Nepal Revisited – Day 17

Today Damaris headed back home to the UK and left us with a list of things to accomplish over the next few days and weeks. So much of the day was spent in the office at the house working on reports and distribution updates.

Apart from a walk to our usual restaurant around the corner at lunch time we didn’t really venture out of the house much today at all. We even had dinner at home for a change which was quite pleasant.

We were able to get an International Media Release organised, an overall distribution database updated that shows how much we have distributed to the people of Nepal since the beginning of the earthquake response, and a few project financial reports got completed to varying degrees. Which was all good!

Although Richard has been brought up to speed with where things are at, tomorrow we need to start work on a summary report for him so that he can have a clear snapshot of the active projects and other tasks that need to get completed over the next few weeks and months. I guess to a large extent the last few days have been a bit hectic and he’s most probably come away thinking that he has got information overload.

You can view the International Media Release here.

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Nepal Revisited – Day 16

This morning I was woken up @ 4:00am by the sound of a rooster crowing by the tent.

As I tossed and turned trying to get comfortable I heard the voice of Basanta in the tent next door and he explained that Heather was staying in his house.

After a brief exchange of laughter fortunately I was able to roll over and get at least another hours sleep before it became unbearable and I just had to get up.

Many of the villagers were already taking advantage of the early morning rays, which were breaking up the mist that was circulating and were preparing breakfast, or busying themselves getting things ready for the day. And it wasn’t long before breakfast was ready for us to eat as well. Goat meat & noodles along with a hot black tea…

After breakfast and some business talk around additional assistance we may be able to offer to the school and community, we headed down to the school as the helicopter was due in by 9:00am.

While we waited we were endowed with a large number of khada (scarves) and garlands of flowers at a ceremony of thanks. The villagers exchanged a few words of appreciation for all the assistance that we had given them to date and we thanked them for their hospitality towards us.

After the thank you’s were done I had an opportunity to give Rainbow loom bracelets to some of the children gathered.

My youngest daughter and a few of her friends from church had made more than 350 bracelets to give away while I was in Nepal, for them it was a way in which they could contribute to the children something of worth.

The children that received them were very grateful and they each greeted me with a ‘Nameste‘ and ‘Dhanyabad‘ as I put them on their wrists. They wore them with pride rolling up the sleeves so that the other children could see what they got. The remainder will be handed out at school when it goes back next week.

After our flight back to the airport Heather & I grabbed a taxi and headed back to the house to have a meeting with Damaris, the local C.O’s and Capt. Richard Vanlalnghaka who is the Assistant Project Officer who will be based in Nepal for the next few years to work on the permanent projects. This was so that everyone could be brought up to speed with where things are at, that Richard could get hi head around the current projects, many of which may carry on into the following year and see how the permanent projects fit with what has already been done in Nepal to date.

In the evening I had the opportunity to have a sort of debrief with Damaris, which was more like a really good chat, about my observations, thoughts, ideas, and suggestions etc. For the official debrief I need to complete some papers which she will send through in due course.

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Nepal Revisited – Day 15

This morning Heather & I needed to be up at the crack of dawn, so that we could head into the airport for our flight to Runchet in Gorkha via a helicopter.

The weather was nice and clear and it wasn’t long before we were through security on the tarmac making our way to the Fishtail Air depot and boarding the helicopter.

A representative from MAF came along for the ride and was astounded by the scenery, which was absolutely stunning. The clouds were clearing revealing magnificent views of Manaslu.

Upon arriving in Runchet we were greeted by what seemed like the whole village and they presented us with a couple of Khada’s and garlands of flowers, which symbolizes purity and compassion towards us.

We were welcomed into their community as one of the family.

We headed into the village and started making the ascent towards Basanta’s house, which was almost at the upper region of the village. He proudly showed us our sleeping quarters, two tents pitched close to his house. Then we were introduced to the rest of his family, and given a hot cup of black tea.

After a while I had a tour of the village to see the extent of the damage to all but a few homes within the community. It was saddening to see, but the villagers had already cleared much of the rubble and were in the process of starting to rebuild homes. In some case they need to completely deconstruct the house so that they can rebuild it which will obviously take years.

While on the walk of the village I also got to check out the progress of the toilets that they had been building for the school. Very impressive, I’m amazed at what they could do with so little funding. They have been extremely resourceful using as much as they can from damaged buildings not only at the school., but around the community also.

Today due to the preparation for the festival celebration each household performs a short preparation ritual and slaughters a goat, or in some cases a sheep. This provides enough meat for the family for the week.

However, hearing the bleating of goats throughout the community was a bit disconcerting. It almost seemed as if the goats were pleading for their lives, or pleading for mercy & then thud…

For these villagers though it is a way of life, and they only kill what they need to feed the family.

A bit later in the afternoon, Basanta took Heather & I for another tour of the village (as Heather didn’t go the 1st time) and introduced us to the two ward secretaries for the village.

Heather was dumbfounded by the condition of the school, especially the original temporary toilets and was also amazed by what the villagers had been able to accomplish with the new ones. Not only had they built more for less – but they had also future proofed the septic tank by allowing for an overflow tank to be built at a later stage as funds allow.

We both commented on the way back up the hill that this trip had been an eye opener, not only was it a fabulous opportunity, but it was an immense pleasure to be accepted into their culture and community so readily.

As the sun went down we had a rest and later shared in a meal together. We had advised Basanta earlier, not to tell us what we were eating or drinking. When we had stopped off at his fathers house for an afternoon snack he told us as Heather was taking her 2nd bite that we were eating the innards of the goat, which Heather couldn’t stomach.

All in all this had been a fantastic trip and we marveled at how the community works together supporting each other with food, skills and other resources even though we might argue they have next to nothing – they have so much more than what we do have…

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