Dhulia Bhoi (63) and his wife Kubi Bhoi (60) are residents of Balipatana village, Gadasahi Gram Panchayat, Block-Kanas, District- Puri, Odisha.

They are very poor and belong to Schedule Caste (SC) community. During the field verification process, one of Caritas India Fani-Cyclone Relief Operation Team members identified this single household leaving at a distance from the rest of the SC community sahi (colony) of Balipatna. The team member saw the roof of their house completely blown away by cyclone-Fani and they were struggling a lot due to the scorching heat without having a roof over their heads.

During interaction, Dhulia sounded very helpless and said that he has no one to support him. Even at this age, he works as a labourer for their livelihood. He also shared that they have a son who is married and lives separately with his wife and a son since last 7-8 years.  Occasionally they visit them for a few hours and go back.

During the Fani cyclone, they had taken shelter in a nearby school, stayed there for nearly a month and had returned only a day before our team member met them. After return, they found their house in a dilapidated state with the roof gone. They have not received any support from the government of Odisha as well.

As support, Caritas India provided them a shelter kit to help them have a temporary cover over their heads until they can rebuild the roof. Dhulia and Kubi were so overwhelmed by this small support that Kubi had tears in her eyes. She walked a long way down to see off our team member and blessed him for the support.

Kubi said- “Ame budha budhi garam re bahut hanta santa heu thilu… Bujhi paruni apanka kemiti dhanyabad debi…Bhagaban apanka mangala karantu….” (we old wife and husband were suffering a lot due to the heat…. Don’t know how to thank you… God bless you…)

After a week our team member visited them again and was happy to see that they had a cover over their heads. Dhulia and Kubi were very happy to see our team member. When our team member bade them goodbye, he saw that Kubi had a big smile on her face.