Community healing, stationery delivery and Absolute Gurkha’s first school building project

As with any of our trips it was an early start, so at 5:00am I leapt out of bed and gathered what I thought was required for a long day out to the remote village of Lakuri Danda, Dolakha.  Chargers and batteries, extra clothing, dried buffalo meat and a bag of mixed nuts were packed into my multi-layered bag.  I picked up my Jack Wolfskin waterproof coat, paused for a second and then tossed it back on the chair, wrongly considering it as a superfluous item for this trip.

As always with Nepal, our 6am departure time was slightly delayed, so I sat and chatted to Ashik’s mum about the events of 25th April and how the family coped with being terrorized by both earthquakes.  It sounded incredibly frightening, Ashik’s mother being on the top floor of Yeti Guest House and having to leap under a table as the room shook violently for what, at the time, must have seemed like eternity.  Then there was the fact that the family had no tent, so the only option was to sleep in the car in the parking lot near their house, which must have been uncomfortable and long frustrating nights.  With the second quake and its accompanying aftershocks, the nagging voices in many people’s heads must have resulted in a psychological chipping away of confidence, fearfully anticipating a third large shock.  It’s hard to imagine the psychological torment that people had to endure during this time.

When Ashik was ready we took a taxi to the bus pick up point, and met the rest of the team who were waiting patiently for us.  We put on our ‘Rise For Nepal’ t-shirts and our journey commenced.  I was convinced that I would only need a large ‘t-shirt’, and it caused much amusement when after making a fuss about this, it turned out that I did in fact require an XL.  Ashik, wearing a huge grin on his face, repeated in front of everyone ‘What do you need again Stu, I cannot hear you?’  Little sod!  When I get back to UK, it’s high time that I get myself back into shape by running everyday down lanes, where the only pollution you’ll breathe in is the smell of cow shit.

The road to Dolakha

We drove on the highway passing Bhaktapur and there on the hill standing tall was the magnificent statue of Shiva watching over us as we ascended out of the Kathmandu Valley.  I immediately recognised the meandering lanes which I have taken twice before when heading to Jiri, where I trekked the 5 days to Lukla, gateway to Sagarmartha National Park.  This is a long and winding road, with huge drops off to the side, but contains a mesmerizing lush hilly landscape and plenty of evidence of strip farming on the steep slopes.  Whenever I pass this area, I am always in awe of its sheer beauty, but at the same time I am aware of the sheer drops.  Thankfully the road is smooth.  We continued for about an hour along this bendy highway, descending closer to the river level which gushed at the bottom of this v-shaped valley.  There were signs of a few landslides along the way, but overall I felt safe and was comfortable chatting to Sandeep about Rage Against the Machine and our fondness for heavy rock.  As we negotiated the valley road, I was treated to a soundtrack of ‘People of the Sun’, ‘Roll Right’, ‘Revolver’ which was welcome listening, although I did also like some of the Indian music the team played over the bus’s speakers, which fit right in with the landscape passing us by.

Evidence of the earthquake along the way to Dolakha.

As we were nearing the road taking us up to Dolakha, very close to where in 2012 we started our epic 9 day white-water trip down to the border of India, Rozet told me to move to the right side of the bus as on both sides of the Bhotekosi river contained villages, which were seriously affected by the earthquakes of late April and early May.  I took some photos of the destruction, buildings completely devastated, and evidence of people still having to live in makeshift accommodation well over a month after the last big earthquake.  It was sad to see.  We crossed the Bhotekosi and immediately started a steep ascent hair-pinning up and up with some sheer drops seemingly close to the wheels of the bus.  What got me through this ride was the fact that the last time we traveled on this road, we were in a 4×4, which was lower down.  From this perspective, I could see that in fact this was not such a treacherous route.  Higher up in a bus gives an illusion that you are closer to the edge than you actually are.  For the most part I was fine going up, with just one or two moments where I switched sides to face the more welcoming hill wall.

Just over an hour later, we rolled into a small town called Mude, and here we stopped for about half an hour to eat Dal Bhat.  Ashik informed me that we were only about 20 mins from the school, but that we needed to do a little off road driving along a track before we reached our destination.  We ate lunch, picked up some yak cheese from a local store, and then set off.  I was glad that we had little more driving to do, and was looking forward to getting to the school and getting involved in the community healing process.  As we approached the off-road section, Rozet looked over at me and said ‘Stuart, I know you are a brave guy, you can do this’.  I consider myself to be brave to a certain extent, having done many stupid things during my time with little regard to injury, but again I could not go through off road riding in a bus.  I got off the bus, and told the guys that I would meet them at the village as I sprinted off ahead as fast as I could, not wanting to be a burden to the team if they had to wait for me.  As with the landslide region in Langtang, I was able to beat the bus to the stopping point, although once or twice I nearly fell flat on my face running downhill on an uneven road, which could have caused serious injury had I face planted a jutting out rock.  As the bus pulled up, there were a few smiling faces at the ridiculousness of my fear, but immediately I could feel that I had aggravated my back problem, which would no doubt cause problems for the next few days.

Arriving at the school, and carrying our loads.

We unloaded all of the bags of stationery and boxes of toys, and then the driver informed us that he was driving back up to the road because rain clouds were coming in and there was a chance that the bus would become stuck on the dirt track.  This meant that after we had finished at the school, we would need to spend about an hour to hike back up to the road where the bus was waiting.  This was fine by me, and a few of the group joked that I must be very happy, which of course I was.  We then each picked up a load and carried it down the slippery path to the school, where the children were all lined up waiting for us.  As we reached them, we put down our bags and the children started clapping as teachers handed out flowers of thanks to us.  Then we walked to the main school building area, and set up the medical camp, took children’s names and got ready to start the community healing program.  I took the opportunity to walk amongst the children, who all looked incredibly cute, asked some of their names, and got a few snapshots on my camera.  At first the children looked a little shy, but most responded to me when I said ‘Namaste’ by putting up two hands together and smiling.  Those that didn’t, I pulled a silly face and this produced a smile.  This was a very special moment.  I love kids, but find Nepalese to be possibly the cutest of all with their smiling faces and endearing head wobble.

One thing that shocked me immediately was the state of the school buildings.  The earthquake had ripped them apart and they had collapsed in on themselves.  I stood staring that them, stunned at what I was seeing before my eyes, and remarked to Ashik that it was so fortunate that April 25th 2015 was not a school day.  The children would have been at home when the earthquake struck, had it been a school day then more than half of the kids lined up in front of me would not have been there.  This was a frightening thought, and it sent a chill running down my spine.  Fate had spared these lovely kids.

Earthquake Drills

The children were split into two groups for the community healing program.  In the school grounds, games like ‘Simon Says’ were played and immediately you could see the joy on the children’s faces as they tried to get through to the end of the game without getting out.  There were also songs with actions, which the kids learned and sang well and with enthusiasm.  Seeing this reminded me of my days as a kindergarten teacher, and for once I dropped my guard and joined in with the singing and dancing, which was something I was previously too shy to do.  It was immense fun, and you could see the kids having a whale of a time once they figured out the actions and the words to the songs.  The second group, located where we initially met the kids, was for earthquake training.  The children were educated about what to do if another earthquake hits their area.  A child was pulled out and showed the position to lie in in order to give themselves maximum protection if they cannot get out of a building in time.  Then all of the children were made to assume the same position and this was checked by the community helper.  I took this time to sit with the kids and ask a few questions, and take a few photos.  I was surprised that quite a few of the children were able to understand some English, and a few were actually pretty good at speaking.  It was really heart warming to chat to them, take photos, and then show them what they looked like on the screen on my Lumix.  Most looked at the screen, smiled and then started to giggle, a really beautiful moment.

The kids taking part in the art competition.

After the fun and games, we held an art competition.  All the kids were given a piece of paper, crayons, a pencil and sharpener and told that there would be three prizes for the best pictures.  Usually this would take 20 minutes, but we allowed it to go on longer, producing some really good pictures from the kids.  A lot of the pictures were what I assumed to be maps of the area, showing the location of houses, water taps, wheat fields etc.  All pretty much contained the Nepalese flag, and some were even ambitious enough to use English writing.  Again, this was a great opportunity to walk around and chat to the children, and compliment them on their drawing skills.  The dark clouds had come in, and it started bucketing it down with rain, so all the kids had to move into the only shelter whose main structure had survived the earthquake.  We put a mat down and the kids sat on the floor and one by one completed their drawings.  I was given the task of pulling out the top three, and then ten which would also get consolation prizes.

After handing out the prizes, we handed over the rest of the stationery to the head of the school, and then it was time for the toy donation.  This was a fun moment, and at times I came close to tears as some of the children looked overjoyed with the toy that we gave them.  It was equally funny to see some children refuse gifts that they were not interested in, like skipping ropes or jigsaw puzzles, and some children came back for more claiming that they had not received a gift.  The moment I’ll never forget was when this little girl came up to me and I gave her a teddy bear. As she took it from me, her little eyes beamed and she jumped up and down with happiness, with a huge grin on her face.  I had made her day and could feel her joy, which was both moving and rewarding and I laughed aloud and she hopped off to show her school friends her new bear.

Meeting with the school and builders.

Just before we left the village, we had a meeting with the school staff and informed them of our intention to rebuild classrooms for the kids.  We sat in the teachers office and Ashik and Rozet spoke in Nepalese of our plans.  A problem that we had found upon arrival at the school was that bamboo was not available in the area, so this would need to be imported from Kathmandu.  The builders told us that they would go away and work out the cost of the construction project and give us a quote within a couple of days.  We informed them that they had a two week deadline for completion of the task once we agreed the cost.  Our aim is to rebuild, mostly with local materials like clay and if possible bamboo, a structure that in the event of another earthquake is only able to cause injury at worst if one was to strike during school hours when the kids are studying.

Kids responding to ‘Namaste’

With the meeting over, one of the teachers draped good luck scarves around our necks and we bid farewell to the children and teachers of the village before picking up our bags and starting the hour long trek back up the hill to the waiting bus.  By this time, the monsoon rains were kicking in and about 15 minutes into our hike it really started coming down, drenching those of us who didn’t bring raincoats.  I needed to quickly put all of my electronic equipment into a plastic bag for protection as my outer bag was starting to become soaked through due to the intensity of the rain.  As we climbed up a short cut to the bus, I could feel my aggravated back starting to cause more discomfort, and psychologically I was also starting to get concerned about driving home along these roads in the pouring rain.

Hour long hike back up to the bus.

We all met at the top, changed into some dry clothes and then sat and ate noodle soup and the dried buffalo meat, which I had stored in my bag.  One by one the team members started to arrive and joined us at the table.  Sitting down was becoming too painful, so I needed to stand and walk off my limp caused by my aggravated back.  There was not enough room at the table, so some of the team members sat in the kitchen of the restaurant we had taken over, and kept themselves warm around the wood fire.  Ashik asked if I wanted to share a beer, and I took a bottle to myself, knowing that a couple of bottles would remove my nervous feelings about driving home in the rain.  It certainly worked.  I drank one bottle of Tuborg, and then purchased another for the bus ride. When it was time to leave, my spirits were high and not at all focused on any dangers.  Maybe this is what I need to do on the trips I know will freak me out.  I have helped Nepal a lot since the earthquake, and I know that my Nepalese friends are very grateful for this, but I do not want my fear of heights to become a burden to the trips we go on.  My nerves have to a certain extent taken away some of the enjoyment of some of the excellent work that we are doing, which is sad as it means that so far I have been unable to put my fears behind me when doing very worthwhile activities.  If it takes a beer to reduce my anxiety, then maybe this is what I have to do.  It’s not ideal by any means, and certainly I am not talking about getting drunk.  It’s more about controlling a very intense fear of heights, which currently is threatening to derail my visits out the remote regions.  Just before we were about to embark on our journey home, a member of the team found a leech on his body and advised that we all check ourselves for these blood sucking nuisances.  I checked my legs and low and behold found one attached to me.  I slowly pulled it off and threw it to the side.  I then checked in my shoe and below the sock line before declaring myself leech free. Daniel, one of the community healers, later found a leech attached to his chest, and one very close to his pant line, which couldn’t have been pleasant!

The drive home was enjoyable, some of the team started dancing on the back of the bus to Indian music, which was amusing.  We chatted periodically, and then I put on my headphones and relaxed to some Nick Cave.  It was overall a joyous occasion as the driver burned through the lanes, the beer ensuring that I didn’t waste a thought to worry.  If anything it felt like driving at night was slightly safer because at least you could see oncoming traffic from a distance due to the beams of the headlights.   At about 10pm we rolled back into Kathmandu, and then Ashik and I got a taxi to Thamel, going straight to bed as we got through the door.  The relief trip to Langtang Region was rewarding, but supplying stationery and community healing with the kids at Lakuri Danda rates as the best thing I have done since I first started visiting Nepal in 2011.  I was certainly impressed by the professionalism and the way Yangji, Rebecca, Daniel, Akancha and Hanku, the community healers, interacted with the children.  A fine job was done by the guys in team Absolute Gurkha.  It will be a day that I’ll never forget and one day I would love to go back and see these children again.