Nepali expat in UAE loses home he built 'brick by brick' in flash floods

Ajman: For years, Paribartan Nepal built his family home in Nepal little by little, brick by brick, with money he earned working in the UAE. (Have you been affected by the floods in Nepal? Write to us here and tell us your story.)

Then, in a matter of minutes, it was gone.

The 29-year-old chef, who works as a Demi Chef de Partie at a bakery and restaurant in Ajman, said the single-storey house he had worked so hard to build was buried under mud and slush during the devastating flash flood in Nepal on August 26.

“We had nothing earlier,” Paribartan told Gulf News on Wednesday evening.

 “We started when I came to Dubai, step by step, and recently completed one floor. But it was all buried in a few minutes.”

His home was in Belkotgadhi-7, Nuwakot, near Thulo Khola. The family’s farmland stretched behind the house towards the flood-ravaged Trishuli river.

Today, Paribartan said, the land where his home once stood is nothing more than a pile of mud and slush.

Paribartan came to the UAE in 2017. Until then, his family had some land, but no proper house of their own. They had spent years living in rented accommodation after selling an older house in a more remote, higher area.

He and his sister in Japan, who is studying and also works part-time, contributed to the family and gradually helped their parents build a new home.

“It was not built in one go. We built it little by little over so many years of struggling,” he recalled.

In front of the house was a small mustard and vegetable garden, where his mother grew vegetables for the family’s daily needs. Behind the house, the family farmed the land stretching towards the river, mainly growing rice.

The family’s land and property documents were also buried, although Paribartan said they have soft copies of the documents.

His greatest relief is that his parents survived.

His father, in his late ‘60s and his mother, in her late ‘50s, had been at home but received information about the danger and moved away before the flooding reached their area.

They are now staying temporarily at a relative’s house a short distance away.

“Maybe the government will see what can be done for us now. But permanently, we need to see what we can do. Maybe we cannot rebuild in the same place. I don’t know. Let’s see,” Paribartan said.

The family’s youngest daughter is still studying in grade 12 in Kathmandu and lives with one of two elder daughters who are married.

The family members are now trying to come to terms with the loss.

The contrast between then and now is particularly painful for Paribartan.

When he visited home in February last year, he recorded a video showing the entire house. It was a record of something his family had spent years building.

Now, the house and field cannot even be seen.

In a video taken after the disaster, the place where their home once stood is shown and his elder sister can be heard saying in their mother tongue: “Nothing is left, nothing is left.”

Paribartan said an international channel recently came to the area to film the destruction. His neighbour’s three-storey house was shown in coverage, with its ground floor completely buried in mud.

But, he said, the crew may not have realised that his own house was buried underneath the very ground where they were standing and filming. “We are the most affected in our neighbourhood,” he said.

Paribartan has struggled to concentrate at work since the disaster.

He has booked a ticket for September 7 and will travel to Nepal for a one-month emergency leave.

“I just want to go. I cannot focus on my duty. I don’t have peace of mind.”

For all that has been lost — the house, farmland and the years of effort poured into them —Paribartan keeps returning to one thought.

His parents are alive. “I am grateful that my parents are alive,” he said.

He knows he is not alone. Paribartan said relatives in the affected area have also been impacted, although he does not yet know the full extent of their losses.

He sees his story as only one among many families facing the same heartbreak in Nepal.

“I am only one example. So many people have the same story right now and I am grateful that at least my family is safe…God plans…Let’s see what’s next,” he said.