Following Nepal’s recent decision to free bonded laborers, the Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) is assisting thousands of the so-called “kamaiyas” now crowding into large cities with no secure housing or food.

“The kamaiyas were freed due to concerted efforts of human rights agencies and international non-governmental organizations like ADRA,” explains Satish Pandey, ADRA Nepal planning officer. “On July 16, the government announced that the kamaiyas were freed from the landlords that have ruled over them for eight generations, making it illegal and punishable by law to continue to keep them in bondage. Some estimates say there are as many as 200,000 of the former laborers mainly in the western part of the country.”

While the government is planning a long-term solution for the freed laborers, the immediate need is for shelter, food, and medical relief. ADRA, working with a local organization called BASE, is providing food and medicine to 750 families-1,500 adults and 3,000 children-in Dhangadi, where at least 20,000 of the kamaiyas are now settled, and at other surrounding camps.