Happy Christmas!

Thank you so much for taking the time to read this blog - it has been wonderful to get your kind comments.


Wishing you  a very happy and joyful Christmas 

HOME!

 Back home in Yorkshire, and thank you for all your kind Welcome Home messages.  So sorry not to have replied  personally yet.   

A hair cut is a priority but will try to avoid being caught up in the excesses of the season in York.   My friends in Nepal are still very much foremost in my mind....  

Almost home

Now back in the UK after quite an eventful journey.   Wallowing in a bubble bath for the first time in 3 months was such a luxury this morning.

Not quite my last posting for those of you who are still reading....  

Another Ceremony?

It's not over yet! Just heard that that the Headmaster - and one other, we know not who - are coming to join us for a meal tonight to discuss the future of the school ... 

A Ceremony that will stay with me for ever

The children came running to greet us on our last morning

Some still wearing their binoculars from yesterday...

 

The staff room table was covered in flowers when we arrived at theschool. Anil, who in the picture below,  was very naughty and always in trouble when I first arrived.   Recently he has been working hard and trying to please.   I hope to be able to keep in touch with his progress in the future

Saradha and Evelyn joined me on the step and we were showered with even more flowers....

and then the Ceremony started.    

Besh Rash Bahadur , the Year 4 teacher, formally  invited the Headmaster to take 'to the stage' to speak.    Lots more speeches followed and eventually the volunteers were presented with a trophy and framed certificate, written beautifully in Nepalese English.   All the children lined up to present us with yet more flowers, and then they were lined up again to say 'Namaste'

and shake our hands.  

It was a very special moment...

Even Boss got in on the act (on my left in the picture.) He barked for about 10 minutes of the speeches and kept us all on our toes.

Tomorrow it will hit home that I may not see those wonderful, innocent, happy faces again..

The sun is shining down in these photographs and midday is warm.  It gets very cold as soon as the sun goes down at about 3.45pm and warm clothes  are essential at night.

Now I must start packing and on Sunday I take a Yeti Airline flight from Pokhara to Kathmandhu.   On Monday it is the start of the long journey home.

The last walk to school

We walked along a different path to school today and saw this pineapple growing in what seemed like common ground

Two beautiful girls, who do not go to school very often, were collecting hay for their animals.  They were delighted to have their photograph taken.

Rangita, a 5 year old child who is in the Nursery class, came running up to join us when we reached the road to the school.  Note the rag attached to her uniform!

Binoculars

We have been trying to demonstrate to the teachers how they can use  materials that cost nothing, to stimulate the children. I collected  loo roll tubes from the lodge and made all the children a pair of binoculars.   They are aware of these as they have seen lots of bird watching tourists. 


  I love this photo of Hari pointing out a bird in the tree.


  

The binoculars proved to be very popular and they were worn all morning.

 

Dance as if no-one is watching

Nepali hospitality is renowned and even though the staff gave us a farewell picnic yesterday there is to be an unexpected more formal three hour farewell ceremony for the volunteers today.   So I cannot avoid saying goodbye to the children...

At the picnic yesterday we were all given a very decorative silver coated paper plate with an orange, some sliced apple, 2 digestive biscuits and a metal cup of coca cola.   All the staff from the secondary school turned up, which was very touching - some of them speak no English at all.   The village elder also joined us

Not the best photo of Lorna and Evelyn who are looking a little uncomfortable in this shot

  After about 15 minutes of stilted conversation and exchanging addresses, Sophiya, one of the teachers' children, got up to dance


                

This broke the ice and the afternoon turned out to be great fun.   Mekh Bahadur took off his Topi, and got lots of teasing about the amount of henna that coated the inside of his hat.


  

 I even persuaded the very reserved Headmaster to dance

   

Another 'Day in the Life of....

  Alice from England sent me a description of her school day so that the children here could learn more about life in the UK.   Roshani in Year 5 responded with her report below.   I helped her with the language.

‘Hello Alice.  My name is Roshani Sunar and I am 11 years old.  I have one big sister but she has left home.   I  have two brothers who  go to Amar Jyoti School.

 I live with my parents and grandparents and we have one room in my house.  We have a tap and a light.   I get up at 7am and eat breakfast.  I have tea and a biscuit.   Then I take the goats to the grass.   We have two goats and a buffalo and they live in the cow shed.   I clean the home and then have lunch of dahl baht with my Mother at 8.20am.   I walk to school.  It takes about 40 minutes.   I do English Nepali and Maths.   I play chungi with my friends at break. I have a samosa for lunch.   In the afternoon I have social studies and science lessons.   Once a week our class go to the computers.   At 5 pm I walk home and have maize, tea and curry.   I help my Mother with the animals and then do homework for one hour.   I go to bed at 10pm.

I would like to be a doctor when I leave school.   My Father is a builder'.

Chungi is a game played with bands of rubber tied together that the children use like a ball.   Roshani and her friends stand in a circle and pass the chungi around

using the palm of their hands.

The boys from Year 1 in the picture on the right are playing with bands from a broken chungi.   They flick them and try and touch their friend's band.

Monkeys

It sounds as though there is a thunderstorm coming but  the trees are rustling and bending  under the weight of what seems likes hundreds of monkeys.  What an extraordinary sight.  They are jumping from tree to tree following the same line.  How  agile and noisy they are.  The juveniles look tentative and take longer to make their leap.  I have tried to photograph but it is dusk.  They are also now running along the roof of my room as I write.   It feels a bit like being in an Alfred Hitchcock film!  Hopefully they will have moved on before it is time for me to go for my evening meal.   Where is Boss the dog when I need him?  

This is going to be difficult

Oh dear, last day at the school with the children....

Three very happy people

It is exam week at Amar Jyoti and they start at 11am.   The children arrive at 10 am and have to wait in the playground for an hour.   We decided to play some traditional English games to keep them amused.

My scarf being used as a blindfold

......and my t-shirt being used in a game of 'I sent a letter to my love'

Three very happy people.   I am wearing a traditional Nepalese work jacket.

'

Entrepreneur

This is the Richard Branson of Nepal.   He owns the farm we walk through each morning.  Hari has told us that he has bought and sold  small plots of land here and near Chitwan and made great profits.   He loves having his photograph taken and like Mr. Branson, never wears a tie!

 Now that the rice harvest has finished his wife is winnowing the large quantity of millet that has been grown.  This is mainly used for making dhido - a form of polenta - and bread.  It is also used to make rakshi - a distiled spirit like Japanese sake.   Not much is produced in the local community as alcohol is strictly speaking not permitted by Brahmins and orthodox Chetris.   I have a feeling some of last year's brew  might be produced for us before we leave

School exams

For the next few days all the children  at Amar Jyoti school have exams.   An example of the English paper for Class 5  says 'Read the questions carefully and give the answer ‘Yes, I can’ or ‘No, I amn’t’

One answer to 'Can you break a ruler' was ‘Yes, I amn’t’.  

 There is a lot of work to do!

Lorna and I organised some games to keep the children amused whilst waiting for the start of the exams.  They loved having to pass the inside of a loo roll (wish I had brought some bean bags) under their legs!   Even Mek Bahadur the Year 3 Teacher, enjoyed the race which involved balancing a ladybird book on the head.  But he cheated by balancing it on his Topi.

Sausmita is from a low caste, and she appears very needy.  Today she was delighted to receive a warm  hat donated by a previous guest at the lodge.  Thank you Linda. 

 Hats are very popular and appear to be a status symbol.   Sausmita was a worthy recipient.  

Cyril update

Cyril now has fan mail and is receiving  email!  She didn’t put in an appearance last night – perhaps she was suffering from trauma after the mirror change but she is here with me as I write.  Her ghecko  companion has not reappeared and she does appear to have grown even larger……

Shopping

I went in to town after school  today and collected an unusual garment from a tailor that I visited last week.  There must have been  a misunderstanding about the word jacket and instead I have an extraordinary tunic that I fear will never be worn!

 But choosing the material with a guide from the lodge was an experience not to be missed, and the experience was worth every rupee. The total cost was less than £10 for a very amusing and memorable afternoon.

Thermals on today, but sorry everyone, I am not going to model them!  

 Instead below is another photograph of one of the children who has touched my heart.  

 

Pokhara Hospital

A elderly guest at the lodge (I will call her Kate) fell whilst on a short trek this afternoon. She landed on her arm and was in considerable pain. We went to the hospital together with Kate on a stretcher, on a mattress, balanced on the top of the lodge minibus seats. The stretcher was held at the corners by the very caring staff from the lodge and Hari the guide was balancing Kate's arm on his for the whole journey. It was an excrutiating 45 minutes for Kate. She then had to put up with a roughly executed and very painful ex-ray procedure which confirmed that she had  broken the humerus bone in her arm. This was subsequently set in plaster and we are now back at the lodge. There were three power cuts whilst we were at the hospital, and it appeared to be in need of disinfectant. I looked for soap in the loo to help get Kate's wedding ring off but there was none. This hospital is recommended by the British and American Embassies. The Doctor who put the cast on Kate was caring and gentle and perhaps there is not another A and E department in Pokhara?
I will find out more tomorrow.

Thought provoking

Even though the diagnosis and treatment of leprosy is now easy, the disease still remains a significant problem here in Nepal. Poverty,the stigma of leprosy and poor healthcare all contribute to the high rate. Earlier in the week we visited Green Pastures Leprosy Hospital and saw patients with all levels of the disease. 

It was a very thought provoking and emotional visit.

The rehabilitation area had different walking areas to prepare patients for life outside the hospital.

Rehabilitation area

3.35am

Yes!   Cyril has just made an appearance - a couple of inches above the  new mirror.   What a survivor!

Cyril

Will Cyril make his usual appearance tonight?  A new mirror was fitted in my room whilst I was out today....

The Village Houses

This house has just two rooms

These two houses are very close to the school and have only a very small patch of land attached on which to grow  crops.   The basement of the house on the right is  used as a stable for the goat and buffalo

There are  8 people living in the farmhouse pictured below.   We walk through the yard and past their front door each morning on the way to school  There is always a row of rubber flip flops outside as Nepalis  remove their shoes before entering any house. There are 4 children in the household and 2 of them come to school with us

. The  Grandparents also live with the family. 

In front of the house there are crops drying on straw mats  At the moment they are drying rice, spinach, millet and lentils. There is also a pile of cow dung  being dried but it is out of shot on the right.   It is collected in baskets by the women and then used to fertilise the soil.  Grandmother in the picture was very keen to show me the coffee beans that they have just started to grow

   As well as picking crops and carrying grass for the animals she also looks after this delightful youngest member of the family who was very grateful for the remains of my packed lunch today

The Mother and baby buffalo and the two goats  are usually kept  in the cowshed at the side of the  house but for the last two days they have been grazing on a small plot of land nearby

The kitchen is on the left below, with its spotless pots and pans, which are all scrubbed clean outside each morning  using water from  the well.   The bedroom, which is also used for storing grain, is on the right.

 

Wash Day

When walking down through the paddy fields today  I came across a laundry and met some children there who go to local private school.   My home here is at the top of the ridge you can see in this picture.

It costs around 6000 rupees a month (about £50) to send a child to a private school but only a few of the local people here have that amount of money.

The children were having fun and doing a very thorough job

Carbolic soap and a scrubbing brush

The Mother in the background of this picture is collecting food for the family buffalo and goat  

These clothes looked really clean when the children put them on the line.  Some of the shirts at Amar Jyoti School do not look as if they have ever been near water!  Perhaps that is because the children have to walk further to get to a tap.

Our Nepalese co-ordinator Hari came to school with us today to take a video of volunteers teaching (for a YouTube post!)  
There was the usual confusion at school  because the ‘hearing doctor’ had come to examine the children so Hari was unable to take any video shots of us in the classrooms.
The children at all  government schools have an annual hearing test.  The nurses are also good at spotting other illnesses, and they check the general health of the children.   This scheme only started 2 years ago and is privately funded by a very worthwhile charity set up by an Australian called David Hine.    www.hearingproject.nepal.org
n

These children and others who have poor hygiene and are hungry, would not get a health check if it was not for David Hine 

Pollution

Kathmandu is a very polluted city and face masks are the norm. The air up here in the mountains is wonderfully clean and fresh  but wearing a face mask is fashionable.  These little ones are very proud to have this totally unecessary accessory!

Windows Live Mail

 Emails are arriving into my inbox but when I start typing a reply, my computer  closes down.  It is probably something really simple but can anyone help?

'All About Me'

Sometimes I bring flaked rice to school for tiffin.

'My name is Salina and I am 6 years old.   My house has 4 rooms.   We have no light but we have one tap outside.   My Grandmother and Grandfather have one room in my house.   I have one brother called Aush.   He is 2 years old.  We get up at 7 am and eat dahl baht.  I have one baby buffalo.  My Mother goes to get food for him every day.   My best friends are Sophiya and Suvekshya. I like school and doing sums the best. Mangos are my favourite food. I eat dahl baht again at 4 pm and then do my homework. I have a doll and a fish to play with. I go to bed at 8 oclock. I would like some new shoes.'

(Dahl Baht is rice with lentil soup on top, and curried vegetables)

 Suvekshya Sophiya and Salina

 

'My name is Anil. I am 9 years old. I have one brother. My father is away. We have one goat. My Mother walks goat to field to eat grass every day. I get up at 8am. I have no toys. We have no water, but one light. We have one room in our house.    I like school and my favourite food is dahl baht. I like writing. When I go home I wash hands and eat. I don't like doing homework.'

Sandip and his teacher Tara

 My name is Sandip. We have a buffalo and an ox. My Grandmother and Grandfather live in my house. My Father is sick. We have no water and I go to the tap in the village every day to fetch water for my family. We grow rice to eat. Sometimes we stay in other homes. I have a taxi and a lorry to play with. My teacher is my best friend.'