Thoughts on a J cloth

After a tingle of excitement ran through me when doing the washing up with a brand new J cloth (admittedly cut in half on the grounds of economy but who needs them that big anyway) my first thought was "What a sad git you've become (or always were)". Rather than go down this masochistic path any further I reflected on how much we used to take for granted, now don't have and frankly don't feel any the worse for not having. Amongst other things, an endless supply of new (whole) J cloths, a dishwasher, washing machine, TV (OK, more than one TV), all 637 Sky channels, one and a half freezers.................  Life is so much simpler here.

 

This message will self destruct the minute I set foot in the UK again.

 

Cheers

Roshan

 

P.S. The last post with lots of photos is courtesy of Josie who (a) has an internet connection 100s of times faster than ours and (b) has more patience than I have to upload them from an e-mail Sheila.

Some tales from the teacher!

On my way to work

Some views could be anywhere, this big sister telling brother to hurry as they will be late!


...whilst other sights are special to Nepal









And on my way home, I walked past this little girl fast asleep sitting around a corner from where her mum and sibling were selling odd bits (the Nepali word for things is chiz bis) in the street.



At work

After spending time in the education office getting to know staff I have been going to visit schools. Working with a volunteer whose interest is with older children has given me time to explore Early Years settings.

Early Childhood Development (ECD) is still new to Nepal and training, resources and sometimes even nos of children are very limited.


When I first went to this class, there were only these 2 children although a few weeks later there are 6!

In government schools training and resources are very limited.

These children in grade 1 are mostly 5 and 6 but one or two younger ones joined before the ECD class had been formed.



Late morning on this day a student teacher was in the classroom, all the children’s bags were closed and on the desks and yes, 2 children had their heads on the desk and were asleep! All walls were bare and the student had no resources except herself.

Some schools are not easily accessible. There are some small ones on the other side of this hill approached by several hours walking and not at all in the rainy season.



This one is by the highway but all the children over 6 have moved to a new unfinished site.

There are now up to 35 children from 20 months to 5 yrs and three teachers/facilitators here all working on ground floor as the upper floor and walkway are unsafe.



ECD teachers have 8 days training. The staff here are keen for me to spend further time supporting them and help them build/make resources.





Once work is done

This weekend we have been to the reception of a large wedding. Unusually most of the ceremonies took part on the same day. At one point the bridegroom danced with mother and other members of the family whilst the bride stayed on the stage.



But the partying had been going for 12 hours and was far from finished!

Love Sheila

Giant leap forward

That was the headline in The Himalayan Times yesterday for the news that the Maoist Chairman (what else would you call a Maoist leader) and the Prime Minister had met and agreed a time-bound (a fine English expression much used in South Asia) program to bring about peace and democracy in our time. This involves forming an interim government with representatives from all the parties including the Maoists to govern until elections some time next year. I bet cabinet meetings will be lively - the Maoists gave a taste of what's to come by accusing the "old regime" of organising a "disorderly press conference" (surely an oxymoron?). The program was announced as an 8-point plan with the first point being to implement the 12-point agreement of last year, I think there was previously a 25-point plan so they are becoming more modest. They must have been padding it this time or  7 was considered an unlucky number because the 8th point stating that the previous 7 would be carried out seemed unnecessary. I was amused to read that the Maoist leaders had been flown to the meeting by helicopter accompanied by the Home Minister. The previous day the papers had said the Maoists had declined the government's offer of a helicopter, I guess they decided that if they had a hostage there was unlikely to be an "unfortunate fatal accident".

 

We've had a busy weekend starting with a wedding reception on Friday - Sheila will tell you about this and maybe even a photo. Yesterday we took 3 different buses down to Dhapakhel to visit the Khadkas. Poor old Deepak (Dad) had a motorbike crash a month ago and has a broken leg. He proudly described (mainly sign language) how he had a large pin screwed into the bone and showed me the X-ray of it. Although I saw a pair of crutches, I don't think he is mobile because his bed has been moved to a ground floor room that was a store room when we were there. I also spotted a bed pan the purpose of which one of his visitors only discovered after getting a wet foot when he tried to move it. I tried not to laugh but was saved when everyone else did. We did not see Gomala (Mum, Deepak's wife) at the house because she was down in the fields cutting grass to bring back for the cows. However when we left and were walking down the road for the bus we saw her and some neighbours walking back up the hill carrying what looked like hay stacks. We met her half way down where they were taking a breather, had a quick chat (with her correcting our verb conjugations as usual) and got a close up of the size of the tightly packed bundle of grass. I reckon it must have been close on 50kg with the weight being taken on a strap round her forehead and her back bent at 45%, not surprising that most of the old women of the village walk with a severe stoop. Boy, they are tough. Finished up yesterday at a Bartabandh party for the son of one of the VSO Program Managers. We still don't really understand what this is but I guess it was the equivalent of a bar mitzvah with the boy (I think he's 12 years old) getting a No 2 haircut.

 

I was very disappointed with the footie last week. I thought and hoped the gallant lads from Trinidad & Tobago were going to hold out for a glorious 0-0 draw but it was not to be. Shame that their very cool looking consolation goal was disallowed. My Blue Diamond colleagues are enjoying watching the World Cup - Ronaldino (Portugese? plays for Man U?) is the favourite. Funnily enough no mention of Wayne Potatoehead as a gay icon.

 

Cheers

Roshan

 

P.S. Not all VSO volunteers have the sheltered city life and office jobs that we do - have a look at http://chasandjune.blogspot.com/ . 

Visit to the frontline

Josie's given me a big nagging for not having posted for ages so I thought I'd better do something.

 

I got back from 4 days in Pokhara yesterday. It's a popular tourist town where visitors can either chill out by a lakeside or use it as a base for treks up to hills around the Annapurna range. I was there for a meeting of  VSO volunteers from the HIV/AIDS program so didn't get much chance to be touristy and anyway its the wrong time of year to visit as the mountains are hidden by clouds (and the mosquitoes are in man-eating mode). We did have a nice hotel, not so grand that my conscience troubled me but it did have a swimming pool which I managed to use a couple of times. The trip served its purpose for me because I now know a little bit about HIV/AIDS as opposed to absolutely nothing - not sure I really needed to see photos of some of the symptomatic skin conditions though!  We also visited a couple of organisations where volunteers are working to see  a drug rehab centre and a care & support hostel for PLHA (People Living with HIV/AIDS) . Respect to all of those working at the sharp end. Memories of the visits will be great for topping up my enthusiasm if and when I wonder what I am doing here.

 

I'll try to do a tourist trip to Pokhara with Sheila sometime later in the year. The difficulty is how to get there. It's a 20 min flight (plus 2 hours delay for us on Saturday due to poor weather conditions) or a 7 hour bus ride. Sheila will not enjoy flying in a 18 seater plane that is a bit wobbly and you get to see the countryside by bus so it might be this even if we are warned about their regular accidents. Kathmandu and Pokhara airports are remarkable clean and uncrowded which was a pleasant surprise. However I reckon the security guys are topping up their, no doubt meagre, salaries by flogging all the cigarette lighters they confiscate.

 

Enough for now as we're off to our old haunt, the Pacific Guest House, to watch England v Trinidad & Tobago on their big (ish) screen. Those of you who know me well will be surprised that I'm going to watch a soccer match but not that I'll be supporting T&T. Come on you red and blacks (or whatever colour they play in)! With the summer weather that I gather has finally arrived and these afternoon matches, pubs must be the only place where anyone is doing any work in the UK. Hope you are all enjoying it and won't be too disappointed by England's performance.

 

Cheers

Roshan