Tshering Namgyal  | Mongar

As days passed, the little they had was running out – rice, oil, cheese and vegetables. It was near crisis as the lockdown continued for two weeks. There was no money to replenish even if a few shops opened.

Tenzin Dema (name changed) was worried. She had a family to feed. Desperate and lost in Yadi town, Mongar, she called up the Royal Kidu Office. Help came and came immediately. The Dzongkhag Druk Gyalpo’s Relief Kidu (DGRK) team immediately made to the site and delivered essentials like rice, oil, milk powder, cheese and salt among others. Ngatshang gewog administration also supported the families with butter, cheese, and vegetable items.

The 26-year old said her year-long ordeal came to an end after she received His Majesty The King’s kidu. Tenzin has been living with her husband and two daughters at Yadi town for a few years now. Her husband, after losing his job with a corporation, left in search for work in Gelephu. He had never returned nor sent any money.

Tenzin and her family rented a small house for Nu 2,300 a month and started weaving for a living, but couldn’t afford the rent. They had no money to even pay the cable operator for a year. A restaurant above her house had come to their rescue with leftover food from the kitchen. Their source of meals came to an abrupt end when the lockdown closed the restaurant.

“I’ve been bearing the situation as much as we could. Without any alternative, it was inevitable and had to ask for kidu,” she said. “I am very grateful to His Majesty The King for saving us from going hungry.”

Tenzin Dema is not alone. Many people who were badly affected by the pandemic and the lockdown received Kidu form His Majesty’s Kidu office in Mongar.

Another beneficiary, Tshewang Namgyal, from Mongar gewog said he had to ask for kidu after he lost his business in January. “All the little savings I had were spent on house rent and I didn’t even have rice to eat at home,” he said. “We are putting extra burden on His Majesty who is worried about the disease, but we had no choice but to look for help.”

As of yesterday the Mongar Dzongkhag DGRK team handed over His Majesty’s kidu to 68 vulnerable families who were mostly day-wage workers, who were affected by the lockdown. Following the recommendations from the gewogs, the DGRK team members said they went door-door to verify the applicants.