More than two years after an earthquake devastated the Nepali village of Richet, most residents still live in makeshift shelters. Only the church has been rebuilt, paid for by Christian missionaries whose influence in the mainly Hindu country is growing.
Despite strict laws prohibiting religious conversion, Christianity has spread rapidly during the last two decades in Nepal, where many see it as an escape from the deeply rooted caste system.
The Himalayan nation was ruled by a Hindu monarchy for more than two centuries until the overthrow of the monarchy in 2008 and also has a strong Buddhist tradition, particularly in the mountainous north.
But the remote Lapa Valley where Richet is now is predominantly Christian.
Many residents are recent converts to the faith, including Rika Tamang, who became a Christian after her mother became ill and the family struggled to pay for animal sacrifices that a local shaman encouraged them to do.
"Whatever I had, I had to offer it as a sacrifice to God," said Tamang, now the pastor of his village in the Lapa Valley.
"Once I converted to Christianity, I did not have to make sacrifices, they freed me from that burden."
According to the 2011 government census, Christians represent less than 1.5 percent of Nepal's population of 29 million.
But Christian groups estimate the number to be more than 3 million. The locals said that the census tended to classify people by faith associated with their surname, which means that many converts were excluded.
Richet is located in the northern district of Dhading, one of the first areas where Christianity took hold. Since then it has spread throughout the country through an active network of evangelical churches.
But some say that well-financed foreign missionaries are using help to convert people in the impoverished country.
– Tensions in the community – In Richet, the dust was just beginning to settle after the powerful earthquake of April 2015, when a group of South Korean and Singaporean missionaries appeared.
They examined the damage and left. A few months later, cement bags arrived to rebuild the village church.
It was the same story in the nearby town of Kachet, where a new church paid for by South Korean missionaries was about to be completed when it was visited recently.
"We are happy that we do not need to be under heaven when we go to church to pray," said Richet resident Aman Tamang.
"But we would be happier if we had received grants for the reconstruction of our homes as well."
Prashant Tamang, a community leader in the nearby town of Borang who has clung to his Buddhist heritage, said the selective distribution of aid had created tensions between the communities.
"The dispute sometimes arises when Christians press the poor to adopt their religion by helping them in times of need," he said.
– Jail for proselytizing: scarification has been illegal for a long time in Nepal.
But a new penal code that will come into effect in August 2018 increases the possible prison term from three to five years and establishes that foreigners convicted of the crime will be deported after serving their time.
Activists say it seeks to curb the rapidly growing Christian community, and have drawn parallels with Pakistan's strict blasphemy laws, which are often used to encourage mob violence against minority groups.
"We have seen how it has developed in Pakistan – if it has inadequate safeguards, then the laws in Nepal can also be misused," said Steven Selvaraj, a South Asian expert with defense group Christian Solidarity Worldwide, based in the United Kingdom.
Nepal's growing network of evangelical churches continues to attract people, and many are concerned that the new law may be used against them.
"The church in Nepal is taught in such a way that all believers take Jesus' command to go out and tell others about Jesus," said Tanka Subedi, a pastor in Kathmandu.
"Therefore, there is a fairly big risk that they can be arrested and have problems, imprisoned and fined."
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