here and there

Greetings again from Pokhara! After baby Manish got pneumonia and was taken to hospital to stay for a weeks course of antibiotics and hot steam and something to clear his lungs I came up as soon as I could and have been here since Thursday to look after the children while Krishna and Bishnu in hospital looking after him.

Here he is helping himself to hot steam!

Only one small bed for them in the hosp and Krishna somehow managed to sleep on a stool and the floor for the week! Now everyone is back home and Manish is looking healthy again.

Thursday evening with the other babysitters - Krishna's friend Bikas and Binod from up the road after beers in the garden once all the children were put to bed.

Goodnight! Bimala and Dipa with naughty little Manashee

After the weekend I'll be going back down to Kathmandu to meet with Govinda and hopefully we will manage to arrange the meeting with the UN Laxman.

It's been a busy week since last writing to you - but good! Report is finished, lots of farms visited, all the poorest households interviewed and a fun trip down to a temple on the Kali Ghandaki river by motorbike!

I have to confess this actually belongs to my translator, Basanta. Here's the view down to the river and temple:
Jonti, there was an almost blind and deaf old mad sitting begging on the steps up to the temple and I gave him some of the money I wasn't able to get to the man with one leg. He was very grateful and blessed me and I was able to get Basanta to explain it was from you. On the way back down the steps he was munching away at some noodles.

On the way back we stopped for buffalo momos and another temple on a hill. Here's one of the holy men

and some more back in Tansen

The market stalls in Tansen were full of bright paint ready for the Holi festival, when everyone throws it at each other to celebrate the coming rains and harvest season.


We got mobbed on the way back to Khorbari by some pre-Holi paint party and had to pay a fee to fund their paint before they would let us pass!

Back in Khorbari things were a bit more serene - a group of children were doing a round on all the households asking if anyone wanted a tika...

Here are some of the enterprises I visited last week:

Ram with his bees

Lovely pig man, Mun, who manages to fund his 3 children through private school and has built his home through the profits on his pigs - very inspiring. He has offered to give training in the village

Rustic village on the hills where everyone was making there living from goats

One enterprising household was also making a good profit from bees in boxes under the eves!

Here's the view from up the hill, looking South towards India. Left to right here is Ram, the district coordinator of CCODER, Basanta my translator, Bog the district coodinator of something who likes to be involved in what we are doing and the "big man" of the village who earns nearly 1,000 pounds a year from his goats.

On the way back stopped at a riverside village in the valley - joined in with a community meeting, visited more farms and inspired by their veg farming in their out-of-season rice fields
Back in Khorbari it seems there are good opportunities for handicrafts - pots made from noodle packets

...bags and shawls. Here's a modeling shoot...

Thursday early morning (started 5:30am!) was a meeting with the district govt agricultural office in Tansen to discuss setting up a community bank owned cow farm in Khorbari. Very encouraging and seems it would be a great solution to the problems there - could provide well paid jobs for those without land, training for those wanting to get their own cow (and enough income for their husbands to return home from abroad) and a good investment for the community bank - which can use the profits to improve health, education, infrastructures etc in community and eventually create farms in pigs, chickens etc to provide further training and also a great source of compost for organic vegetables! (a new enterprise - most people use chemicals but a good and growing high end market for organic veg.)

Enough on agriculture. Here we are helping to build the final classroom of the school's extension. Nearly there!


Back to Pokhara. Yesterday we got all the kids new sandals to replace their decaying and dusty and dog eaten ones. They were so excited and constantly wash them to keep them just as bright and new and gather to inspect each others...

Last nights game of hangman. Susila makes a great teacher!

Off to the park this afternoon and will be making a dinner of spaghetti bolognese - another new experience (for them)!

The sun is shining and I am ready to say goodbye and hopefully be in touch again from Kathmndu.

Lots of love

Hope all is well with everyone, thinking of you!

Esther xxxx