Fifty-six-year-old Dainurbu Tamang, a Katuwal (messenger) who disseminates messages and letters to people in the remote village of Ree in the district, is busy these days delivering messages asking people to participate in the construction of foot trails.

Standing on a large boulder at Talap, he announces the message in Tamang to all villagers on a daily basis. After listening to his announcement, villagers come out of their houses with spades and other home-made instruments to build foot trails in the area.

Quake-affected people in Ree, Lapa, Sertung, Tipling and Jharlang VDCs are busy reconstructing their village these days. They are working as part of the “Food

for Work” project of the World Food Programme (WFP). The programme

has been providing 150 kilograms of rice and 27 kilograms of pulses to each

family in exchange for

40 days of work.

Jash Bahadur Tamang of Ree said local people are busy constructing foot trails these days. “We are happy to work for food,” he said.

Chitra Dahal, a WFP official, said 60 kilometers of foot trails and around three kilometres of motorable road have been constructed in the five northern VDCs. Villages participating in the programme said the government should make the foot trails motorable

in future.