fear does not seem to move 85-year old Ram Bahadur Rai anymore. "We're just too exhausted. There is nothing we can say to make them leave us alone," he fumes, referring to the Maoists.
As the oldest member of Yafu village, five hours from Khandbari, Ram Bahadur tries to convince the young people to focus on developing their village instead of running away. "Who's left to take care of our village?" he asks.
But Yafu (pictured) has become a beacon of hope in these lush green hills of eastern Nepal because despite fear of Maoists, every household is involved in community service. Fifty villagers contributed Rs 200,000 and their labour to complete an irrigation canal with support from the British aid ministry DfID and technical help from the NGO Rural Reconstruction Nepal.
"Now we know so much can be done if we work together," says female farmer Bishnu Rai, who believes villagers could accomplish even more if both the Maoists and the government left them alone.
So far the government has been quite successful in that. The money budgeted for this village remains unspent in Khandbari's district office where secretaries from 33 VDCs sit around without much work. 
The villagers have also started asking local Maoist leaders when they will start spending on development. "I asked them once and they said that this will happen only after their war is over, wonder when that will be," muses Iswar Rai. Since the villagers have to pay taxes to the Maoists, they feel they have the right to ask those questions. The Maoists, however, are quick to interrogate locals whenever they begin a new project with the help of NGOs. "Starting any project without prior notice would be a grave mistake," says Iswar.
NGO activists also feel the pressure. Many pay a monthly tax of about 10 percent of their salaries to the Maoists. "No one gets away even if they live in the protection of security personnel in Khandbari, they know how to contact everyone," explains Narab Bhupal Rai from the Sili Chong Club that works with communities in remote VDCs.
To set an example, the rebels even prevented some NGOs from continuing projects in remote areas. So far they have not been so successful in Jaljala, where villagers recently warned Maoists that if an agricultural project were shut down, they would be forced to take up arms against the rebels.
Although things aren't as bad here as in midwestern Nepal, Sankhuwasabha lacks electricity, healthcare delivery is poor, literacy rates are still low, water supply is scarce and agricultural production is low.
"We have only ourselves to depend on, the government is not even doing the most simple things," says Rajesh Shrestha, one of the few young people still left in Sattimure village. Many of his friends fled to the cities after Maoists pressured them to join the movement. Rajesh, 18, is the only person here attending high school and also raises goats.
"We have to be self-reliant and try to survive for the sake of our children," says local teacher Man Bahadur Rai from Yafu, "The poverty has actually made people so desperate they are in a do-or-die situation." In June villagers of Nung VDC refused to give in to Maoist demands that each household pay Rs 15,000. "They didn't care at all and told the rebels that they won't pay a single paisa no matter what the consequences," recalls Narab Rai.
The spirit of self-help runs across the district. Locals contributed money and labour to build a 22-km road from Tumlingtar to Syang Khola for which the government has invested nearly Rs 3 million.
Says Mina Gurung, who trains women in Sitalpati, "There is a long way to peace so we keep ourselves busy trying to make our lives better in whatever small way we can."
