Days 6-7

Days 6-7 (March 6-7)

Day 6 was a travel day. We left Kathmandu and drove in a rented car to a village called Nagarkot. Nagarkot is about an hour from Kathmandu and on a clear day you can see Mount Everest from there. As such, it is a tourist area and has many nice tourist hotels. Ever present though is the stark contrast between those who have money and those who do not. In this village, Aparna is trying to rebuild the local clinic, dedicated to serving the poor, that was destroyed in the earthquake. She also has a small home there where we are staying.


The Nagarkot hospital that got ruined by the quake.

The car we drove to Nagarkot in is very similar in size to the old Ford Pinto but even smaller. Here the British influence means you drive on the left. Ute and I traveled with much more clothes than Aparna so we set off with our luggage, the driver, Aparna, Ute, and me. I thought there was very little room left in the car but along the way we stopped at a bus stop and picked up two young female engineers who are doing the structural design calculations for the new earthquake resistant clinic. These two crawled into the back with Ute and Aparna so we had six riding in a car that would easily fit in the bed of my Ford pickup.

Driving in Kathmandu is organized chaos. The lane stripes that exist are mere suggestions and horns are in constant use. Driving is really just continuous games of “chicken” as each driver sees who he can bluff. Pedestrians participate too and walk slowly across the road hoping they are seen and that the cars or motorcycles respect their advance. Motorcycles constantly weave in and out among the cars and trucks that form an ever changing and moving mosaic. I am surprised that I have not yet seen any evidence of accidents.

Once we left Kathmandu and started heading into the mountains the roads narrowed. The final approach to Nagarkot is really just a wide single lane road where the area comprising pot holes is equal the area of pavement. When large dump trucks being used for road rebuilding and construction pass us, we have to drive into the side of the mountain and wait for them to pass. The space between the side of our car and the truck is less than a foot. While horns are sounded at every turn, there is no annoyance expressed by those who are the subjects of the horn. Apparently, horns are just part of this culture’s communication while driving.

When we arrived at Nagarkot, we drove down a single lane dirt road to arrive at Aparna’s home. Interestingly her home was not damaged in the quake as it is built into the side of the hill. The structures that were raised in the quake were built with small rocks and mortar directly on the ground rather than on a foundation that would withstand the ground movement. Also, the mortar is corrupted by adding more sand than Portland cement as sand is cheaper.  As in all third world nations, corruption is endemic. Aparna said the reason the clinic was destroyed is because the contractor did not put in the amount of concrete the plans called for. Also, he put too much sand in the mortar. This corner cutting created the perfect storm for disaster.

Aparna's home/community center in Nagarkot

A now rare view - snow covered mountains in the back

Nargarkot is located at the top of a small mountain with the Himalayan Mountains seen in the distance on a clear day. There is much farming here and the land is dotted with terraces that have been built by hand out of the mountain side. The farms are beautiful but the labor is very hard. As we walk around, we see women carrying on their backs baskets loaded with feed for their animals. The basket is full and there is a scarf that wraps around the basket and is placed on the woman’s forehead where the weight is balanced between her head and back. This truly is back breaking labor.

On day 7, Aparna took us on a walk around the whole town. We walked probably 4 miles in total but gained and lost many thousands of feet in elevation. We took three children from a local family with us and their constant laughter and playing was wonderful to behold. They do not have smart phones or internet and are thus growing up the way I grew up in Florida. They were inventing games and playing among themselves running ahead and behind the whole day. We took them to two resort hotels where they would never have been allowed to go without a westerner present. It was fun watching them eat food they rarely get. At the first hotel, there was a menu where the average item was between $1 and $4 dollars. When the younger daughter looked at the menu, she told here siblings that they could not order anything because everything was too expensive. The average Nepalese family lives on less than $1,000 per year.

As we are overcoming our jet lag, we are focusing more on how we can be of help. As we talk to Aparna, we find that the problems here are similar to the problems we found a few years ago in Africa. Helping is a tricky road. Giving money and ‘doing it for’ the people will not help. There is corruption everywhere and many people do not want to do what it takes to help themselves and their family. The area where we are now has a strong drinking problem. Many of the men get drunk, spending their money on alcohol that could have been spent on their families. Some people would appreciate a helping hand and work hard to build a source of income that would help them to be self-sustainable while others would take what is given to them, expect you to do the work, and then demand more. Aparna said that the women are much more reliable than the men.

The government is not helping much we were told. The need is obvious and it’s heartbreaking. The earthquake has just intensified the misery with most families affected in one way or another. So much suffering among so many wonderful souls!

Nepal is a blend of many religions but the two main ones are Buddhism and Hinduism. Some of these religious views keep people in their misery by suggesting that it’s one’s karma to suffer and that one can’t change it. As an outsider, it is very difficult to make the right decisions that will effect change. We do not know this society and how its many facets of different religious views and rules functions. We want to help in our western ways but this often does not work in other cultures. In fact, it frequently causes more harm than good. There is a balancing act, which we are hoping to find. The obvious maxim is to teach them to fish instead of giving them a fish as this would help them to better their lives and their circumstances. But the roadblocks are aplenty. This is why we are depending on Aparna as she has been doing this work for many decades and by trial and error is learning what does not work and what does.