The 35-year-old had also bought a small plot of land close by her husband´s ancestral house which she wanted to replace as it was very old and congested. However, even after saving enough money, she kept postponing her plan. [break]
"The war was on," says Hari Devi. "We could have been killed any moment." When the Maoist rebels launched a deadly attack on Khalanga in November of 2002, Hari Devi´s house, located close to Nepal Army (NA) base, was nearly damaged. A neighbor´s house was blown up during the clash.
As the war intensified, people began migrating to the Tarai. "Everyone was fleeing villages during the wartime," she says. "How could I build a new house when everyone was abandoning their ancestral properties?"
Lack of opportunities equally deterred Hari Devi from realizing her dream. Fortunately, the war ended in 2006. The following year turned out to be even luckier. Karnali was linked with the rest of the country in 2007 for the first time.
The end of war and the completion of Karnali highway -- which connected Jumla to Surkhet -- heralded a new era for a region suffering from years of conflict and poverty.
Hari Devi is now constructing a clay-stone house right in front of a ruined building abandoned by one of her neighbors during the wartime. If the remnants of the abandoned house bear a testimony to the war-ravaged past of Karnali, Hari Devi´s new house signals a bright future.
Today, Jumla -- if not the whole Karnali region -- is rapidly changing. Most of those who migrated to the Tarai fearing the war have already returned. Those who feared extortion while investing money in building new houses or starting businesses can now flaunt their wealth. And, people like Hari Devi -- who once used to think several times before investing money -- are building new houses.
In Hari Devi´s neighborhood alone, five houses are currently under-construction. However, it is difficult to figure out how many houses have been constructed in Jumla after the end of war and the construction of Karnali highway because registration of new buildings is still not necessary in any VDC of Nepal.
"It was hard to find job during the wartime because no one was then ready to invest money," says Chandra Bahadur Nepali, 45, a local mason. "Now, construction workers are quite busy."
With an unprecedented construction boom, land-price too has been soaring in Jumla despite an ongoing slowdown facing the country´s real estate business. "Lands in Jumla are now almost as costly as in Kathmandu," Nepali says.
In Daha VDC of Kalikot district, on the way to Jumla, a settlement consisting of almost a dozen recently-constructed houses displays the changing face of Karnali. "Until just five years ago, only a few houses stood here," says Birendra Chaulagain, a 26-year-old local youth of Daha VDC. "Almost all houses of this settlement have been built in the last five years."
The change is not manifested only in the construction boom but almost all aspects. Until a few years ago, outsiders in Jumla would know that they were near a village by smelling the stench of human feces. Today, one third of VDCs in Jumla have been declared Open Defecation Free (ODF).
"All households are likely to have toilets in the next few years in our district," says Ramesh KC, Local Development Officer (LDO) of Jumla.
If one sees the yet-to-be inaugurated building of Karnali Zonal Hospital, he or she may be ready to shun the stereotypical image of Karnali as the country´s most backward region. The building -- which is on the premises of Jumla District Hospital -- is simply magnificent.
Similarly, Karnali Technical School -- which started a new engineering course just three years ago -- is all set to produce staff nurses soon in Jumla.
The "one household, one apple orchard" program of the government has encouraged people to work in their own villages instead of toiling in India as cheap laborers. "This program is yet to show its results," says LDO KC. "All families will definitely start benefiting from apple farming in Jumla after two years."
When the war was on, people always feared death. Ghode Mahadev VDC of Jumla was literally sandwiched between security forces coming from Khalanga and Maoist rebels coming from villages of Kalikot. "I never believed that I would survive until the end of war," Tula Ram Budha, 42, a resident of Ghode Mahadev VDC-7, says.
Ten years ago, when the deadly Jumla attack was carried out, all government buildings were partly or fully damaged. The damaged buildings bore the scars of the war until peace was restored in 2006. Today, it is really difficult to believe that it was same Khalanga bazaar which was once horribly devastated by the war. All government offices have been set up in new buildings made up of clay, cement and stones.
Karka Sarki, 41, a resident of Talim VDC-4 in Jumla, worked mostly in India during the wartime. Besides lack of job opportunities, the fear of war also kept Karka off his village. "If I were in the village, I would have faced several problems," says Karka. "Almost all the youths who stayed back in the village were forced into the war by the rebels."
Karka, who ekes out a living by working as a mason, no longer fears being victims of cross-fire. He does not need to go to India either as jobs are abundantly available for skilled construction workers in Karnali. "A lot of houses are being constructed," says Karka. "I am quite busy."
Even though Karnali is overcoming the trauma of war, the region is still lagging behind the rest of the country in almost all indicators of Human Development Index (HDI). Fortunately, the government as well as I/NGOs are now focusing on development in Karnali.
In its next five-year plan (2013-2017), the UNICEF will be exclusively focusing on 15-18 mid and far-west districts, including five districts of Karnali region. "Karnali is in our priority list because incidences of diarrhea as well as malnourishment are higher here than elsewhere," Hanaa Singer, the country representative of UNICEF in Nepal, says.
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