend on the monthly relief that they get from the government. The government allocated 20 kilograms of rice for each family for a whole month. And that amount even gets less due to malpractice by the intermediaries. A family, on an average has four members here. It is difficult to for women in these families to get a pinch of rice after serving their husbands and children w. Let us not talk about the nutritional factors here, it is better that we leave it for our imagination and heart to fill the gap. Complaining about “mummy did not cook your favorite Chicken curry” - go visit these people - you would never complain about your mummy's food anymore!

Water everywhere; not a drop to drink

Water on the other hand has become a thing of luxury after the cyclone Aila. People here suffered a lot because of the extreme scarcity of fresh water helpless Aila victims have very few sources of drinking water. The deep water tube wells are useless because of the excessive levels of salinity in the soil that pollutes the drinking water below. Sometimes drinking water is being brought in trawlers inside water tanks. But the amount is insufficient comparing to the number of people who need this vital drink to survive. During the visit people informed us that the situation gets a bit better when it rains. Now, think about their shelters and imagine how difficult it becomes from them…

Photo: Muktadir Irtiza Miraj

“We are thankful to the God that rain has started falling from a few days back”, said an elderly man who gave each of us a glass of rain water to drink. It did quench our thirst but it got us worried afterwards. Who knows for how long that particular family has to remain thirsty for giving us the drinking water which they kept for themselves! The people here are stuck in the middle of an island, nowhere to go and nothing to hope for; unless we, the young generation, undo all the injustices of our societies. It is time to spread our hands and take up the responsibilities as human beings and as fellow citizens of this world.

Day after day, day after day,

We stuck, nor breath nor motion;

As idle as a painted ship

Upon a painted ocean.

Water, water, everywhere,

And all the boards did shrink;

Water, water, everywhere,

Nor any drop to drink.

(The Rime of the Ancient Mariner/Samuel Taylor Coleridge)