Himalayas

March 16, 2018

I awoke at 4 AM when Jim was having trouble sleeping and then I never went back to sleep but he did, of course, ha, ha.  I finally got tired of lying there so I got up and worked on my computer.  There was still no Internet working so I couldn’t send out a letter.  But one great thing did happen.  The rains had stopped and Jim went to rinse his hair by leaning over the tub.  He was surprised that finally, the water was warm!  I was so excited that I hoped in the shower and sort of hosed myself off—it was warm, just, so I saved washing my hair for another time; I was grateful for it nevertheless!

We had our breakfast and left for the day’s activities.  Of course, there we were at the base of the Himalayas, and because the rain had stopped, they were in full view.  I can’t help it—I just have to take another bunch of pictures of the mountain!!  They are so magnificent!

View from our hotel, the Himalayas.

We departed for our first stop, meeting with the water committee to talk about the upcoming water project for Besishahar.  There was another hike, one I couldn’t go on because my neck was bothering me.  I was jealous.  But it didn’t take too long and they saw what they needed to see and talked with the people—every dry season for two months they don’t have water.  This project will remedy that situation. 

While in this area the Wilkinson’s remarked about how beautiful and clear the air was.  Kathmandu is incredibly polluted by vehicles and dust.  Many people wear paper masks over their noses and mouths to keep from breathing it in.  When the buses and Lories accelerate a huge plume of black smoke spews out of their pipes.  During the rainy season it clears up for a while, but out of the city in the country areas, especially after a rain like last night, it is clear and beautiful. The beautiful landscape is set off by the colorful houses and it is quite a lovely sight.  During the rice season though, it is even lovelier because of its incredible green color.

Kenney & Jim, best buds, with Himalayas in the background, those aren’t clouds.

We proceeded to an area that had lost their homes to the earthquake.  CHOICE and the government and LDSC have been partnering in this area to help them recover.  The government gives them some house designs to choose from, then CHOICE decided upon two for the recipients to choose. They get $3,000 to build it, and then CHOICE provides technicians to help them do it properly.  All had completed them and many improved upon them.  In conjunction with this project, LDSC had helped by doing a food initiative there.  Because of this, they had earned money from their crops and it had only been instituted last year.  It was so interesting because they set up ways to collect human and animal waste, which was put through some process, which turned it into fertilizer and another mix of human waste and other things were used as a natural pesticide.  LDSC built cow sheds with concrete floors and made so that urine is separated and drains down into the process that breaks it down.  The cow dung and sometimes human waste is broken down to be used as fertilizer.  I will send more photo and explanations when I get a chance—it was just so interesting.

We spent quite a bit of time there.  They welcomed us with the lays and of course the red mark on our foreheads.  We visited with the people and saw all their improvements.  They built their own latrines, and many of them had fancy tile in them.  Some added a place to cook and others were fancier and almost looked like kitchens.  We really enjoyed this community and they are SO grateful—it has changed their lives.  The Church will be partnering with CHOICE to build about 40-50 more homes and do another Benson Food Project along with them.  The homes are under emergency relief, another one of the 6 major initiatives (Clean Water, Babies Breathe, Wheelchairs, Vision Training, Benson Food Initiative, and Emergency Relief).  

We had our usual welcome with leis and the red Bindi—Jim doesn’t like getting the Bindi!

A typical home in this area that was part of emergency relief by CHOICE and the government. 

They had to build their own latrines.  Some had tile like this one.  There were two doors in the front because the other side was for showering.  Some were just concrete, but all looked clean and well-constructed.

We finally stopped for a late lunch, and Kiran assured us it was good food.  But even he was surprised at how hot it was.  Kenney ended up with food poisoning, and Terry didn’t feel like eating much after that.  That is probably because they tried to eat some of it—I ate a taste here and there, but it was too spicy for me.  I think Kiran was embarrassed as he mumbled to himself about it afterwards and I could tell he felt bad.  They gave us all some yogurt, that tasted very fresh, that they assured us would make the ‘burn’ go away.  It worked pretty well, and the yogurt tasted good too.  Also, the white rice did not have anything on it.

We traveled around some more, looking at some of the areas for the new homes and food production and some of the things CHOICE has done and finally headed for the hotel.  I guess The Bandipur Resort Hotel is somewhat famous in these parts and we did find some tourists there.  It used to be a municipal building where meetings and training took place, but then they moved to Kathmandu.  Now they have turned it into a hotel.  Bandipur the town is high up and you can see the vast valley and again the Himalayas.  The setting is quite lovely, but for me there was one glorious thing about this place—the shower!  It was magnificent!  It was as hot as you wanted it to be and had one of the finest sprays ever.  It feels so very good to be totally clean again!

I also enjoyed the pudding with those sweet little bananas cut up in it.  This pudding is was what I had for dinner, along with Mango juice.  It was a very long day and I wasn’t hungry for dinner.  Talk about comfort food…it reminded me of my childhood.

Today was a grueling day on the roads again.  Even though they are making a highway and it was graded nicely, most of the roads we traveled on were violent to our bodies.  I think I need to put my neck in a cast.  And once again we have to get up very early and depart with, this time, Rakesh Hamal.  Kiran Neupane and his CHOICE workers departed after they dropped us off, and so Rakesh and his NGO Sunaulo is up next. 

Here’s hoping for a good night’s sleep!  We don’t seem to have a moment’s extra time, so it has been pretty difficult to get anything done when we get to a hotel.  We are leaving at 7AM because of road construction—if you don’t get through a certain area, it will be closed down for the day.  I am hoping for a less vigorous schedule tomorrow.

Till then, happy dreams…