Nepal Trip- Peace Week Extension, 2014

Monday was Holi, the annual celebration of color and Springtime. We all went to the river to celebrate Holi. The colors were bright and rich, yellows, reds, greens and oranges flew everywhere. Some people took water and mixed it with the colors to make a paste, which they lobbed at everyone. A lot of the children could not swim, which made me happy that I could. They still splashed around though. Holi was a great celebration and very fun.

In the US we have a lot more supplies, such as food or technology. Electricity and wifi goes out a lot here. Every day Luke, the project manager for building the school, goes down to the lumber yard to get wood for building but there is no electricity to cut the wood, so he has to try the next day. Progress can be really slow here.

In Nepal everything is much smaller and simpler. They eat the same type of food each day, which is fairly monotonous, so I miss the variation we have in America. We mostly eat rice, beans, and potatoes that are pretty spicy. Sometimes we eat oats in the morning called churra, which is like oatmeal, but every other meal is pretty much the same. In the afternoon, the children bring lemon or milk tea.

We are going to do some rammed earth samples with Luke tomorrow at the new land, where the new school is being built. That is what they are going to build the new school out of because it is much more environmentally friendly. Firing bricks creates a lot of carbon emissions which are very bad for the environment. They are trying to set an example but it is hard because people here associate earth houses with poverty and bricks convey that you have wealth.

Luke and Jamie, who works on sustainability, gave us a tour of the new school site which was pretty magical. It sites directly next to the oldest Hindu temple in Surket. It is surrounded by trees and bamboo and has a stream running through it. It is also going to have a suspension bridge that leads to the vocational school. Holi was a great celebration and very fun. Sigourney w/Linda

To learn more go to blinknow.org