20 March, 2012   Tuesday

Today has been a great day to serve as a Humanitarian Missionary in Nepal. We got up, had breakfast and were ready (without any power) at 8:00 AM when Dipak came to pick us up and go out to Dhulikhel to check the construction progress of an overhead water tank we are involved with. We really wanted to go to see them pour the floor of the tank. It is about 50 in the air from the base. You might like to know  - the total tank will be 70.6 feet high and the diameter will be 39.3 feet. It will hold 79250 gallons of water and will benefit 11,000 people.

Cross Section drawing of Overhead Water Tank

Gene - He wasn't sure about climbing the ladder

Gene said forming the floor would be a nightmare

A man on each end transport rock to be used in the concrete

We had talked to Pres. Bishnu (He’s with CHOICE Humanitarian and they are our partner’s doing the project)and he told us that unfortunately we were in India when they made the pour, so we decided to go out and see what they did. Deppong’s went with us and we had thought we could just quietly slip out there, have a look and return.

Some of the Water User's Committee came to say 'Thanks'

After Debbie wants to go up, Gene felt pressure -

It was pretty impressive. I’ve never seen so much scaffolding in all my life.  (And none of it was Bamboo!) Pres. Bishnu told us they had a couple of the larger cement mixers and they did have a ‘lift’ to get the concrete up to the level they needed. After that it was all wheelbarrows, going like crazy. It was pretty neat to see. As for slipping out there unnoticed – there were a couple of men there and soon they had their mobile phones out and there were quite a few members of the village water users committee who came. They always seem so happy to see us. Gene had been a little apprehensive about climbing the ladder to go up and have a look, but the User’s Committee Chairman convinced him to climb up. I declined – call me chicken if you want. Especially when Sister Deppong, who can’t see much, said she wanted to go. And she did. A couple of men helped her and she did fine. I said I would stay on the ground and take pictures.

This man spoke English and was very nice. His wife and daughter

There was a man there who came over to talk to me. He did know some English which was nice. He has a house right next door and showed me his daughter and wife. He was good enough to let me take a couple of pictures. They are pretty cute.

The people are all so sweet. She was happy to let  us take her photo

 Then this little older woman walked by and after I said Nameste’, I asked if I could take her picture and she nodded her head. Then I asked if I could have my picture taken with her and again, she nodded her head. And they love to see their pictures. It was fun.

We stayed a while and then needed to head back. Dipak had another commitment. But they wouldn’t let us leave without going to the Water User’s Committee Chairman’s home and having a soda. (since we told them we don’t drink tea nor coffee.)  He expressed much gratitude to LDS Charities and said without our help, this project would never have been built. They still have quite a ways to go. I was really hoping it would be finished by the time we come home, but it will probably be the end of the year. Once monsoon season starts,  work on the tank will come to a standstill and people will be out planting rice and other crops.

This afternoon we had a pleasant surprise when the power came on at 3:00 PM instead of 6:00 PM.

I walked over to the little market by me and bought some potatoes, cabbage, carrots and three red onions. The price. . . .$about $2.00  U.S. I don’t think I could do that at home. And the veggies here are great - - for the most part.

19 March 2012  Monday

It’s been a great day. We talked to Bart and then Jason this morning. It’s always fun to catch up with what’s going on in their lives. Before I know it, it’s time to get ready to go teach English. Gene went  with Rajesh Bagati to get his mission physical and Laxmi went with me to English. It was good to see the women again and they seemed happy to be back in class. They wanted to know about India and I shared a little bit with them. They live so close, but none of them had been there.

After the first class, the woman in the office came in and said something about the second class. The numbers have dwindled and I had thought perhaps we should combine the two classes. She said there were many women who still wanted to take English and would that be alright. I was happy and told her that would be Great! So today we had five new women in our second class. I don’t think they know very much English, but we paired them up with women who have been there from the start. I was really glad Laxmi was with me today as we did do a bit of translating. And I think Laxmi likes being involved that way. We talked about location words and we had a good time. I took an orange and a small bowl and we went through lots of location words:; on, under, behind, in back of, etc, etc.

This afternoon, Laxmi and I walked over to Bhat Bhateni’s. The Relief Society Birthday Party is Thursday and she had asked me to look up a salad recipe online for. We found one and I suggested we try it before they make it for the party. So, we went over to get a few things to make it. We both worked together, doubled the recipe and it turned out pretty good. It was a creamy Pasta Salad with all kinds of vegetables. We also wanted to see how much it would make.She seemed pretty happy with it and I thought it tasted pretty good.

We got an email from Pres. Jackson that makes me a little sad. It was the itinerary for Sister Subhadra’s return flight to Kathmandu. She is being sent home from her mission because of health reasons. Pres. Jackson and we too, had hoped they would find another place for her, but it doesn’t look like it’s going to happen. I know we will need to rally around and give her a lot of support. Her flight doesn’t get in until about ten, but I think we are going to try and go meet her. I know the Branch will be very good to her. I just hope they will find a calling and involve her as soon as possible.