These two children are not porters or laborers but they work for themselves. "We are carrying these loads for ourselves, so there is no money," they replied when they were asked if they earn any money.
Most of these children here who should be studying in schools are seen working for their families from dawn to dusk. With the loads on their backs, they have to walk for three days to get home.
They said their folks own little land patches and crop failure is a regular thing due to lack of irrigation and the climate, which is mostly unkind to them. "Every now and then we have to buy food and take the long trek to the district headquarters," they said.
In Jajarkot, which is seeing diarrhea and cholera epidemic, the situation has further worsened due to food shortage as most of the villagers share same stories as these two boys. Productivity is low and majority of the people have to buy food. Those who cannot starve for months.
"The grain harvested in October was finished in February itself. After that we are facing food scarcity," said Mune Tiwari of Garkhakot VDC-7. According to a villager, hardly three to four of the 90 families in the village are self-dependent in foods.
The situation mainly in Garkhakot, Pajaru, Jhapra and several other villages in the western part of the district is deteriorating due to food shortage.
Last winter´s hailstorms and prolonged drought this year have led to crop failure in much of the district, locals said.
"Disease is better than hunger," a local said. "I wish I had died in the epidemic. That would be far better than living a like a mule," said Sarjan Budha, head of a nine-member family, of Pajaru VDC-8.
Ghogi VDC is another place hard hit by food scarcity. Most of the 151 households in the VDC are facing shortages. "We have no option but to borrow money from lenders to buy food," said 49-year-old Kali Bahadur Budha.
The diarrhea epidemic in the district has overshadowed the looming famine in the district, locals said. "The governmet is least bothered about food shortage here," a villager said. They want a food depot in the village at the earliest.
"The government should supply foods by helicopters in remote districts," said Mune of Garkhakot.
Food stock at district headquarters, villages face famine
Government provides rice in the district at subsidized rate. Nepal Food Corporation provided 7,324 quintals of subsidized rice in the district last year. According to the district food security, monitoring and regulatory committee, at least 2,700 quintals of rice is in stock in the five depots in the district headquarters Khalanga, Ghogi, Dashera, Chaukha and Nayakbada.
While many people are too poor to buy even the subsidized rice, people in remote village do not have information about food distribution by Nepal Food Corporation. In many stances, the food distribution is already over by the time these villagers arrive at the depots.
Meanwhile, the committee has demanded that the government distribute rice in the epidemic-hit areas at free of cost.
Chairman of the committee and Chief District Officer Resham Bahadur Pandey blamed food shortage for the spread of diarrhea and cholera in the district. According to him people hit by food shortage ate unhealthy and inedible items that worsened the epidemic.
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