Wednesday, March 9, 2016

Days 8-9

Days 8-9 (March 8 – 9)

On day 8, we planned a hike from Nagarkot to a local village where Aparna has established a hospital that was destroyed by the earthquake. According to Aparna, it would take us about 4-5 hours to get there as it was approximately 9 miles away. We packed our backpacks and took off after a leisurely morning breakfast. Hiking in the mountain area proved to be much more enjoyable than taking a car. We were able to stop here and there, take photos and talk to people (meaning, Aparna would talk with them and fill us in). I, Ute, have not hiked in the mountains for quite some time and found it a bit challenging after a while with a heavy backpack, steepness and higher altitude (we hiked up to 6100 feet – and we live at 400). Aparna had told us it was mostly flat but her definition of flat and ours is very different. But Aparna is so used to walking in the mountains and so, for her, it was a breeze. It is now a standing joke that when the road or trail is really steep, Conrad says to her, “I am really glad it is so flat.”

We in the West are so terribly spoiled by our gear, our lifestyle, our fancy this and that, and our creature comforts. People here in Nepalese villages work so very hard to live and they have virtually nothing by our standards. We saw many woman carrying heavy loads in baskets that they carried with a cloth that was wrapped around the basket and then draped over their foreheads. Backbreaking labor – everything by hand. Once we are able to load up some photos (which will probably be after our return to the US) you will see that the landscape is absolutely beautiful. The hills are covered with terraces that hold the crops – rice, wheat, vegetables and more. Where in the US heavy machinery is used to dig holes, remove rubble, etc., here most everything is done by hand. For road building, there are some excavators and dump trucks, but the agricultural terraces were created purely by manual labor. Even if there was money, there is no way heavy equipment could even get there. To plough these fields, the locals use two cows to pull a plough. The people here get up in the early morning hours and keep working. Aparna told us that a cow can cost from $600 to $1,200 with a water buffalo costing even more. So only the “rich” Nepalese have cows to plough with. In these mountain villages, their level of structural development is close to ours when the West was populated in the 1800’s except they do have electricity sporadically. Kathmandu is completely different as it is a city of five million inhabitants where excellent schools abound. While the living standards are not equal to ours, they are light years ahead of the villages. Yet even in Kathmandu, the electricity and the water are sporadic. You need solar and inverters if you are to have constant electricity. Water is stored is large barrels and, with pumps, it runs to the homes.







Since the earthquake, many of the homes in the villages are just little metal sheds. The original house might still stand, but is unlivable due to the earthquake. Their homes were typically built with what was available and this is small stones. These stones were stacked on each other with mortar used for the joints. Because these stones are not stacked on a foundation, the structures just buckle and the roof collapses when the earth shakes. Many of those we have met were buried for several hours after the quake before friends or family were able to dig them out. Many did not survive. We went through one small village where 37 perished in the quake. While the metal sheds now protect the villagers from rain and wind, they are cold in the winter and very hot in the summer.
Here is an example of a village destroyed by the earthquake - the villagers now live in tin sheds.



On our hike, we walked by a road building project where the workers were widening the road. They were building a concrete foundation approximately 30 foot down from the height of the existing road to be used to hold the dirt and stone that would be hauled in to widen the road. The workers were mixing concrete with a simple concrete mixer. They then poured the concrete into small wheel barrows which were used to haul the concrete to current edge of the road. Once there, they had set up a piece of tin as a slide so they could pour the concrete into the foundation and thus avoid having to carry it down by hand. What we in the West can do with machinery in a short time, takes weeks or months here in Nepal.


When the houses crumbled in the villages, the rubble had to be removed by hand as well - rock by rock, basket load by basket load. Unfortunately, when these homes are rebuilt, many are using the same materials and building techniques so that when the next quake comes the results will be the same. When you have limited resources, you do what you have always done.

Our long hike with Aparna allowed us to have lengthy discussions with her on spiritual matters. We shared our respective experiences, hopes, and visions in a wonderful manner with both sides being completely open to the other. It felt like we have known each other forever – even though we live ‘worlds apart.’



In the late afternoon, we were tired and so stopped early at a hotel that is near the village we were originally headed to – Botechaur-Sindupalchoak. Amazingly enough, there are many hotels even though we are not on a tourist route. Aparna said these hotels are for the locals when they travel to this region. In the US, when we think of mountain climbing or hiking, there is rarely any sign of civilization. But here you walk along roads because the hill sides are just too steep. As such, we were constantly passing snack stops, restaurants, and hotels that mostly resemble Bed & Breakfasts.

The hotel where we stayed was on the top of the mountain but built down one side. It survived the quake because it really is just a series of modular homes built with metal frames. These modular buildings are then placed on top of concrete pillars and are connected by steps. To get to the room, we had to walk down at least 200 very steep steps. The restaurant was at the top and we did not want to traipse back up so we ordered room service. What a fabulous luxury at the end of the day. The price for the two rooms plus two meals (dinner and breakfast) for three people delivered to our door was $50. This should give you an idea of the differences between here and home.

Eagles sitting in the tree - from the hotel window
Another lucky day where we could see the mountains from the hotel
Day 9 began with breakfast in our room. After breakfast, we had a driver pick us up and take us to those places Aparna wanted to show us where there is great need. First, we went to a small village, Botechaur, where the school and the hospital have been demolished by the quake. We stopped at a little store that was run by some lovely women who offered to cook us a fresh meal. Conrad and I thought we would not be eating much here. Conrad was actually hoping to loose some weight, but fat chance. We could eat here ‘til we drop. Everywhere we go, 4 times a day, we get offered meals. The food is very good. Mostly a kind of mustard green vegetable dish, lentil soup, rice, sometimes meat, and spicy chutneys. The variety of food is limited, but it tastes quite good. Our stomachs are a bit challenged with the digestive part. Time difference, different altitude, and different types of foods (plus, the water here is not clean – so there is no telling what gets into our system) are challenging for the body. Although we brought a water purifying manufactured by MSR, which is fabulous and works just as advertised, you wash your hands in contaminated water, your utensils and plates are washed in contaminated water, the food is cooked in contaminated pots, and your food is prepared by people who have contaminated hands. You adjust though as your immune system gets stronger. It really becomes irrelevant after about a week.

While it is not surprising, it is amazing how self-sufficient the people are. They grow all their vegetables, rice, wheat, and potatoes. They live with their animals that are ultimately used for meat and so you are surrounded by chickens, goats, water buffalos, and pigs. For the most part the cows are used for milk. For me (Ute), who is spoiling our animals at our farm, it’s hard to watch. The cows, goats, and water buffalo are tied up on a short string all day, so they cannot walk around. Unfortunately, they tether the cows and water buffalo by pulling a rope pulled through their noses. None of the animals that are tied down can get out of the hot sun all day. I was told that sometimes they get walked; but, for the most part, they have a very restricted existence.





From the little store, we hiked to the school and the clinic site. Now those buildings have been replaced with metal sheds. If there was no clinic here, the people would have to travel over an hour to Kathmandu to get medical care or do without because the hospital I will talk about next was destroyed.






While at the clinic, Aparna asked us to pray with two women who were in the medical shed. Both women were open to our prayers and felt the Divine’s love and our love coming to and through them. We never thought we would be able to share our work here. So wonderful.

After we finished praying, we walked back to the car, which was about a mile away. The road was so bad in this last mile that the driver did not want to risk his car being damaged. Then we drove to the central hospital for the area of Haibung-Sindupalchoak. This hospital had been built sixteen years ago at a cost of over $100,000. Now it is damaged beyond repair. This hospital had a pharmacy, an x-ray, an ECG machine, and a lab. This hospital tried to charge a minimum of ten Nepalese rupees per person (which is ten cents) when it was operating, but many could not even afford that much. When you cannot afford ten rupees, you cannot afford to travel to Kathmandu. While we were visiting, the local village’s town council came and explained that this hospital had been servicing 30,000 residents in the surrounding villages. The budget to replace this hospital is over $400,000 and no funds are available. Any funds they did have were used to help the people as they tried to recover from the quake devastation. There is a small building that was undamaged and it now serves the people. In the last 24 hours six child births happened there.





The hospital that is now unsafe to use due to neglectful builders who saved money by not building the right way. The earthquake exposed this.







Here is the clinic now - cramped into a smaller house on the property - the rooms are cluttered and there is mold on the ceiling


Conrad meeting with some folks from the city council to talk about possibilities of rebuilding the hospital



We, Aparna and us, have been talking about different ways to help these people. There are so many different needs: homes, widows who have to take care of themselves and their children, families selling their daughters into sex trafficking, medical care, etc. Women are the foundation of this society and so we are considering creating a place where a few widows and their children can live and support each other. Aparna told us about one woman who lost her house and her husband during the quake and could not take care of her children. In response, she allowed a Christian school to take her children and educate them. However, now this Christian school will not allow her to see her children.


When we left the hospital, we stopped in a small village where Aparna introduced us to a woman who lost her home during the earthquake and is suffering. Her husband died the day after the quake of a heart attack and this man’s first wife (an older woman who “only” gave birth to 3 daughters) is deadly ill and needs care. The man married a woman 20 years his junior so that he could have a son. Now they are all living in a metal shed. Even though there is some land, the younger wife is not able to work it by herself. When we got there, the first wife was lying on a mat outside the shed in a semi-conscious state. To our surprise, Aparna asked us to pray with the woman. We let Spirit work through us and got the message that this woman did not want to live and suffer anymore but she was afraid to let go. After we prayed with her, she opened her eyes and was conscious for a while. She even ate a little. Hopefully she will be able to transition soon and be free of her suffering.





We then drove back to Kathmandu where we again encountered the traffic nightmare, smog, dust and all kinds of other air polluting smells.

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