We are now in Nepal and have had a wonderful time thus far. This past
week we have spent our time with a Nepali non-governmental organization (NGO)
named Namsaling Community Development Center (NCDC) and have basically become a
part of the NCDC family. These two
sentences basically summarize our past week and Nepal so if you’re in a hurry,
there is really no need to read the next 4600 words. If you have time
though, and would like to read about our wonderful time in a Nepali village,
with a great organization and lovely people, please go ahead and enjoy this
blog post.
Journey to Nepal
Our travel plans to Nepal changed a bit when we decided to not go to
Varanasi, but rather stay in Rishikesh for a week longer. With this, instead of
crossing Nepal’s border on its southern side, we decided to cross on Nepal’s
eastern border because it was closer to our desired destination of Ilam, Nepal.
Even though this plan was more costly
because it required a flight from Delhi to Bagdogra, India, it was a good
investment and saved us a lot of travel time.
Our journey to Nepal officially began by taking a 6.5 hour night bus
from Rishikesh to Delhi. This was a bit
of a weird experience for us only because we were finally leaving Rishikesh
after 3.5 weeks and we also had to say goodbye to Hannah, who was basically our
big sister for 2 weeks. Once we reached Delhi at 3:30 am, we got an auto
rickshaw to go to the airport straight away because we had no desire to stay in
the chaotic city of Delhi.
Following the 15 or 20 minute auto ride, we then arrived to the
airport, waited for our flight (mostly people-watched) for nine hours, and then
took our two-hour flight. Soon enough, we arrived to Bagdogra, India and had to
figure out a way to cross the Nepali border about 40 minutes away. We decided
to take a pre-paid taxi (which is convenient because you have a lower chance of
being ripped off) to the Nepali border town of Kakarvita. This 30 or 40 minute
taxi ride only cost us 430 Rs (~$7)
We then arrived to the Indian border patrol at around 5:00 pm and faced
our biggest problem of the day: mosquitos. They were attacking us from every
way but luckily we were able to swat them away with our border crossing
paperwork. We then walked across the
border, arrived to the Nepali border crossing post and the process was quite
easy; just as I expected. We handed them our paperwork, $40 (which had to
be in US dollars, not Indian nor Nepali currency) and received our visa
sticker.
The next step in the process was
to find a hotel; and after considering three different ones, we settled on one
for 500 NRS (Nepalese Rupees) which is equal to $5. The room was actually
our most spacious room thus far and it even had a dining room-sized table. We
would have liked to go directly to Ilam that day but the sun sets so early
here, maybe around 5:30, so getting to Ilam that day was not possible.
“I like Nepali Boys"
On Sunday, October 12, we took a bus from Kakarvita to Charali (about 10
km) and then took a shared taxi from Charali to Ilam. This taxi ride was quite interesting because it lasted three hours and
was in a shared Jeep that fit about 13 people plus the driver and his assistant
(who sat on the roof). A bonus to this taxi ride was one Nepali woman who was
quite loud and seemed to be quite interested in Stephanie and me, especially me.
The woman repeatedly tried to speak to me in Nepali saying, “malai Nepali keta
manpercha” over and over, even though I responded with an incredibly confused
and surprised look each time. Soon enough, a different man in the car told me
that this meant “I like Nepali boys.” So for their entertainment, I wrote this
phrase in my little notebook and repeated “malai Nepali keta manpercha” which
made the whole car laugh. Later, this same lady also had the courage to
repeatedly say, “Nepali sange biegarsu” which means something like, “I will
marry a Nepali boy.” Again to entertain my peer passengers, I wrote this one
down and repeated it in the car.
While it sounds like I may have been annoyed by all of this, I was not.
I was simply reminded of why I love Nepali people. They love to laugh and they will also take you under their wing as if
you are a brother or sister to them; even if they barely know you.
The car we road in to get to Ilam
Eventually, we arrived to Ilam, and were greeted by the Namsaling
Community Development Center (NCDC) staff at our guesthouse. This was especially great because I was
able to see my friend, Amol, who was in the same study abroad course when I was
in Nepal last year. Amol now works for NCDC and it was great to briefly
hear about the work he has done since being an employee with NCDC. He had to
leave after a short time though because there was some sort of bingo event that
seemed to be a big social night for the community. I thought it was a bit funny
because at home, I only associate bingo with either kids in elementary school
or old people.
Our first night in Ilam was also special because while we were eating
our dinner, I was surprised to see another friend, Bhupal. Bhupal has been a staff member of NCDC for over 30 years and was a
staff member of the study abroad program that Amol and I were a part of last
year. Bhupal is one of those people who brings a smile to your face without
even saying a word. His warm heart and
also goofy-ness makes anyone feel comfortable as if they have been life-long
friends.
Later, he suggested that Stephanie and I join him in his field work the
following day and since we didn’t have strict plans for our time in Ilam, we
decided to join him. He said that we
would be visiting the village of Namsaling and that it was four or five hours
away. Him as well as the other gentleman who was with him, Hom Nath (who I
will talk about more later), kept repeating how it was a long journey, over
four or five hours, but this didn’t seem too bad to us because we were used to
long travels by road. Little did we
know, they meant that it would take over four or five hours by foot! But this still seemed fine
to us because we’ve never traveled in this way. So Monday morning, we tried to
pack as light as possible (still not light enough, as we later discovered) and
made our way to Namsaling with Bhupal and a new friend, Pradeep.
Monday - Walk to Namsaling
After leaving our homestay, our first stop was to visit the main NCDC
office in Ilam where we met all of the staff and got a tour of the area. It was
great to see the different sectors of the organization and especially to hear
about their efforts relating to alternative energy. They promote about nine or
so different types of alternative energy sources, such as biogas and pico-hydro
set-ups, and have each technology available to show at their office.
Soon enough, we left the office
with Bhupal and Pradeep and made our way to the village of Namsaling. We were
told that the journey would first consist of a one-hour walk down-hill, then we
had to cross a river and then walk uphill for the remaining four hours or so. This
all sounded fine and dandy at the beginning of the trip but we later found out
that the journey was much tougher than we expected.
The beginning part of our journey
Stephanie and Bhupal
Pradeep and Bhupal heading down the hill
We made one stop at a little shop before we reached the bottom of the
hill and unfortunately my hamstring was beginning to hurt. While drinking cold Fanta and eating a spicy puffed rice snack, Bhupal
then asked us if we needed a porter to carry our bags up the hill after we
crossed the river and I decided to request a porter for my backpack. While I
would normally be too proud to do so, I did not want to reinjure my leg for a
third time so I decided to listen to my body and accept that I am not a
Nepali and therefore not used to climbing hills consistently.
The little shop where we took a short break
My second favorite part of the
journey that day was crossing the bridge at the bottom of the hill across the
rushing river. It reinforced the reason
why I love bridges because they can make transportation, and thus access to
resources, a lot easier. Bhupal also said that before they had the pedestrian
suspension bridge, there was only a small, unsteady bamboo bridge to cross the
river and it took a lot of time and effort to pass the river. Now, it has
become a great resource to the Namsaling community because they can reach the
municipality of Ilam much easier.
Our first view of the river
We made it to the bridge!
You now must ask, “If that was
your second favorite part of the journey, what was your favorite part?” Well,
my favorite part was talking with Bhupal and hearing his stories. Bhupal
told me about the various cash crops of the village, about how he had come to
become a respected NCDC worker among the whole Namsaling village (now over
1,000 households) and also various stories about Dr. Barry (who I will talk
more about later as well). This
conversation, complimented by the wonderful forested scenery, again reminded me
of why I was so happy to be back in Nepal; and also excited about my time here with
NCDC because I was sure that I was about to learn a great amount from this
organization.
There’s no use in hiding it, the
walk up the hill kicked our butts. Bhupal and Pradeep however were
incredibly kind and patient and even offered to carry Stephanie’s backpack for
a good portion of the way. We are incredibly thankful that they were
understanding for why we were so tired up the hill and it made us further recognize the strength of Nepali people with
their way of zooming up and down the hills. The last 20 minutes of the journey
was the most difficult, not only because it was dark out, but because we had
walked so long and it was a continual uphill journey.
Taking a brief break from walking uphill
Pradeep leading the way
The first water source protection spot that Bhupal designed
Jungle area
A swing made by the locals
Soon enough, over six hours after we left Ilam, we made it to our
homestay and were incredibly relieved to finally relax. We were greeted by the husband and wife of the house, a local English
teacher, and a local politician. We were also greeted with a small glass (or
two or three) of the local alcohol, raksi, made by the wife of the home.
Afterwards we ate dinner without silverware, only our right hand, and continued
to chat for a while.
As we were sitting and relaxing
I couldn’t help but smile and be thankful for my opportunity to be in the
Nepali village. While the home we were staying in was very basic, it still
felt homey because it was filled with loving people and much laughter (mostly
thanks to Bhupal). Yet again, I wish I could describe the feeling I had at the
time in a better way, but once again, I have to give up trying (I wonder how
many times I’ve said, “I wish I could describe the feeling better” in all of
these blog posts).
Stephanie and I then washed our faces and brushed our teeth at the
faucet, which was a bit more of a challenge than it needed to be thanks to the
local alcohol, and then went to the bathroom in the outdoor toilet. I actually enjoyed this process though
because I was able to slowly introduced Stephanie to the “village-way” of doing
things based on my one-week village experience last year in a different area of
Nepal. We then fell asleep on our beds, basically a table with a comforter
over it as a mattress, and was greeted in the morning by the sound of roosters.
Tuesday – A Laid Back Day
The only thing we had planned for the following day was to prepare for
a few hand-washing events that NCDC was arranging. For Stephanie and me, this basically meant we followed and watched
Bhupal and Pradeep as they arranged things in Nepali.
My favorite part of the day
though was visiting the home of one of Dr. Barry’s (again, I’ll talk about him
later in this post) best friends. His name is Laxmin Nepali and is in the
“untouchable” caste. Dr. Barry talked about him while I was in China and he
said that even though he only has a sixth grade education, he is one of the
wisest man he knows. While we were there he was sewing many shirts on the porch
of his house and Bhupal described to him that I knew Dr. Barry in Nepali.
Because Laxmin does not know English very well, the only way I could
communicate with him was showing him a few pictures of Barry and that seemed to
make him happy.
Laxmin and me
NCDC Namsaling Headquarters
We had some time to kill
Eating chaat patay as a snack
Chaat patay
For pretty much the rest of the
day we played Rummy 500 which seemed to turn into the game of the week. We
played two full games, had dinner and raksi like the previous night, and then
Steph, Bhupal and Pradeep played another
game of Rummy 500. I was tired of playing cards by that time though because
I’ve played so many cards growing up and now I feel like I have a time limit
per day when it comes to cards. Bhupal and Pradeep are crazy and even played another game which I think is nuts.
Wednesday – the Day the
Toilet and I Became Best Friends
In the middle of the night, I
unfortunately wasn’t feeling well and had to puke. Then in the morning I had
some severe diarrhea (maybe too much information for you Western folks?).
So I told Bhupal in the morning and we decided it would be best that I stay at
home that day. So basically all I did
that day was sleep, venture to the toilet, and read.
Around 3:00, the mom came up to my room and spoke some Nepali to me. I
only recognized one word that sounded like “eat” so I replied with “hajur”
which is yes in Nepali. I think she also called for the English teacher to come
over to do some translation work which was quite helpful. He was able to tell
me that I would have raman-type noodles which sounded great to me. He quickly
left though because he had to go back to work (or something). I then ate the
noodles at a glacial pace while listening to a handful of Nepalis talk in
Nepali. I was curious about the name of my food so with a timid voice, I
attempted to ask what the name of my food was by saying “yo ke nam ho?” I said
it timidly because I wasn’t sure if the grammar was correct. But they then
laughed and seemed to be surprised by my one Nepali phrase and responded with
“chauchau.” I later found out that the grammar was correct but they were
actually unsure how to respond because they didn’t know what to call the noodle
meal.
The kitchen. I took this picture earlier in the day, before I had the chauchau.
A picture of the front of the house
While I was at home, Stephanie,
Bhupal and Pradeep went to the International Hand Washing Day event in a
different area. Stephanie seemed to love the event because she was able to venture through the deep jungle for an
hour, play with a bunch of the kids, spend time at one of Bhupal’s close
friend’s home, and was also able to see the whole process of the community
coming together to learn the six-steps of hand washing. A link to show
these six steps is here.
Thursday – Second Hand
Washing Event
On Thursday I was feeling a lot
better and was able to attend the second hand washing event in a different area
of the village. Throughout the day though, I felt like the whole village became
aware of my diarrhea the day before because Bhupal seemed to tell all of the
Nepalis. I wouldn’t have known because my Nepali is very limited, however
diarrhea is the same in Nepali as it is in English so I was able to understand
when he was telling someone. It’s okay though because it seems like talking
about these kind of health issues is no problem in the village.
The hand washing event was
interesting because it took place outside and people of all ages were there. Stephanie
and I, along with three other people, were designated as “special guests” of
the event so we had to sit at the front, facing the crowd, for the whole thing.
There were then many speeches, none of which we understood given the language
barrier, and it concluded with all of the children taking turns learning the
six steps of hand washing. Bhupal gave this introduction and he seemed to do a
great job at it because he made the audience laugh a few times.
Bhupal took Stephanie's jacket as a joke
Pradeep and Bhupal taking a funny picture while eating guava
Hand washing event
Our view from the "special guest" section
Bhupal demonstrating the six steps of hand washing
Kids practicing the six steps
Thursday ended in an interesting way because about six more NCDC staff
members arrived to the home we were staying at. This basically turned into a big party where we drank a lot of raksi
(maybe too much) and then played more Rummy. It was great night though, because
even though we were with a few founding members, the CEO and other important
NCDC staff members, it was like being with family with so much laughter.
Friday – NCDC General
Assembly
The reason all the NCDC staff
members came to the house the night before was because they had their annual
general assembly in the Namsaling office. There were maybe 60 or 70 people
at this event and each attendee got a shoulder bag with a small notepad, pen
and a packet with information about NCDC written in Nepali.
The day consisted of a two-hour morning session where (I’m assuming)
they announced about NCDC’s progress this past year. They also seemed to give a
few awards. We then had a snack for lunch and everyone also had to practice
their six steps of hand washing. Following, there was a two hour discussion
time where (I think) they discussed the budget and also stuff for next year. I
don’t really know what was said because the entire thing was in Nepali. While
it was probably our most boring day because we couldn’t understand anything, it
was still good to be there because we experienced what a general assembly was
like for this NGO.
Inside the assembly
Practicing hand washing before lunch
Stephanie also practicing hand washing
We then had to leave the home we
were staying in, said goodbye to the mom and dad of the house, and walked down
to a different house to stay at for the night. We moved to a place more
downhill to make the commute the following day a bit easier.
The mom and dad of the home we stayed in
After about one hour, we reached the home which probably had between 16
and 20 people, most of whom were from NCDC. This was great to be a part of because again, it felt like a family
atmosphere around Thanksgiving time back home. Others played Rummy while I
kept score, we drank raksi, and soon enough had dinner. Overall, the day ended
in a great way and we were again happy to be with the NCDC family.
Saturday – Journey to Ilam
We woke up to Bhupal’s deep voice at 6:00 am to hear that we were going
to leave at 7:00. A group of about 10
then left the home and walked downhill for almost two hours. The walk
downhill wasn’t too bad because we took the road path down which wasn’t too
steep to walk down.
We then reached the river and crossed a different bridge. To my
surprise though, once we crossed the bridge we continued to walk down. Then all of the sudden, people started to
take off their shoes and walk across a portion of the river. We then found out
that we had to walk up the river for a short distance to reach the area where a
jeep would pick us up. While this did hurt my feet with all the stones at
the bottom of the river, it was still a cool experience.
Happy that we crossed the river
Happy that a jeep is coming
Soon later, a jeep arrived to the bottom of the hill and the 10 of us
packed in the car. Stephanie and I were
incredibly happy that a jeep was arranged to take us uphill because walking up
the steep hill would have sucked. We then made it up the hill along the
bumpy road and within 30 or 45 minutes we soon arrived to our homestay in Ilam.
We then took a much needed shower (because we didn’t shower all week) which
felt amazing and had our breakfast meal.
Packed in the jeep
***To me, the entire next
session is important so I will not pick and choose parts to bold. If you’re
interested in learning about the origins of NCDC, please read ahead.***
NCDC’s Origins
Even before we arrived to Ilam and Namsaling, I had heard a lot about
NCDC and a bit about its origin. Since being here though, I’ve really enjoyed
piecing together all the stories I had heard before and learning about the
organization’s interesting story. The story first begins with Barry.
Dr. Barry
Dr. Barry Bialek was a staff member of the the Engineering for Developing Communities (EDC) study abroad course I
took in the summer of 2013. Throughout the course, we learned about the
successes of NCDC as an NGO in Nepal and later learned that Dr. Barry was the
one who conceived the idea of NCDC.
Almost 40 years ago, Dr. Barry decided to volunteer with the Peace Corp
and was placed in the village of Namsaling in Nepal. His assignment was to be a
math and science teacher at a school in the village which required that he
quickly learn Nepali and become fluent in the language. With his two years of
service, he became very close with the community and formed a deep connection
with Namsaling.
Following Barry’s time with the Peace Corp, he decided to go to medical
school in North America yet his heart still stayed with Namsaling. He then
thought of an idea to develop a Namsaling Community Development Center within
the Namsaling village which could bring the community together, and to also
have a Namsaling Community Development Foundation (NCDF) in Canada to support
NCDC. Barry then decided to suggest this idea to a friend of his, Hom Nath
Adhikari, who was also a teacher in Namsaling while Barry taught.
Hom Nath
Hom Nath liked Barry’s idea of having a community development center
and decided to help Barry further develop this idea. Even though he was busy
with his teaching job, he continued to work hard to develop the organization.
Barry and Hom Nath then developed a 100 year plan for the village of
Namsaling which gave sort of a vision for the community. They then figured that
NCDC would be a platform to implement this 100 year plan and amazingly to this
day, the village is on track with this 100 year plan. This plan included
different sectors such as education, water, energy, communication,
transportation, etc. According to Hom Nath, Barry facilitated this development
of this 100 year plan and thus played a key role in the organization’s
development.
When NCDC was first developed, the Nepali government was a Panchayat sort
of monarchy system. And a government approval from the Namsaling Assembly was
required to officially make NCDC an established NGO. This took some time but
soon enough, they were accepted by the government.
When the organization began, Hom Nath requested that the village leader
require each household give just 5 Rupees per month as well as a few days of
labor for the organization. With there being 500-600 households in the entire
village, this gave NCDC some money to work with. The organization was then able
to work on various collective projects that helped improve the community’s
economy, health, sanitation, etc.
Five years after NCDC began, they faced some troubles because when
Nepal’s government changed to a multiparty system, the community then became
divided regarding their feelings towards NCDC. Some political parties didn’t
like how NCDC was working and this made it very difficult for them to work.
Despite these difficulties, Hom Nath as well as other political party leaders
then decided to make NCDC a platform for the different political parties to
discuss their opinions and differences and this then created the first board of
NCDC.
Afterwards, NCDC continued to grow and become successful where they
then needed their own full-time employees to manage the organization. This was because
the people who were running NCDC already had their own full-time jobs, Hom Nath
as a teacher for example. So then along came Bhupal.
Bhupal
Bhupal first became interested in NCDC when he was about 13. He would
listen at the door of meetings and consistently hear the updates about NCDC’s
projects. His interest continued for another 10 years or so and then finally, a
job posting was advertised for NCDC’s first full-time position. To his delight,
he was selected as NCDC’s first official employee.
Even though he was only paid 50 Rupees a month, which many people
harassed him about, he loved his job. He worked day and night to improve the
organization and soon became much respected among the community members. He even
created the first community health post which was actually at the same house we
stayed at during our time in Namsaling. Barry later came back to Namsaling and
saw Bhupal’s incredible dedication and they soon became very good friends.
Bhupal has been successful in his job because he is a very social and
also caring person. Just by walking with him throughout Namsaling, we could
tell that he genuinely cared for the various households in the community. The
community also seemed to respect him a great amount because we could stop at
various people’s houses and would be greeted with tea. In addition, Bhupal has
a great sense of humor which makes it very easy and pleasurable to travel with
him.
Something that I would not have guessed is that Bhupal only has a 5th
grade education. I learned that when he was seven, his father died and he then
had to stop school so he could help at home. Despite this, he continued to be
interested in learning various things and I think this curiosity is what has
helped him most throughout his life. He was curious about NCDC and then became
a successful employee. He then wanted to communicate with the foreign partners
in English so he worked hard to learn English. Later, he became curious in
photography and now he’s very proud to have his own camera. And the list goes
on. Hom Nath also helped with Bhupal’s education through the years because he
also saw great potential with his incredible work ethic.
Overall, Bhupal is a very inspiring person and I feel honored to call
him my good friend.
Various Comments
·
There are basically only two meals here a day at
9:30 and 7:00ish and a midafternoon snack. EVERY
meal is dal bhat (lentils and rice) and the only variety is the type of
vegetable that is served with it. Even though Nepalis have the same meal every
day for every meal, they still absolutely love the meal. To my surprise, I
haven’t gotten sick of the meal but I know I will enjoy having a non-dal bhat
meal when we get to Kathmandu next week
·
Barry comes back to Nepal quite frequently and
is a much respected person among all of Namsaling and also much of Nepal.
Sometimes, it even seemed like Barry was a celebrity in Nepal because he would
even speak and sang songs on the national Nepali radio at times (in Nepali of
course).
·
It was a
pleasure to interview Hom Nath about the creation of NCDC because his face
would light up and his eyes would sparkle when he spoke about NCDC’s
development. You can tell that he is very proud of the organization’s
progress and that many people also respect him for his great work. Even when we
walked with him from Namsaling to Ilam, many people would greet him with a
smile and addressed him as “sir.”
·
There are two children at our homestay and both
are incredibly cute. One is a 1.5 year old boy who is incredibly clever and is
learning both English and Nepali. The other is an 8 year old girl who is very
active and hangs out with us a lot. She has incredible English and is also very
curious with most everything we do. I normally don’t like being around kids for
a super long time but I have enjoyed hanging with her because she is now like a
little sister to me.
·
We learned that Hom Nath was married when he was
9 years old! Can you believe it? They didn’t have their own home until they were
maybe 20 but they were officially made husband and wife by their parents when
they were so young. How incredible!
·
Dear Mom, when you pick me up from the airport
can you have a vegetarian Jimmy Johns sandwich (with light mayo) ready for me?
I’ve been dreaming of one this week and I think that’s the first think I want
when I get back to the States. Thank you!
Caroline’s Song of the Day
10-Oct Hello, Goodbye by the Beatles
11-Oct Latika’s Theme by A.R. Rahman Feat. Suzanne D’Mello
12-Oct Rather Be (feat. Jess Glynne) by Clean Bandit
13-Oct Weepy Donuts by Danny Elfman/Steve Bartek
14-Oct I Found You by Alabama Shakes
15-Oct Waiting… by City and Colour
16-Oct Water Fountain by tUnE-yArDs
17-Oct You Got It On
18-Oct Into The Mystic by Van Morrison
No comments:
Post a Comment