Sindhuli, Jan 3: Lifestyle of indigenous Hayu communities at Kamalamai municipality-1 in Sindhuli district has undergone tremendous transformation lately thanks to the state facilities and government’s programmes.
There are altogether 120 households of Hayu communities in Dandi Gurase Kopche area in Kamalamai-1 which have witnessed some socio-economic improvement since the government started providing social security allowance and other basic facilities.
The situation of this near-extinct tribal community that is mostly animist was critical in the past. They did not have any source of income and access to education, road and electricity among others. They only had skills of making bamboo products.
Nain Bahadur Hayu’s family did not have enough to eat in the past. They used to feed on yam, and wild roots and tubers, he recalled. “These days yam and roots are scarce in the forests that are also diminishing rapidly,” he voiced his concern.
Guna Bahadur Hayu, leader of the community in Adhamara of Kamalamai-1 shared that the memories of going to forest to collect yam and feed the family was becoming fainter in two decades.
According to him, they have been able to eat full stomach. Children are able to go to school. Road facilities are being added. Every household has electricity.
As a whole, the lifestyle of Hayu communities is becoming organized of late largely due to the social security Rs 4,000 per month as a social security allowance.
There are altogether 1,100 beneficiaries from Hayu community in the locality.
Purnimaya Hayu, an elderly, gushed that her lifestyle was improving due to the government’s facility. The woman, whose village was a remote settlement, expressed her happiness that all children of her community go to school.
Pramisa Hayu, an 8th grader, from the community goes to her school completing two hours of walk. Earlier she used to go to school walking in a narrow pathway. Although the pathway is still unpaved, roads here have been expanded. In her observation, her village was moving on the path of progress.
Some Hayu youths have been engaged in livestock rearing and agriculture besides making bamboo products. Ward chairperson Naresh Gole shared that works were being done to uplift the lives of Hayu community.
To ensure access to education to everyone in Hayu community, preparation was afoot to run a secondary level school in the locality, he said.
Kamalamai municipality Mayor Upendra Kumar Pokharel argued that it was responsibility of the government to preserve language, religion, values and cultures of Hayu community.
The municipality was mooting plan to promote skills and identity of Hayu, he informed.
