Tuesday, February 15, 2011

We are sitting in the Bangkok airport waiting for our connecting flight to Kathmandu. I can hardly believe that all this is really here and we will soon be meeting Elder and Sister Borland and Elder and Sister Deppong and starting the adventure of a lifetime for us.

Let’s go back to Monday. We got up fairly early and dug in and finished packing the bags. We weighed them and thought they were good, even had a few pounds to spare.  I did put in a can of cocoa and a large jar of crunchy peanut butter and we hope they make it through customs.  We kept weighing the bags, knowing we needed to stay under 50 pounds per bag. Finally, we thought we were okay and were good to go.

We left home just after 1:00 pm and headed to the SLC airport. Paul and Alison and kids took us down. We parked the van and took the luggage in. We headed to the Delta counter and checked our bags. The lady helping us was LDS and was asking where we were going.  We got that done and headed to security. Before getting there, we thought we better stop at the restrooms. We were still all together and here came the lady from the check-in counter. She was returning one of our passports. Wow! It’s a good think we didn’t forget that. We wouldn’t have gotten very far.

Alison and Paul waited till we got through security and then they were going to try and go to the zoo. We all got through the good-by’s okay. This mission will be good for all of us.

Our flight to LAX was on a smaller Delta Connection flight. Boy, the seats were crammed in there. It was a tight fit. The plan was full and it was a long couple of hours flight. And the plane was very noisy. I’m sure glad we didn’t have to take that plane to Bangkok. It was dark when we got to Los Angeles. We walked to the International Terminal. The weather was a little cool, but good to get our and walk a bit. We got through security there and had a bite to eat then walked to our gate. We had about three hours to wait.

Another couple from Salt Lake was going to Taiwan for a wedding and they were in our waiting area. They were also LDS and we talked to them until it was about time for our flight. Gene could see the plane we would be flying on and said it was huge.

We boarded the plane and it was very nice. The hostesses were very nice also. We had great seats, just behind the wing. The restrooms were very close. The seats were roomy and comfortable. They brought us all a pillow and a blanket and also a pair of headphones. There was a good choice of movies to watch and I did watch Secretariat and 127 Hours,(about the guy in one of the slot canyons in UT who got his arm trapped by a big rock and ended up amputating it himself. I enjoyed both movies.

The airline was bringing us food every time we turned around. And we were able to get quite a bit of sleep. The 18 hour flight wasn’t half as bad as I thought it might be. It was dark most of the way and that was good as we could doze quite a bit.

When we arrived in Bangkok, we were able to get a limited amount of time on the internet. I set an email and then saw Clay was online and talked to him a minute.

One of the little things that was a bit annoying to me was not knowing what time it was. I had two different watches on – one set to Utah time and one to Bangkok and then Kathmandu time. Then I couldn’t keep things straight and with it being dark most of the time, I didn’t know what time it was. It was a strange feeling.

Our trip from Bangkok to Kathmandu was pretty uneventful. Again it was Thai Airlines and I have to say they are a nice airline. They fed us again and it was good. Then they brought in some immigration papers for us to fill out. We filled them out not knowing quite what they were all about.

When we landed in Kathmandu, it was raining. It’s not a very large airport and there wasn’t a covered canopy and so we walked down the steps, getting off the airplane. When we got in the building, we had no idea of where to go. Then a security guy came and asked if he could help us. He was a lifesaver and asked if he could see our papers. Then he told us to follow him and took us right to the head of the line where a man stamped our passports and then he took us to where we could find our luggage. It took a while for our luggage to come, but it did all come and we were grateful for that.

The guy in red was a lifesaver. . .

Greeted by Branch President Bishnu Adhikari

A warm welcome from Sister Deppong

Then we went in to the main room and there were the Borland’s, the Deppong’s, Loxmi and President Adahkari and his wife (the branch president.) There were a couple of others as well. They gave us flowers and it was a warm welcome. We all piled into a van and they brought us home. Everything they said about the driving in Nepal is true. There is a lot of traffic, no street lights and no stop signs. You just go. We arrived at the house and Gene and I spent a little time getting unpacked. We have talked to Borland’s for a while and they showed us the home. It’s pretty nice according to Kathmandu standards. We will have to make a few adjustments.  For one thing, the power is off a lot. It’s on for about four hours during the day and again, about four hours during the night. We are both quite tired and ready to crash. I sure hope that I can sleep good tonight. I did take a couple of Benadryl and hope that does the job.

Gene in front of our home and office for Latter Day Saint Charities

Saturday, February 19, 2011

Much has happened since we arrived in Nepal. I did sleep pretty good last night and for that I’m thankful. We got up fairly early Thursday morning and were ready to leave here and head to Hattikhor, about a four – five hour drive, over a curvy bumpy mountain road to check on a water project. Rakesh Hamal, the NGO and Partner for the project had made the arrangements. They picked us up in a large van. There was the driver, Rakesh, Elder and Sister Deppong, Elder and Sister Borland, us and a young women who was coordinator for the water project.

fog rolling like a river into this valley

Beautiful Himalayas

It was a foggy morning when we left Kathmandu so we couldn’t see much as we left the city. We climbed up out of the valley and when we got up to a pass, the fog suddenly lifted and it was beautiful. We could see the fog spilling over to the other valley. I’d never seen anything like that before. It was like a river of fog. And then we could see the Himalayas in the distance. What a gorgeous sight. They were mighty high! The people with us said they had never seen them so clear and beautiful.

The drive to Chitwan was so pretty. It’s a beautiful country. It was really interesting to see the dwelling places and homes of the people. They live pretty humble. Many of the structures weren’t much. Many of them have a little shop in the front and living quarters in the back.  Actually they look pretty crude. And they were right on the edge of the road. There is no backyard as the mountain drops right off. Gene said they certainly don’t tell the kids to go play in the backyard.There is no water, so where that comes from, no one knows. I feel so sorry for those people. We saw many people walking along the road with a huge bundle of leaves on their back, to take back as food for their goats. They work hard. We could see women washing clothes by hand with water they got somewhere.

She was in the city, but an example of carry loads on their backs

 It seems the men were just sitting around talking or gathered around a board of some kind playing some kind of game. We were in a  high mountain valley, no stores or communities within miles, just little shops in dwellings along the road. It was so interesting.

the streets are so busy....

I guess I should say something about the traffic. There are a lot of trucks. They are all brightly painted and most truck beds are covered with a tarp. All goods are hauled into Nepal from India and that is the main road. I suppose the only one. The road wasn’t very wide most of the way. I thought it was about like the road in front of our home in Smithfield. There didn’t seem to be any traffic lights and traffic is a free for all. It didn’t bother me much. I guess for one thing, I was right behind the driver and couldn’t really see. I should say, they drive on the wrong side of the road and the steering wheel in also on the wrong side. After a while it seems pretty normal.

Preparing the soil

the old fashioned way....

We arrived at the project. We were greeted by members of the community’s water committee. We walked up to the holding tank they were building. On the way we saw some men plowing a plot of ground. They didn’t have a tractor. Not so lucky. They were using water buffalo, pulling a wooden plow. Wow! There were three sets of water buffalo and three men, one right behind the other. The plow wasn’t going into the ground more than six or eight inches at the most. That’s going back many years. That was quite a sight. I guess it was getting the work done.

We walked a block or so to where the water reservoir was being built. It was going to be a 75,000 liter holding tank. The cement was mixed by hand at the site. The bottom of the tank and half the wall was poured. They will finish the wall and the roof of the tank. The forms for the roof will be supported by bamboo lengths. We saw bamboo laying there. It grows all around.

Then we climbed into a jeep that held about 10 people and drove up a dry river bed that was couple hundred yards across. We drove up a ways and then got out and walked the rest of the way to where they had brought the pipe, laid from the source of the water. I have to say the river bed was mostly dry, but Sister Borland and I did have to take our shoes and socks off to cross a stream a couple of times before we got to our destination. During monsoon season, the river runs full. 

Wading upstream .......

Clean, pure water coming from the source high in the mountain

The water committee members were proud to show off their work and they held up the pipe with fresh water running out of it. They were pleased to show us they could drink from that pipe. And we drank from it too. The water was clean and pure and will be a blessing to about 3600 people in the village. As we were walking back to the jeep, I saw lots of goats and ask the young woman with us if they were wild or belonged to someone. She said they belonged to people and indicated the mountain side. I said, ‘oh, are there people living up in the trees?’ and she told me no, not in the trees, in the space between the trees. I kind of chuckled to myself.

When we got back to the village, we mingled a bit with some of the people. There were some big leaves lying in the sun to dry. There were several leaves and they had been stitched together. I looked at one and one lady came over and was laughing to see me so interested. The leaves were ‘plates’ to eat on. She held one up and I took her picture. Then I showed her the picture and she was tickled.

We left the village and continued back toward Chitwan, stopping at Rakesh’s house on the way. It belonged to his grandmother, but now is used as a farmhouse. He had some animals that he was proud to show off. I saw an unfamiliar tree and asked him what kind it was. He said papaya. There were also banana trees.

We returned to Chitwan and checked into our hotel. It was surprisingly quite nice and it even had a heater in the room. We went down to the restaurant in the hotel and had a bite to eat. I just had some chicken fried rice and Gene had sweet and sour chicken with rice. They tasted pretty good to us. Then it was time to turn in and get ready for a big day the next day.

Friday morning we were up and having breakfast about 7:00 am. Then it was time to head back to Kathmandu. Still the ride back was amazing. It was a little foggy to start, but cleared up after a bit. I’m still amazed at the way of life we are witnessing. Such a hard life where it’s a matter of survival each day. Like I said these mountains are straight up and straight down. But the people have terraced every little bit of ground and are growing rice and lots of different vegetables. Many are sold right on the highway. These terraces go way up on the hillsides. It’s pretty incredible.

We arrived back in Kathmandu about 1:00 pm. President Jackson, our mission president, and his wife were here visiting and wanted to meet with Gene and I. We hurried and changed clothes and walked to the church. It’s not far at all, but the challenge is, you have to walk across Ring Road. It’s the main road going through Nepal and remember the traffic. You take your life in your hand and it’s a bit frightening to cross the road. I don’t think I would dare try it on my own. But we made it and did meet our mission president. 

He asked us a little bit about ourselves and we just had a pretty casual conversation. He is a wonderful person and we were so impressed with him. He is really dynamic and we liked him a lot. The branch did have a little social to say goodbye to the Borland’s and to welcome us. Borland’s and Gene and I all had to say a few words and then they had a bite to eat. We have met many wonderful people and feel like we will bond with them pretty quickly. We don’t understand much of what they say, even when they speak in English, but the spirit is there and we all know we are brothers and sisters.

After that social we went to Elder and Sister Deppong’s and shared in their Young Women’s Standards Night. It was nice. There were three young women there and their parents. Also President Bishnu (Branch President) and President and Sister Jackson. There were quite a few more adults than YW but they seemed to like being together and there was a good feeling there. I found I was having a hard time staying awake and was happy when it was time to come home and go to bed. (jet lag, perhaps?) It had been quite a long day and we were on the go from morning till night. Just before six I heard Gene had gotten up. We both hurried and showered before the power was shut off at six.  Then read scriptures and ‘stuff’ until time for church at ten.

President Jackson was here for church and wanted to be sure church started on time. The Nepali people aren’t known for being very prompt. They did start pretty much on time. Elder and Sister Borland talked in Sacrament meeting and had an interpreter, wanting everyone to know what they were saying as it was their last Sunday here. They expressed gratitude for the opportunity to serve here in Nepal and the many kindnesses shown them. It was a very good meeting. Sunday school and Relief Society were also good, though I had a hard time, impossible time really, knowing just what was going on. Most of it was in Nepali and they talk fast. The spirit was there though and I enjoyed myself.

We came home and the home teaching families of the Borland’s came here. They are so scattered that it has just worked well for them to gather here as well as the home teachers for Loxmi and Jessica who live here on the property. There was quite a big group today. About twenty five people. It was fun to get to know there a bit. We are having trouble with their names. They are so different and my tongue is having trouble sounding them out. I hope that will come with a little time.

Sister Borland said she usually feeds them a light meal, but we have been on the go and been so busy that she fed them what was on hand. She had made some cupcakes early this morning while there was still power. She had some Jell-O , some chips, nuts and cookies. It was okay. People just seemed to be happy to be here and hang out. It was fun to be part of that. By the time they left, I was anxious to spend a little time on the computer and check emails and send some too.

Tomorrow begins a new week for us and it will be a busy one as well. We have a lot to learn before the Borland’s leave for home on Wednesday. We are trying to take it all in. I told Gene I was sure glad that I have a smart companion. I know we will need the Lord’s help as we strive to do this work.