In his home village in Jumla, Dhanlal Buda's life revolved around sheep and wool. Spinning, carding, weaving and knitting has always been his family's livelihood. His ancestral motto is: 'oonko tala, soonko bhada' and generations turned wool to gold.

Until eight months ago, Dhanlal's happy family lived in its self-contained world little affected by the outside world. The pastoral life was barely subsistence but it was idyllic. A goat was slaughtered every week, there was plenty of wool to spin and weave into liu and radi, pakhi, interspersed with the community singing of maagla during celebrations and religious festivals.

The Budas and other families refused to give in to forced recruitment by the Maoists of their children. Threatened, Dhanlal Buda with 29 other families escaped south to Surkhet where they have been living for the past eight months as refugees in tents.

Except for the two burned tankers near Chhinchu and felled trees along the highway to Kohalpur and another threatened blockade from 2 April, Surkhet seemed outwardly peaceful. The CDO's office was uncannily quiet, the streets were patrolled by security trucks and vans and sleek jeeps belonging to various aid agencies. Night falls early, all doors shut and the town is cloaked in an eerie silence.

In the past three years, the development business has boomed in Surkhet with 315 registered NGOs. The activists and charities speak of heightened security risks, being trapped by both sides and a lack of funds for those who lack connections and the English language. But they are also not united, have simplistic analysis of development issues and seem to be far removed from their constituencies. It is not uncommon to see several NGOs housed in one office, all caught up in proposal-writing or workshop-attending frenzy.

Despite such a large presence of NGOs in Surkhet, the Jumlis are on their own. After an initial relief response and support from the government, the Red Cross and several charities, the refugees have been left to their fate. The only other noted presence was of the human rights group, INSEC, which says it has been trying to negotiate a return home for the Jumlis.

A grant from the organisation, Tewa, and practical help from Chandra Thakali of Annapurna Hotel and Nagarik Aawaj Peace Ambassadors Govinda and Prithbi, made it possible for the Jumlis to get cooking and water dishes, a month's supply of green vegetable, milk and toiletries.

Dhanlal Buda and the other families from Jumla are dignified people who are proud of being self-sufficient. They don't want to be beggars. Dhanlal's skilled fingers are weaving or spinning constantly while he speaks simply but philosophically: "Even in the most trying of days one is gifted with laughter and pain each waking day."

How is that, we ask. "Well, the children play and smile and that makes us happy but each day we yearn for our homes and that makes us very sad."

They have been going to the CDO's office but there hasn't been much progress in getting help for their return. The hot season is coming, they are traumatised by the prospect of wind storms, insects and snakes of the lowlands. Their self-respect and dignity is still intact. But for how much longer if we fail to help them?