October 2010
Our first three weeks in Nepal has gone very quickly, weather has been similar to Brisbane with sunny days and also rain. This is good as it keeps the dust down. We have had some excellent views of the mountains as the air has been clear but the pollution is still as bad as ever.
Dashain was in full swing when we got here and so many of the businesses were closed and people were away. There were about 6 – 8 children at PA Nepal Naya Bazar and Sagar said about 10 at Sankhu.
We spent a good day with Lew meeting the people from NAHOH; Lew showed us what he had already done to improve their small office especially with reliable regular power through batteries etc. Lew then presented them with the equipment he bought with the $4000 NAFA money we allocated for 2010. We were very impressed with the dedication of the NAHOH staff and their genuine commitment to their work.
We went with Lew to the ‘solar’ shop to discuss the finer details of the solar panels and batteries with the engineer. The engineer will need to take two workers with him toTawal to install the new solar panels at the health clinic for the fridge. This power will also be used when Lew and Sue go to Tawal to conduct hearing tests. The solar panel currently on the roof of the health clinic will be moved to the multipurpose room at the school.
Our UQ students Katie and Rachel are working hard to get all their assignments finished as they were delayed due to the public holidays. Di Seaniger is staying in Thimi and working with Surendra for the next few weeks, teaching at the school.
Our first three weeks in Nepal has gone very quickly, weather has been similar to Brisbane with sunny days and also rain. This is good as it keeps the dust down. We have had some excellent views of the mountains as the air has been clear but the pollution is still as bad as ever.
Dashain was in full swing when we got here and so many of the businesses were closed and people were away. There were about 6 – 8 children at PA Nepal Naya Bazar and Sagar said about 10 at Sankhu.
We spent a good day with Lew meeting the people from NAHOH; Lew showed us what he had already done to improve their small office especially with reliable regular power through batteries etc. Lew then presented them with the equipment he bought with the $4000 NAFA money we allocated for 2010. We were very impressed with the dedication of the NAHOH staff and their genuine commitment to their work.
We went with Lew to the ‘solar’ shop to discuss the finer details of the solar panels and batteries with the engineer. The engineer will need to take two workers with him toTawal to install the new solar panels at the health clinic for the fridge. This power will also be used when Lew and Sue go to Tawal to conduct hearing tests. The solar panel currently on the roof of the health clinic will be moved to the multipurpose room at the school.
Our UQ students Katie and Rachel are working hard to get all their assignments finished as they were delayed due to the public holidays. Di Seaniger is staying in Thimi and working with Surendra for the next few weeks, teaching at the school.
JOY office was closed for the holidays and has since opened. Last week JOY members put on a get together at the office in the evening with food and drink, quite a few of the JOY members attended as well as Lew, Katie, Rachel. It was a lovely surprise to also see Punam at the get together. 
All 33 bags of jumpers and beanies that came over as luggage with trekkers and NAFA supporters have been resorted and jumpers and beanies for 2 villages have been bagged up ready for delivery and distribution. 75 jumpers and beanies were distributed to a children’s home which one of the Joy members supports.
Thank you letters and cards have been started with the sponsored children at Thimi and PA Nepal Sankhu and Nayabazar to be ready to be sent back to Helen for distribution to their sponsors. Luckily most of the distant college students were in Kathmandu because of Dashain and we were able to get the thank you and profiles/updates completed before they returned to their colleges.
A successful NAFA funded Health clinic was run at the CLA school at Thimi where the doctor saw appx 40 adults and children from the local carpet factory. At the same time NAHOH ran a hearing program in the next room checking about the same number of patients. During the Health Clinic some baby jumper’s beanies and booties were distributed.
We visited PA Sankhu last Friday and they are keen to continue their knitting program. We were pleased to see two new staff members employed to look after the children. We will meet with Indira after her return from overseas in Nov. December 2010
Most of the main festivals have passed although we still get the odd public holiday for various events.Electricity load shedding has increased to 2 hours each morning and three hours in the evening, the hours varying daily so we have a schedule to keep up with the weekly roster. We have noticed it is getting cooler now, another blanket on the bed although the days are still warm.
We had a good visit to Tawal, there were quite a few of us in the group. Rod from NAFA, Raoul, Diana and Alberto from
The two classrooms funded by NRN and NAQ has started and are looking very impressive, it will be good for the school to have a few larger classrooms.
The Spanish and Austrian supporters attended most of our meetings and were very interested in the process.They have their own priorities in projects and funding and were able to get a perspective of where to put their funding in the future.Unfortunately it is becoming harder to raise money in Europe .
While out at Sankhu we met with Clinton and Liz from Sydney Clinton
Last week Ramita and I took 90 jumpers and beanies to the Sankhu health clinic.This is a govt registered clinic with a paid doctor, midwife and health care worker.Five volunteer health workers help their clinic by going from house to house to give information about health care meetings and vaccination days.
It was a very busy morning, women with babies were advised we would be there with jumpers so we had quite a crowd.The babies were weighed and vaccinated, the doctor spoke to each parent and examined the babies and the health care worker took notes and wrote up files. Amongst the visitors that day were two babies who were newborn and weighted 2 kg each.They were incredibly small but the doctor seemed satisfied with their progress.
We distributed all the jumpers and beanies, the mothers were very grateful to receive them and the following week when we visited Sankhu again we were able to identify a few of the children wearing their new jumpers.
We have sent quite a bit of time with Debbie and Stew, they came with us to Thimi where they met Surendra and were very impressed with the school and the teachers.They had time to walk around the village and admire the very old Newari buildings and saw the clay pots being crafted and fired in the open air kilns.
On Saturday Debbie, Stew, Ross and I went out to Sankhu to see the children.It was a lovely sunny day so Debbie and Stew sat outside with the children, Debbie read stories and Stew entertained the children with drawing.As I mentioned in the previous update the children are still very interested in knitting and are able to make many things without patterns.There is a group of young boys at Sankhu now and they too wanted to learn to knit, so I have given them hooks and wool to practice.Ross fitted a new belt to the sewing machine and each time we go there we unlock it so that the older children can sew and mend their clothes.The machine is used non stop from the time we get there to the time we leave.Sunu is the most accomplished machinist and the others are learning slowly by observing and asking questions.Unfortunately I don’t have much time after distributing wool, answering questions and helping with knitting problems to give any lessons on the sewing machine.
Debbie, Stew and I have been shopping for goods for our market stalls.We have been having a great time looking at all the colourful merchandise and making decisions.I have been able to introduce them to the different shopkeepers I know and we have also met a few new ones.We have bought material for bags, necklaces and beads, fake gold jewellery, scarves and other items.Stew has been very patient with us and joined in the fun of discussing colours and choosing items.
Ross has been tracking down the last of the students at Sankhu and Nayabazar to complete the thank you letters and their college profiles. He has been busy in the Joy office, especially after Tawal where he and Rod had a number of reports to write up. Ross has also been meeting with a few different groups who are seeking NAFAs assistance such as the representative from Lumsa regarding the micro hydro in the village and Narendra from Backtrack about the disabled home he supports.Ross has also arranged a work experience program for a Grade 11 student to learn basic computer installation and repair with Utam, the IT consultant Joy calls upon when needed.Tomorrow he is off for meeting with Lumsa Micro Hydro engineer and then on Thursday down to Palpa to see the sponsored PA boys there for their profiles and letters to sponsors.
Joy hosted a lovely farewell for Katie and Rachel, the two UQ students who have been doing their social work placement in Kathmandu arranged by Deb.They did an interesting and informative PowerPoint presentation about what they achieved during their stay and the speeches got quite teary.There was quite a large group at the farewell including Deb and Stew, Barbara from the USA and Janice, an Australian from Newcastle
23 December 2010
Ross, Indira, Clinton and Liz with 4 Nepali friends hired Micro and drove to Phalpa. Indira took 4 bicycles for the boys strapped to the roof. On the way Indira decided to check on 2 of our PA sponsored children who had been reintegrated with their father and his brother and wife. Indira likes to check that the reintegration process is working well. The 2 girls, Jenisha and Nisha BK both looked well.
During the few days at Palpa, Ross completed the profiles of 5 boys we sponsor who enjoy the rural life at the old horse riding stables and fields. On day before they arrived the old wooden rickety bridge crossing the creek on the property collapsed. While they were there they spent one day helping the boys build a new bridge. This entailed cutting down 2 trees , moving them over ½Km to the river & then maneuvering them into place. The last nail went in to the planks under torchlight. While they were there Indira had arranged for a woman from a nearby village to show the boys how to cultivate mushrooms. They are already able to sell some of their excess vegetables grown on their property and this will enhance their income.
As Palpa is close to border, I flew down to meet Ross and we took a few days holiday. We spent a day at Lumbini where Buddha was born. We enjoyed the day walking around the large world heritage site viewing all the recently constructed temples. We crossed the border and took a 5 hour bus journey to Kushinigar where Buddha died. This was a lovely quiet village off the main road where we were able to walk between the different monasteries and Stupas. We spent three days there sightseeing and taking a rest.
Soon after our return to Ktm we visited the “Khagendra New Life Home”, a home for disabled people which Narendra from Backtrack is the chairperson. They had submitted an application to NAFA for funding. The residents are all physically disabled and have been there for many years, some have been abandoned by their families or they are unable to be cared for in their family homes. It was very sad and they were so pleased to have someone visit them.
Lumsa village asked for library books, so Kharji (from the village) and I went to the Room to Read office to collect the free books they offer as well as choosing another 50 which NAFA bought. Kharji is taking these along with the jumpers to Lumsa prior to our visit. We will distribute the jumpers, hand over the books and discuss the micro hydro while we are in the village.
VSN organised a scout camp weekend at Shivapuri National Park which is on road towards Langtang. They used the 2 large tents purchased with funds from Churchie school. Over 20 girls & boys with 4 teachers and 2 helpers traveled in the school bus and enjoyed a cold but busy scouting weekend. Surendra & Ross went on the last day where they checked the tent accommodation which the scouts all liked and then in true scout fashion embarked on a 2 hour hike through the beautiful National park, similar to walking through Lamington but with views of the Ganesh & Langtang Himal.
Ross has now completed all the FEAT profiles at Thimi and PA Nepal and enjoyed catching up with all the students to discuss their studies and their future plans. After working with Sagar & Kanchan at Sankhu on most of the 30 odd student profiles he will hopefully complete the last few PA Nepal school student profiles this weekend.
We had about 300 small jumpers suitable for children aged between 2 years and 4 years old, some of which were stored here from last year. We will distribute these on Friday to govt schools nursery classes in Sankhu with Ramita. After this Ross will go the Sankhu home to complete the student profiles. Kylie and I will join Ross on Xmas day at the home. We will hand out beanies and sweets to the children.
Before we left Aust I had been corresponding with an Australian teacher who had written a program for schools called ‘Literacy is Great’. I gave a copy of the books and DVD to Surendra when we got here and he was enthusiastic about the program. He thought it would help the teachers and children with pronunciation. The DVD showed an example of how to use the program but didn’t cover all the books so I went to Thimi and Rikesh videoed me teaching different classes pronunciation. Due to the outside noise and my amateur skills it was quite a rough video.
Surendra invited us to his home earlier this week for dinner. It was a Newari festival day celebrating the end of the harvest so they celebrate with a meal and make their traditional sweets using rice flour made from the recently harvested grain. Shova’s (Surendra’s wife) sister Nemanee and her husband Charles and their children are here from Brisbane for a holiday so we spent a lovely evening chatting and catching us with news.
We are now have 9 hours a day load shedding which means we have to plan our day around the electricity and remember to charge our laptops and phones when we have power. This is quite frustrating because the internet goes down at the office at the same time which sometimes makes it hard to get the work done. We see on the news Europe is having a very cold winter, Ktm isn’t that bad but it is colder than last year. I am even wearing a beanie to bed, and that is the giddy end, I cant stand hats of any type, so it must be cold.
We have started packing for our trek, the jumpers for Lumsa and Shivalaya as well as our tents etc left Ktm this morning by bus. Nori, our cook went down with the goods and will be met by porters at the end of the road. They will take the goods to the relevant villages awaiting our arrival next week.
I continue to work with beads, felt and sequins to make necklaces, felt angels, purses, fortunately we have a flat with good natural lighting and have a small solar battery which powers one light for the evenings.
We are looking forward to seeing the NAFA members who are coming over and we will visit Tawal together.
February 2011Ross, Kylie and I had a great two weeks trekking in the Solu Khumbu and Okaldunga with Phurba and his staff. We flew to Phaplu in a small Cessna type plane and then walked over the steep hill to Mulkarka village. The following day we walked about 4 hours down to Kophu to visit the school project started the previous year with funds from Kylie’s Climb for Children. The last time we visited the school the two classrooms were half completed.
We received a lovely welcome from the students and teachers with garlands of flowers and Kata’s (white scarves). A special table chairs and canopy had been arranged for the three of us as well as Phurba. We enjoyed a program of dancing, singing and karate display from the students interspersed with speeches from the school principal Kedar Nath Khathiodag, the school president/chairman Bai
Bahadur Rai and then replies from the three of us.
After the program we inspected the new classrooms. One room was finished with a concrete floor, plywood ceiling and skylight. The other was almost complete and will be finished before the new school year in April to accommodate the Grade 8 students. Grade 9 and 10 students walk to a school 1.5 hours away. Cemented into the outside wall of the new building was a stone plaque stating that the classrooms were constructed with funds from NAFA. 
We inspected the other classrooms where NAFA had provided funds to install whiteboards and skylights to brighten up what were dark rooms. Each classroom was decorated with drawings and work by the children. This was one of the teaching techniques the two teachers from this school had learnt at the NAFA funded training course they attended the previous year at VSN Thimi. It was pleasing to see these skills being put into use. The library/staff room still requires shelving for the Room to Read books however we could see they were using the books as some were also in the classrooms. It was also pleasing to know that the community has the balance required to complete the projects as well as 3 days labour from each household.
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| Rai women from Kophu |
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Next day we returned to Mulkarka where we inspected the work on their upgraded water infrastructure which they had received NAFA funds. We viewed the old tank that had been rendered inside since our last visit, it was now full from the overflow of the first tank. They advised that with the second tank now complete they have enough water in reserve to power the small turbine during the night and give lighting to all the homes.
We climbed over 500 mtrs above the village to see where the small reserve tank catches water from the spring before it is piped down to the village. We then followed more than 800 mtrs of pipe laid underground all the way down to the main tanks at the village. It would have been a tough job to dig the trenches for the pipes in the hard and rocky ground.
The weather was clear but very cold and 2 days later while at Lumsa it snowed. Lumsa had received assistance from NAFA through Kylie’s ‘climb’ funds and had also submitted an application for NAFA assistance with a Micro Hydro project similar to the one at Tawal.
On the first night we had a meeting with the local committee to discuss the Micro Hydro and next day visited the site where the new powerhouse would be installed. Later that morning the school put on a welcome program of dances and speeches. Again they constructed a temporary but sturdy stage and canopy for us to sit comfortably. It was good they did this because during the program it began to snow lightly and there was a cold wind swirling around. We visited the new library which we were very impressed with and the other classrooms where they had installed skylights and new whiteboards.
After the program we handed out 105 jumpers and beanies to the students and then sports equipment for the school. Phurba and I did a short demonstration of how to use the Room to Read library books with the students and teachers in the library and then Kylie and I showed the students, both boys and girls, how to make butterflies with pipe cleaners & beads. The children enjoyed this and even their teachers joined the fun.
Next day we walked to Patale but unfortunately we only had that afternoon and the following morning there before we had to carry on to our next stop, so the first afternoon we spoke to the villagers and children and enjoyed their hospitality. It was very cold and we were very pleased to have the use of a small room in Dawa’s house for our dining room. It was tough to leave the house and go back to our cold and frost covered tents.
The following morning we were at the school at about 8am and although it was early we received a warm welcome of garlands of flowers & Kata’s from the teachers and a few students, with more arriving as the morning progressed. We were again treated to a small dance welcome program and speeches from principal and then school president, Lakpa Sherpa. They advised that in future they wish to increase the school from year 8 to year 10 and are going to apply to the local VDC for assistance.Ross gave a reply speech, cut the ribbon to open the new toilets and then we inspected them. There are 3 toilets, for boys, girls and teachers. They are well made and we were impressed. We viewed the classrooms with the skylights and the teacher’s room with a library section for the Room to Read books. All the rooms were much brighter with the skylights and students told us schoolwork was much easier with better light.
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From Patale we walked for 4 days through lovely countryside, the weather was clear and we saw plenty of mountains in the Everest and Langtang range. We stayed at Phurba’s family villages and one day had lunch in the grounds of the Kingording monastery.
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| Inside a Sherpa home with a wood fire |
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| Ngawong's house at Shyama |
Our final project site was at Shyama (Bir Karka) about 1 hours walk up another steep hill above Shivalaya. It is a small rural village of appx 350 houses spread over the hill area.
The school is 17 years old and in bad need of repair, the old tin roof was rusting through with many holes appearing in some areas. So there was a bigger need for roofing rather than the long wait for new classrooms to be built.
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| Farewell cake cooked on a kerosene stove |
The 2 toilets were unusable. The principal advised the children were doing toilet in the bush near the school. This bush backs on to nearby farming land and the farmers have complained to the school about the effluent damaging their land. Last year they put in an application to NAFA for toilets and a septic tank to pipe the waste away from the farms, we needed to assess the need before giving the final approval for handing over the funds.
The next morning before we left for Jiri, we distributed 70 jumpers and beanies to the school students. They were thrilled, this was the first time they had ever received a visit or gifts from overseas visitors and were very excited and at the same time, well behaved. Parents also came up to us to thank us.
This was a happy note to finish off our trek with Kylie through the remote and beautiful areas of Solu Khumbu and Okhaldunga. We had a great 2 weeks viewing NAFA projects, confirming Kylie’s and NAFA funds were well spent, seeing the villagers again and meeting new people.
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| Fitting jumpers |
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| Making bracelets for the children by torchlight |
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| Shyama |
Thanks to Phurba and his staff we enjoyed good food and comfortable camping, we were made to feel welcome in every village and Kylie, Ross and I thoroughly enjoyed their hospitality.We are now back in Kathmandu, it is still quite cold but should start warming up soon.
Since returning from the Solu Khumbu Rod, Deb, Lauren and Nghe have arrived and Lew and Sue have been here for awhile. Jade (from Melbourne) has joined Lew and Sue to work with them as she, too is an audiologist. Ross, Kylie, Ramita and everyone above went to Tawal along with Keshab and Tashi for a week to conduct hearing tests, distribute 250 jumpers and beanies, do some English teaching and review the progress on the micro hydro.
October 2010
Our first three weeks in Nepal has gone very quickly, weather has been similar to Brisbane with sunny days and also rain. This is good as it keeps the dust down. We have had some excellent views of the mountains as the air has been clear but the pollution is still as bad as ever.
Dashain was in full swing when we got here and so many of the businesses were closed and people were away. There were about 6 – 8 children at PA Nepal Naya Bazar and Sagar said about 10 at Sankhu.
We spent a good day with Lew meeting the people from NAHOH; Lew showed us what he had already done to improve their small office especially with reliable regular power through batteries etc. Lew then presented them with the equipment he bought with the $4000 NAFA money we allocated for 2010. We were very impressed with the dedication of the NAHOH staff and their genuine commitment to their work.
We went with Lew to the ‘solar’ shop to discuss the finer details of the solar panels and batteries with the engineer. The engineer will need to take two workers with him toTawal to install the new solar panels at the health clinic for the fridge. This power will also be used when Lew and Sue go to Tawal to conduct hearing tests. The solar panel currently on the roof of the health clinic will be moved to the multipurpose room at the school.
JOY office was closed for the holidays and has since opened. Last week JOY members put on a get together at the office in the evening with food and drink, quite a few of the JOY members attended as well as Lew, Katie, Rachel. It was a lovely surprise to also see Punam at the get together.
Thank you letters and cards have been started with the sponsored children at Thimi and PA Nepal Sankhu and Nayabazar to be ready to be sent back to Helen for distribution to their sponsors. Luckily most of the distant college students were in Kathmandu because of Dashain and we were able to get the thank you and profiles/updates completed before they returned to their colleges.