Appreciating the little things in life...

Living in Nepal certainly makes you realise how we take so much for granted in our day to day lives in New Zealand (the same goes for all developed countries)… The people here work very hard for very little.  This is of course a generalization, as there is great variation between life in the city and life in the village, or life for the (relatively) well off and the poor. 

The government here is both corrupt and politically unstable.  Nepal has no constitution, and after 3 years of working towards one (since the elections were held at the end of the civil war) the population is fed up with the lack of progress.  The government does very little, from infrastructure development, to delivery of services and enforcement of law.  Communities need to work together to provide everything from education for the children, safe drinking water and healthcare to development and maintenance of roads and infrastructure. 

It constantly amazes me the number of people we meet with a vested interest in improving the lives of the Nepalese people.  Eager young Nepali men who choose to work on the development of their community, rather than pursuing opportunities abroad.  The spirit of NGO’s and community service clubs is very strong here, everyone is involved in some project; from micro-finance co-operatives, to establishing disability centres and schools, to improving water supplies and providing literacy and vocational training to those who need it. 

Still despite the active involvement of members of the community in development projects, there is still a lot of work that needs to be done.  Some examples;

-     Rubbish collection is virtually non-existent.  Rubbish litters the street and destroys the scenic beauty of the trekking routes.  There are a few rubbish collection systems in place in Nepal.  But even when collected the rubbish is simply dumped on a massive pile resulting in both an eyesore and pollution, with leaching of waste into the adjacent fields and water-ways. 

-     Water.  We have definitely come to appreciate a hot shower.  Lok’s house has solar panels, but even so a hot shower is a rare luxury.  The tap water is not safe to drink.  Yet we are lucky, many homes have no running water at all.  Even Ashok who lives next door must carry water up to his house.  In the villages it is not uncommon for people to walk several kilometers for water. 

    

Women collecting water in Bhaktipur (city of around 200,000 outside of Kathmandu)

-     Roads that are tar-sealed and maintained.  In recent years the Nepali government has been very active in bull-dozing roads to the villages.  This is great to enable better access to markets and healthcare and education.  However, the roads have been carved into steep hillsides and with the monsoon rains they quickly become impassable.  Landslides commonly block or wash away the roads, as well as deep rutted erosion.  The roads are built but maintenance is very limited.  Even the main highways to China and India (which are actually tar-sealed) are full of potholes and landslides. 

Women greeting us carrying loaded doko

-     Physical labour.  It is very common to see women and young children carrying heavy loads from the fields.  Dokos are carried on the back, supported by a strap around the forehead, usually full of fodder for the animals or water canisters.  Full bags of rice are also carried like this.  Some children do not go to school because they are working in the fields.

-     Health.  It is heart breaking to see the people suffering due to lack of proper health care facilities and financing.  Like Sumina we met in Baluwa Village with a broken arm – she never went for treatment despite the pain.  Like the many women we have heard about suffering from Uterine Prolapse.  This is shockingly common in rural Nepal, and many live with it for years.  We will touch more on this later.

-     Housing standards.  In the villages, people live in homes usually constructed from mud or stone.  Windows are covered by shutters, not glass.  You cannot escape the dirt, as this makes up the floors and walls.  Villagers who own goats, buffalo or cows will usually have them living with them inside the home.  Cooking is done over a small fire, or gas stove sitting at ground level.  There are no freezers, or fridges.  Everything is prepared fresh.  There are no washing machines either.  It is all done by hand.  Even where we live, in the big smoke of Banepa – with around 40,000 people, there are few washing machines.  Sufficient water supply to use the machines is an issue. 

    

Bio-gas stove in village home

Our home in Banepa

-     Education leaves a lot to be desired.  Not all children go to school, some because they cannot afford the cost of the school uniform as the school is free, others because they are required to work to support the family.  Many of those that do go to school attend a government school.  Pass rates at these schools are low with ill-qualified teachers, limited resources and poor facilities.  Good schools are expensive, attainable only for a few. 

This is not a comprehensive list and we will touch on more on these issues in the future.  In the meantime I urge you to appreciate the good things in life (that we rarely even think about) as they are by no means guaranteed to us all.  Perhaps next time you open the tap for a drink of water…

Phulbari School groundbreaking ceremony

On 10^th July 2011 or 26 Assad 2068 in the Nepali calendar (confusing I know) we went to the small hillside village of Phulbari to attend the groundbreaking ceremony for a new school building CDRA is helping to build. The new building is being built with assistance from CDRA and Mr. Jim Danisch, an American who has settled in the area and started an organic farm and teaching centre. We will have to do a blog soon on the good work Jim is doing.

We have been to Phulbari several times before and have always enjoyed the wonderful hospitality and beautiful scenery. Last time we were fortunate enough to help deliver some uniforms that were kindly donated by the Goodwill Community Foundation from the USA.

The first thing we noticed as we got out of the ute for the ceremony was that the children had formed a clapping guard of honor and were looking very smart in their new uniforms. There were also several Buddhist monks from the nearby monastery in Namobuddha conducting a blessing of the area. We were honored to receive a beautiful garland of flowers and a paper rosette each. The speeches were in Nepali and although we are learning slowly we were not able to follow fluently. There was some traditional dancing from some of the village girls followed by a ceremony where sacred items were blessed by the monks and placed at the base of the foundation holes so the school will be built on top of these blessings. We also received beautiful white silk scarves from the monks.

Ashok presented an award to Maita Singh Tamang, the village headman who has been the driving force behind getting projects into his village. This award was to recognize the benefits that he has bought to his small community.  

After many photos were taken we were offered a delicious meal of local produce by the village elders in the old school building. This old 4 room building is the primary source of education for over 200 children and has no water or electricity. The rooms are barely 5m by 5m. The new building will cost around NZ$15000 it will utilize local labour from the villagers who will volunteer their time. Right now around NZ$5000 has been raised leaving a shortfall of $10000 before the project can be completed. The reason construction starts before fundraising is completed is that it can take many years to fundraise this amount of money and the children need the new building ASAP. The children can use parts of the building as they are completed, even if the entire building isn't completed for several years. Mind you if you have a spare 10 grand lying around we sure could use it…   

The view from the new building site showing the old school building in the background





The local girls dancing





Nurse Niru

We had the pleasure of meeting Nurse Niru when we first arrived in Nepal.  She lives in a small village (Sanku) about half an hour from Banepa.  Niru was selected by the Dhulikhel Rotary Club for training to become an Associate Nurse Midwife (ANM).  The club put her through the 18 month course. Since completing the course Niru has established a small health care clinic in her village.  This has helped to greatly improve health services in the village.  She is only 20, but helps to deliver at least one baby each week.  With her assistance childbrith complications are able to be treated, or hospital care is sought. 

Niru is very active in her community, and has helped to establish a womens co-operative.  This helps the women to generate income, and enables them to pay for their healthcare.  She also runs training sessions for the villagers, educating them on issues such as nutrition, family planning, saving ($$) and basic health care. 

Nirus dream is to further her training and complete a Bachelor of Nursing Degree.  This would be a three year course, but the US$10,000 required makes this dream a distant goal.  She is saving hard for this at the moment. 

Health Clinic in Sangku 

The Dhulikhel Rotary Club has helped others like Niru, training eager young people in remote areas to improve health care in these locations.  Bijaya - introduced on a previous blog was trained through a similar scheme. 

Nepali wedding

Bridal Party

Snacks and Drinks

Kamala and Yvonne with Anu the bride

Paan - traditional Nepali after dinner treat

A wedding procession

We were lucky enough to be invited to Anu's wedding. Anu works at CDRA in public health. This was the bride's party as there is usually a bride's party before the ceremony and a groom's party the next day after the ceremony. Wow what a shindig! the food was amazing with delicious snacks and appetizers followed by a buffet main course.We even got ice cream for desert.

Anu looked amazing in the traditional red sari as she sat on a raised dais with her family. And there is nothing the Nepalis love more than a good boogie. All in all it was a wonderful night

(sorry I seem to be having trouble loading the photos. will try tomorrow)

A bunch of photos, has been updated

A monkey at the monkey temple, funny that

Big Buddha in Kathmandu

The best seat on the bus, just have to watch out for power lines

More golden statues, this time in the mist

Did you know you can buy some goats for the poor villagers? well I can confirm that they do exist. Only about $40 - $50 per goat (depending on the goat) and they do the world of good. We can even get a picture of you goat being delivered and a hand written letter of thanks (probably an illiterate scribble to be honest, but its still nice) you can frame it and put it on you're wall... com'on

Or you can buy a Muscouvy duck (more correctly known as a Mcscoffer) Life can't be too bad as long as you have a Mcscoffer

(sorry inside joke there)

But you can buy a duck for $20 for a poor family like Sankers, so they can breed and sell more ducks. Not just for dinner.

Reading to Rabin, a mentally handicapped kid in Balbikas Kendra (read the blog post on it)

Attention begins to go...

Book in mouth!

He wasn't too keen on the idea of letting it go

At a disabled childrens hospital, getting wasted in Noughts and crosses

Two beautiful Nepali girls - wait thats Yvonne

sunda is beautiful in Nepali

The D floor at a Nepali wedding

Awwwww. Had to finish with a cheesy one sorry

We need your help, (well not us but some Nepali kids, you know what I mean)

Yesterday we went back to the village of Baluwa to help out with a free dentistry camp at the primary school. You will hopefully recall that we visited this school about a month ago to help deliver some water tanks and equipment kindly donated by the Rotary clubs of Matamata, Mt Maunganui and Tauraunga Te Papa. If you don't recall that you really shoud pay more attention. It was really great to see fresh clean water flowing from the new well into the new tanks.

While we were in the village some locals bought a boy named Sanker B.K. to our attention. Sanker is around 14 years old, (they are not too precise on ages in the villages) and he has a large tumour growing in a place all men can sympathise with. He is constantly in a lot of pain and even walking causes discomfort. He has been living with this for around 7 years. Sankers family is also in need of help. He is the oldest of 6 brothers, none of whom  go to school as their parents can't afford the uniforms or books, even though the school is free. Their father is a day labourer on local farms who earns 200 Rupees (less than $4) a day, based on seasonal demand. Sanker himself turns some bellows for the local blacksmith for 25 rupees a day.

While we were looking at Sanker someone mentioned that there was also another boy in the village who needs help. Little Ganga Ram is around 4 years old and walked for an hour with his 6 year old sister just to see us. His mother was working in the fields. He has trouble peeing and it is suspected he has a urinary infection. He cries every time he has to pee and he is very small for his age. It will cost 25 000 - 30 000 Rupees (NZ$450-500) for each operation. This will be performed at Dhulikhel Hospital http://www.dhulikhelhospital.org/ which is an amazing story in itself.

After this immediate need has been filled we want to provide some school books and uniforms for Sanker and his brothers as well as little Ganga when he is old enough. A scholarship will cost around NZ$100 a year.

Please help these boys out in any way you can. You don't have to contribute the full amount, any contribution will be gratefully received.

Thanks!!!

On a positive note, the dental camp was a great success with 87 patients treated during the day.  Most for fillings, some for tooth extractions. Many were also referred to Dhulikhel Hospital for root canal treatment.  There were some very big holes, but no painkillers for the fillings.  Fortunately, those requiring a tooth extraction did receive a local anesthetic.

Dhulikhel Rotary Club

Some quick background on Rotary for the uninitated (copied and pasted from wikipedia)...

Rotary International is an organization of service clubs known as Rotary Clubs located all over the world. The stated purpose of the organization is to bring together business and professional leaders to provide humanitarian service, encourage high ethical standards in all vocations, and help build goodwill and peace in the world. It is a secular organization open to all persons regardless of race, color, creed, gender, or political preference. There are 33,976 clubs and over 1.22 million members worldwide.The members of Rotary Clubs are known as Rotarians.

I will admit that I didn't know too much about Rotary before coming over to Nepal but I have been massively impressed with the good work accomplished here at the proverbial coal face of humanitarian work. Dhulikhel (pronounced: Do lik eel) Rotary club is one of the most active service clubs in Nepal. Dhulikhel is right next to Banepa where we are based in the Karve district. There are 40 members in RC Dhulikhel as well as 20 Rotoact (the youth arm of Rotary) and 100 RCC (Rotary Community Corps) members based in surrounding villages. There are also 4 honary members including the president of Nepal.

As I have said RC Dhulikhel is one of the most active clubs in Nepal. A full desription of its projects would be far too long to list here but here is a brief outline of some of the projects undertaken in the last year:

- Eye screening programme
- Mobile eye camps in rural Nepal with free glasses and cataract surgeries
- Provision of hygiene and sanitation education and kits to vulnerable children
- Provision of uniforms and sationary to poor children to enable them to attend school
- Water management systems for two villages and a school
- Youth leadership training programme
- Street tree planting programme
- Vocational training programme for the disabled
- Building of additional classrooms and toilets for schools

Delivery of school uniform to Phulbari School

One main method of funding for these projects is through matching grants. This means that an overseas sponsor club and the Rotary Foundation will contribute to the funding of projects. The great thing about Rotary is that it is all volunteers, and 100% of the donated money is utilised for the project.    

Last week we had the opportunity to attend a Rotary Awards dinner for all of the clubs here in Nepal.  RC Dhulikhel was awarded 11 awards, a great achievement.  Five 1st place awards, three 2nd place awards and two 3rd place awards, in addition the club was awarded the best in Community Service Award.  Ashok Shrestra, the president of the club for the coming year has just been awarded with a Paul Harris Fellow.

Rotary Awards Dinner - RC Dhulikhel receiving award

L - R: Ben, Yvonne, Kamala (Ashok's wife) and Ashok