Happy New Year in Nepal

Sunday, April 14, 2013

(Because of the lack of good Internet here, pictures and most future blogs will have to be added after we return home.  Many new pictures have been added after my last post list of pictures.  A new day, get to add pictures again here at the hotel--must have been because we complained, finding out they didn't give us the best Internet!)

Happy New Year!  (In Nepal, that is)

Jim woke up in the middle of the night and then, so did I, and then he was in a chatty mood, and then, I was thoroughly awake at 3:30 AM.  Since today is not our day of rest here, we met Rempp’s at our hotel and departed with their driver that they use whenever they can.  He has a miniature van, and it is a wreck and cramped with no air conditioning like most taxis.  We got a little lost, but eventually made it to where a turnover ceremony was going to take place.  There was a tank off to the side of the road, a very large one, which was part of this project and where they began to greet us with flowers.  Jim looked into the little hut they had constructed to house some of the piping and found it to be leaking rather badly.  The other problem he found was that they had a lid on the tank and venting system that the rain, wind, dust & smoke will likely contaminate the clean water—they promised to fix this also. 

The tank and kiosk were both nicely painted and had our LDS Charities signs on them, but they had a couple of problems.  Leaking in the kiosk, above; on top of the tank (below) they had a venting system and a square cover you could open, both would allow dust, smoke and other debris to enter the clean water system.

We continued up the road till we reached the spot where they had set up for the ceremony.  Sister Rempp said that they usually have to sit out in the sun for hours, so we were both grateful for the colorful cloth tent that covered not only us on the stage but those in the audience.  They had plastic chairs, but we sat on comfy couches with rugs placed under us on the dirt.  CHOICE employees sat behind us on the stage, also in plastic chairs.  They gave us a large bottle of water and had light refreshments afterwards for everyone. Their PA system kept breaking down (thankfully, since they shout into the microphone), and it was a bit boring since we didn’t know what they were saying. A few times someone would say a few things to us in English.  We could tell when they were giving us credit for the project though.  CHOICE finally has this part down pat—there was on the kiosk and tank our own sign, and we were also briefly mentioned on the CHOICE sign with the Nepalese words.  Luckily, the people must have been told to be brief because we actually ended on time at about 11 AM.  We received various awards, but it is best to show pictures to describe what was put on the men.  We ladies received a gift bag with a homemade picture frame in it.   At the end LDSC received a beautiful picture frame with a certificate.  It was a wood-carved frame, with the typical design you see everywhere you go here in Nepal.

Above, sitting on the upper level on carpet in soft couches, under the colorful canapé.  Below, the men are definitely the peacocks around here, with a wedding thingy around their necks.  Guess  this must be for our golden wedding anniversary this summer.

Afterwards we traveled to a beautiful hotel where we ate a light lunch.  All this eating is killing us off—we will look like water buffalo by the time we get home.  Afterwards we went to a water project we’d seen 3 years ago when last here where CHOICE took all the credit.  When we hiked up to the tank we saw that there was a nice permanent LDSC sign now attached—we were very happy.  We interviewed a few households that were getting this metered water, and also those on the committee to ask even more questions.  It is still working—86 households are receiving this water, representing many more in that household. 

It was very interesting to note that when we first visited this area 3 years ago, there was a moderate amount of poverty.  Surrounding the area now are beautiful, enormous homes recently built but they have different water sources. 

I was happy to learn that it was time to go home after our short but sweaty and dusty walk up to the water tank—it finished me off.  We returned to the hotel and happily got to shower off the dirt and sweat and get ready to go to a dinner with several government people, quite near our hotel.  All I really wanted to do was sleep.  We walked a short distance to this other hotel where they had a room set aside for a meeting with several government leaders.  They had kind things to say about our projects and everyone was given an opportunity to talk.  They were people that were over water, sanitation, women’s groups, humanitarian projects, NGO’s, etc.  There were five men and one woman that Rakesh had invited. Mendenhall’s were also there.  We then went out to eat the buffet provided for them.  We visited some more and then they went home—it was very short, and therefore very sweet.  We were home by 7 PM and very ready to catch up on our sleep.  I went to bed a few hours before I normally do and instantly passed out.

I am happy.  After three days of trying on the weak Internet service, I was able to finish adding pictures to one of my blog posts.  And, most of them were added in the middle of the night when others are asleep!

Till later…love, mom & dad, Jim & Karen, E/S Greding

The Church in Nepal

Saturday, April 13, 2013

Dear Friends & Family,

A friend asked me a few questions about the church in Nepal so I decided I would write something about this today. 

Nepal is an interesting place:

(1) No matter where we are in the world, it might be 7 AM at home and 12:00 PM elsewhere, but the hours or minutes all match—if it is 7:30 somewhere it is 10:30 elsewhere.  But in Nepal, it is 15 minutes off—at home right now it is 2:30 AM.  In Nepal it is 3:15 PM.  Shouldn’t it be 3:30 PM instead?  I have no idea why, but then I still don’t understand how phones really work, the Internet, computers, airplanes, and giant ships that can float in the ocean.  I’m no dummy…

(2) Except in the 7^th Day Adventist Church, Christians have church on Sunday, as do we.  In Nepal, church is on Saturday because of the way the government works or something--who knows why?  All I know is that today we went to church at the one Branch in Nepal and it is Saturday.

There are no missionaries here and the mission president resides in India where they do have young missionaries.  The two couples that live here reside only at the grace of the government because we have agreed to do a certain number of humanitarian projects.  One couple takes care of church donations like emergency relief (last winter they donated a ton of blankets because of a colder winter), wheelchairs, NRT (neo-natal resuscitation), etc.  The other couple (such as Elder & Sister Rempp) does the water projects and latrines and only through TRUST & CHOICE as part of our agreement with the government. 

These couples are requested to ‘dress down’ so that they will not stand out and cause a problem and draw attention.  When E/S Rempp went to get their visas (they have to renew them regularly), they were dressed too nicely.  The man wanted them to hire their daughter to clean their house and someone had to get them out of there.  When they meet with the government they wear tags with LDS Charities on them and not the ones that say The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  They don’t often wear their tags unless they are on an official errand or at church.

The members here cannot teach the Gospel to their friends openly, but they do manage to bring investigators to church.  Members have to wait for the people to ask and not approach others, but the government lets them meet in this Branch.  Interestingly enough, they send quite a few young men and women on missions from this branch.  At the beginning it might be a way to travel, but by the time they get back, most of them are quite strong in the Gospel.  It is hard for the girls to get married here because they don’t have as many young men as young women in the church, and we hear that men in Nepal don’t often treat their wives very well and they are sometimes polygamists or simply have girlfriends on the side.  The young returned missionaries hopefully have a better testimony and have long since changed the way they think about marriage and family and therefore the girls do want to marry them.

Karen with Priti Khadgi (see story below).  It is interesting that her first name sounds like ‘pretty’.   Her family was the first in Nepal to join the church.

 

Today we met a beautiful young woman who had served a mission on Temple Square.  As most people who serve there, they also go elsewhere part of the time to serve a more typical mission, so she also went to Twin Falls, Idaho and was also in Phoenix, Mesa & Gilbert, Arizona and was endowed at the Mesa Temple.  She told me how the church began here in Nepal: her father owned a printing shop and met the adult couple that was serving here at the time.  Her father loved to talk to people and became acquainted with this couple.  He began asking those questions and was the first convert in Nepal.  Soon his entire family joined the church and that was how this Branch began. 

Today in church they showed the CD’s that the church sends out to branches that don’t receive satellite transmissions of General Conference.  But they kind of do an overkill—they showed one session, stopping to have several people assigned to translate it for those who really don’t speak much English, so it took a lot longer to get through it.  Jim and I had watched all of Conference before we left home, so after the first one we left with Rempp’s, who had also watched Conference on their computer.  After the branch was to watch this they had some lemonade to drink and then were going to watch another session of Conference—it was going to be a long day for them and I don’t know how many last through the entire day.  Afterwards they were going to have lunch for them.  This is not unusual though in other countries we have been to; however, there was no translation in between.  In Nepal not very many people speak English, and the ones that do, speak very little.  Rakesh and Kiran are the exception, but sometimes we have to listen very closely to understand their accents.  Even though many people that work with CHOICE are members of the church, Kiran is not, and Rakesh, who works on endless boards like TRUST and does an amazing amount of humanitarian work, also is not a member.

Sister Rempp visiting with Rakesh’s wife at the Mongolian Barbecue; Greg Rempp on her right, then Elder Mendenhall.  Mendenhall’s were in the MTC with our friends the Burns’s, both on their way to serve their missions.  Burns’s are serving in Sierra Leone.

Last night we met at the Mongolian Bar-be-cue that they have at the Shangri La Hotel that is quite famous.  We had dinner with the Mendenhall’s (the other Nepal couple), Rempp’s, and Rakesh and his wife.  It was a lovely evening, dining outside with an incredible array of foods to eat, but my favorite is picking out the vegetables and meats to watch them stir-fry it while I wait. 

On a side note, the Area Welfare Manager, Elder Dodson and his wife, are no longer able to come to Nepal because he has a serious health problem.  We hope to meet him in Hong Kong if we can, because we will be working with them on the projects in Nepal and Mongolia.

Before eating the Mongolian barbecue at the Shangri La Hotel.

Till next time…

Love Mom & Dad, E/S Greding, Jim & Karen

More pictures, Nepal

Kiran's daughter accompanied us during one day of travels.



Jim accepting our award plaque because LDSC brought water to their hospital.




Pretty ladies in their pretty dresses.  They live in the village at the bottom of the ancient rice paddies that we climbed to see the spring.



 
 


Elder Rempp with a goat.  He has chickens, large black ones, that lay eggs for him and he is thinking about also having goats!  We saw his pen in his yard where he rents a house in Kathmandu.

Children in the hills, perhaps will repair their latrines and bring water to their school.  We kept trying to get them to smile, with some success.

 


Two pretty ladies, one young, one old, living in the hills, in great shape from walking up and down them.




He was so proud of his son, or is that his grandson?



This woman wanted to show me how this child could give me his 'Namaste' greeting.

 


This was a very grand and out of place water tank, or should I say tanks, all connected and all full of water.  It is well constructed and even Rakesh does not know who built it or that it was even there.  There was enough water in these tanks to service an entire large city.



This is the sitting area of our hotel room--the junior suite they gave us for some reason without us asking for an upgrade.  When we work hard, our place of abode becomes our temporary home and it always feels like we are coming home when we get back here.



Our one hour of rest this day.  We sorely needed it!  The water was what you would call 'refreshing'.  It felt good on our hot and tired bodies.

 


This is on the main highway up in the mountains, but it is happening all over the main roads in the towns of Nepal--they are widening the roads, which are sorely needed, but they have been tearing down houses and businesses to do so.



Nepal travels

Thursday, April 11, 2013

I am exhausted and so very sleepy, but before I forget what we did today, I thought I would write it all down.  Even though I went to sleep quickly last night, I am obviously still in jetlag mode since I awoke at 1 AM and never went back to sleep.  As we went down to breakfast we were surprised to see some beautiful scenery.  Because we had arrived after dark, we didn’t know that we’d have a view of the Himalayas, which are usually obscured with cloud cover; but this morning it was perfectly clear—it really is a magnificent site.

The grand Himalayas and the challenge that kills many climbers, Mt. Everest.

We drove on narrow roads carved out of the mountain to reach an area where they had requested a water project.  We eventually left the tarmac and drove on dirt roads.  Even though the views were lovely, the colors are so much more brilliant after the rainy season.  We were happy that it was cooler here.  We met Rakish as we neared the village and wandered till we found the right place.   

When we arrived, and several times afterwards, we were greeted officially, given refreshment, and of course, flowers.  They served us lemonade right before we hiked to the first spot.  I was surprised at how weak I was and even became slightly nauseous, no doubt from all the hiking the day before; still, it was not all that hot yet.  I decided not to go further and Carol Rempp happily stayed behind with me; we walked down the hill a ways and sat on chairs provided by a woman and visited with a young man that knew some English. 

After the men came down from the hill we were served a plate of sliced fruit: apples, bananas and grapes.  We walked down further (everyone lives on different levels in this hilly terrain) to the main road where they served us the rest of the meal.  I was not at all hungry so I had a hard time eating the food and left a little too much on my plate.  It was good, but some of it was typically a little spicy.  With too full bellies we departed and began a very long and hot trip to another town.  Rakish’s driver led the way on the main high mountain road with the large river below—the same one we used when we left the city.  Driving this highway is a particular art.  Our driver is exceptional.  We always see accidents on this winding road—constant head-on accidents.

 

The village on the hill: Jim checking out their request for more water points to 3 areas, one to a school.  Part of this village is made up of outcasts—they still have a strong caste system.  The lowest caste only makes money by selling produce they grow and singing and dancing, hoping for donations.  They fed us a huge lunch here.

By the time we reached the town Jim was so hot he was more than a bit out of sorts.  Usually I am the one who is about to expire.  Luckily, we arrived at the hotel where we would be staying that night to give ourselves a break and take a cool shower.  We had stayed at this nice hotel before, but because we arrived in the middle of the day they didn’t have their generator on and therefore no air conditioning.  Our room was stifling, but after taking a shower felt a little better.  We had some soda and were on our way to look at a couple of projects—one proposed and the other was completed a couple of years ago.  Even though it was already 3:30, we wanted to do both so that we could just get up and go back to Kathmandu in the morning. 

When we arrived at the proposed project I got out of the car and began to walk with the others.  This was the shortest and easiest walking we had done in two days, but I could barely put one foot in front of the other.  I began to realize I was suffering from a bit of heat exhaustion, a problem I often have on these trips.  I stopped talking to the children and women and walked around in a daze.  My body was apparently done for the day! 

We drove to see the older project and it looked as if it was working just fine.  The only problem we saw is one that Elder & Sister Rempp say is typical—TRUST had written on the side of the water tank in blue Nepalese that they had implemented this project.  Jim had Rakish read it to him.  Jim asked him where the donor sign was.  This tank is a tall one, even though many are partly buried in the earth, this one was not.  He pointed to our sign that they had put on the top part of the tank so that it would not be noticed by anyone unless they knew it was there.  We told them to remove it and put it on the side next to their writings.  We also will be doing signs in Nepalese from now on.  Even though these NGO’s have been nice to work with, they typically (accidentally they say) don’t give LDSC any credit, even though without us they wouldn’t have a job.  Their excuse was that LDSC directed them to put the signs on the top of the tanks, which does work when they are buried in the dirt.  We really have to watch them—they act so very innocent…  Because it was so late, we did not have time to check out the project thoroughly.  Elder & Sister Rempp will do that when they return to the area to interview people to find out if it is working as well as they claim it is.

 

Plenty of bragging in Nepalese by TRUST.  Our sign below, so high I could not get a good picture of it.  We are making them remove it and put it on the side of the tank so that it can be seen.  All our future signs will be in Nepalese.

 

It was dark when we finally arrived back at the hotel.  All I could think about was how much I needed to drink some juice; I had two glasses with a little food.  I took my shower and began to feel somewhat normal again.  Jim said that from now on he is going to insist that our drivers have cars that have air conditioning.  Apparently we just can’t take this kind of heat.  I had nothing left when I went to bed and dropped off to sleep like a dead woman.

The following day we returned to Kathmandu and actually had an hour to spend at the very refreshing (cold water) pool.  We definitely needed this break!

Love, mom & dad, Jim & Karen, E/S Greding



Pictures, Nepal





Some green amidst the brown terrain.



Elder & Sister Rempp, in front of our lunch stop.



A pretty stop for lunch.




Three pretty girls on our way up to two water tanks.




After meeting with the committee and before our trek up to the springs.




At the beginning of our longer trek to the springs.




Don't you wish you were an old woman in Nepal?




Sister Rempp dancing with an old gentleman at the beginning of our trek up the mountain.




My feet hurt.  Aren't we getting too old for this?





Looking back at the group behind me...eventually they all passed me by.  The man in front was my 'personal Sherpa.'



Looking back at where we came from...terraced ancient rice fields.




Kiran helping down to the next level.  I had many helpers...



Nepal

Monday & Tuesday, April 8-9, 2013

Dear Family & Friends,

I had been dreading our long flights to Nepal and the 8+ hour layover, but it was not so bad after all.  I think it is because the Asians are such over-achievers, and when you fly on their airlines you feel so well taken care of.  We are flying Cathay Pacific and Dragon Air, and it reminded me of the times we flew Singapore Air to Singapore on our way to Indonesia--the planes are nicer, have more amenities, serve better food, and feed you all flight long.  We are now sitting in the lounge in the airport in Hong Kong.  It is the business lounge, and I can’t image what the first class lounge must look like, because ours is rather awesome.  You can even shower here.  We have a couch to sleep on, endless food selections, and Internet, all free.  Since we have just flown for nearly 16 hours and will be spending the entire day here, it is quite comforting.  Our flight to Kathmandu will be 7 hours because we have one stop.  We will be in coach instead of the premium coach that we enjoyed during our first flight, so we hope to survive our last leg (the plane was not full, so we luckily got to sit in an exit row).   It has been three years since our last trip.  We will be looking at proposed, newly completed, and old water projects while there.  The Area Welfare Manager will also join us after a few days.

We have met Elder & Sister Rempp (humanitarian couple in Nepal) by e-mail, phone and Skype, so we have become somewhat acquainted.  And as it turns out, Elder Rempp’s father was taught the gospel by my aunt, and she also baby sat Elder Rempp when he was a boy—how is that for another church connection?

Wednesday & Thursday:

It is now Thursday, very early in the morning.  I awoke at 1 AM after Jim wandered about.  Most hotels only give you a comforter without a sheet, so the air conditioner was too cold without the comforter, and too hot with it.  I got up, took a pain pill, and downloaded my pictures from the day.  I couldn’t believe all that had happened in just one day.

But I regress: We arrived by taxi to the Radisson Hotel in Kathmandu late in the evening and the manager gave us (for no extra cost and without us requesting) a junior suite—it is roomy and nice.  By the time we got to bed, after having showered and partially packed for the coming day, we had 4 hours left to sleep.  I comforted myself with the thought that it would be like flying…4 hours asleep on a plane would be really good, so I fell asleep quickly, waking at 5:30AM when Jim woke up.  We went down to breakfast just after 6:30 and were very surprised to see Rempp’s already there.  They were to meet us at 7:30 AM.  We had the buffet breakfast with them and their driver, and left at the 7:30 AM previously appointed time with our 2-day bag packed.

I was surprised at the difference in the terrain and air quality.  Our last trip 3 years ago was after the monsoons and everything was a verdant green from the brilliant rice fields to the endless foliage.  We instead saw dead fields, grasses burning to make way for new growth when the rains begin, and smoke-filled skies.  It took the usual amount of time inching our way out of town, only to be met on the cliff road with a major traffic jam.  It was either a broken down truck or accident that left us sitting there, jeep turned off, waiting our turn to circumvent the clogged road.  This delayed our trip for 1 ½ hrs.  Eventually we saw the problem (an overturned truck), and drove much faster afterwards.  We arrived at a nice restaurant high on the hills and had a nice lunch.

Waiting our turn to go, on the mountain road.  The problem turned out to be an overturned truck.

We drove in even less traffic, our skilled driver scurrying around slow-moving trucks, barreling down the mountain road.  Eventually we turned off and ended up in a town where we met a waiting Kiran, who is with CHOICE.  From there we drove to a new hospital, partially being used (the upstairs was still under construction).  This was a lovely facility with a dental section, a pharmacy, beds for birthing, examination rooms, labs, and even Western toilets, etc.  They previously had quite a turnover ceremony with about 1,000 in attendance.  The hospital was funded by various people, humanitarian groups, and local donations.  The ceremony was attended by Rakish’s brother (Rakish has worked with LDS Charities for years and is a wonderful humanitarian with connections to the government).  Rakish’s brother is a famous actor, and we heard that he drew quite a crowd of adoring girls and women.  LDS Charities funded the water that is supporting this hospital.  We all received little plaques from one of the doctors.  We also received the typical fresh flower leis, given with the ‘Namaste’ greeting.

 

The dental section of the new hospital, just one of three dental chairs.  (Mike, this picture is for you).

We continued onto the spring that was still under construction that is providing the hospital water and citizens nearby--this began the first of our Billy goat walks.  I had on my African shoes, which in this instance did not serve me well as we trekked to the water tank and then another, on narrow paths on the edge of the hills.  This walk probably took about an hour, but it seemed longer.  When we came down I changed my shoes to better ones for the next trek.  I had no idea how much exercise I was in for.

 

Our first trek of the day (higher path) to two water tanks supplying the hospital and local villagers.

We drove to another area and met with a very organized community that wants us to develop a spring high above their city (more leis and greetings).  We drove as far as we could up a narrow dirt road, and then began our climb up ancient terraced rice fields, all with a few inches of rice stubble, waiting for the rains.  This village was greener than what we had previously seen.  While at the beginning of this path we ran into other villagers who met us with yet more leis, but also smeared our faces with their red dust—we were quite a sight.  An older gentleman began to sing and dance and the villagers were also singing.  I joined this man in his dance, and then after a bit gently tugged at sister Rempp so that she could sing and dance with him.  She has been learning some Nepalese and has been trying to learn the words to this well-known folk song.

At first the walk was fairly easy and not terribly steep, so I kept up rather well.  Half way through I began to be passed by young men from the village.  Still, I was doing okay, but as the terraces became steeper and I was constantly twisting my ankle on loose rocks, I became a bit discouraged.  When nearly there I told the others I would wait where I was so that I wouldn’t hold them up.  The first group had already reached the spring.  As I stood there a fierce wind nearly blew me over, but when it died down I decided to finish my trek and meet up with the others (never say die).  The gentleman I had danced with decided at that point to help me along, and hauled me up the steeper transitions in the terraced and rocky terrain.  I reached the others, not feeling so old.  Once the man wrote on his hand (he spoke no English) what age he thought I was.  I was flattered because he put down 10 years younger than I am.  I thought he was referring to his age.  I wrote my age on his palm and then he put his age as the same.  After this he became one of several that I called my personal Sherpas (they are the ones who assist the climbers that come to summit Everest.)

This hike was to take 50 minutes, which I’m sure would have been true had they not had us in tow.  It had to have been at least an hour and a half to the top, and then 20-30 minutes back down.  My feet were sore, and my toe hurt from bumping into stinging nettle.  The afternoon cloud cover and winds made the walk more pleasant.  In the heat of the day I could not have made it.  We were all dying of thirst when we got back to the jeep.

 

At the top of our climb up ancient terraced rice fields.  I can hardly squat for the picture—I was so sore!  My personal Sherpa, still holding my arm, taking good care of me.

We arrived after dark to what Kiran called ‘the best awful hotel’ available in this city.  The room was rather pleasant and the hotel seemed fairly new.  It was only when we went to shower that we found the only problem—no hot water.  Sometimes these places simply have tepid water.  This one did not.  It felt a bit like it had come out of one of their springs.  As I yelped a bit, Jim told me not to be a baby…till he got in and added to my complaints.  We were filthy and sweaty so I braved the cold to feel clean again.  We realized we didn’t bring enough clothes, so Jim washed some of his.  I was worried mine wouldn’t dry, so maybe I’ll have more time tonight to wash mine.  We went to dinner with Kiran, Rempp’s and the driver, but all I really wanted was to drink so I gulped down my water and juice. We fell into bed at 9:30, completely exhausted and sore, but when Jim scrambled around at 1AM I was not able to return to sleep.  I can’t believe this was only one day…

Love, mom & dad, Jim & Karen, E/S Greding