Badagaun and beyond

After a big meal of dal bhat we retired for the night. It was load shedding and so there were no lights. Kiran and I were shown to the small spare room which held three single beds. The beds here are different from what we use in the US. Here they have thin cotton mats placed on hardwood tablets. Often times I have woken up with bruises on my body from sleeping on these very hard beds. The beds Kiran and I were provided were better than most and we had a relatively comfortable nights rest. In the morning we were greeted with a breakfast of a hard boiled egg and some tea. I was grateful for the smaller meal, as I am not typically a big breakfast eater. After breakfast we took a tour of this small branch of the village. Choice and LDS charities had done a water project in this village previous to doing the school project. We were told that since the completion of the water project the villagers had started producing vegetables. They have been so successful in this endeavor that every household make enough money from the sales of the vegetables to be self-sufficient. We were shown their crops and their “greenhouse” where they grew tomatoes. They showed us the foundation for the new women’s center they are constructing. I was amazed at the ingenuity of these amazing people.

After our tour of the village we returned to the teacher’s home. Much to my dismay, the breakfast I had eaten earlier was only a snack and the real meal of dal bhat was awaiting us. I might not have mentioned before that the meal of dal bhat is not a small one. The rice is piled high and there is a more than sufficient amount of everything else. I have yet to eat a meal of dal bhat and not walked away feeling ready to explode. Upon finishing our second breakfast for the day we went back to the school and spent time talking with the teachers and the students. I was able to have a good conversation with Santosh about his studies and what he wants to do in life. He is a good person and a good friend. On our way back to Besishahar we stopped and talked with his family for a while. As one might expect, they are good people just like their son. I enjoyed listening to his mothers gloat about how much they love and appreciate him.

By the time we got out of the village it was late in the day and a trip to Pasachaur was out of the question for me as I was to meet the Tophams, Ramesh and the Christensens in Dumre the next day at noon. We decided that the next morning we would part ways and Kiran would go to Pasachaur to check on the school and I would meet the group in Dumre. Spending the night Besishahar is always an adventure. It lacks both a good hotel and a good restaurant, but meets the basic needs of food and shelter. We stayed once about 7 years ago with the Tophams and others from a choice expedition is a hotel that continues to hold the record for the worst hotel in which I have ever stayed. We have since found a hotel that is a fair amount better with a restaurant that is typically decent. That was up till this trip that is….It all started with dinner. I have always found that fried rice is a safe meal here in Nepal. If I am someplace where I don’t know the food, I go for the fried rice. Being a little extra hungry I ordered fried rice, french onion soup and garlic nan. The French onion soup came out first. The first spoonful was good. The second spoonful had a bug in it that looked a lot like a centipede. The third was the killer when it came out with whole raw egg yolk. Now I don’t mind the bug…it is protein, but the raw egg yolk was more than I could handle. I asked the waiter to talk to the chef and see what the deal was. The response was that French onion soup has raw eggs in it…..interesting eh? Well then came the fried rice….it was fried and fried again…until it was black. The kicker was the garlic nan...when it came out it was nan that cut open with chunks or raw garlic in it. It was by far the worst meal I have had in Nepal.

When it came time for bed I crawled under the quilt provided by the hotel since I didn’t have my sleeping bag. I immediately noticed that the quilt reeked of body odor. If I dared bring the quilt close to my face, I would start getting nauseous. Several times during the night I woke up feeling sick to my stomach and realized that I had pulled the quilt up to my face in an attempt to keep warm. The bad news is that is the best hotel in town and I will be there again this next week.

The next morning I caught a bus to Dumre to meet up with the group. We were headed to Pokhari Bhanjyage to check on the water project, but more importantly to check on Bharat. Like I mentioned before we were bring a physical therapist with us to teach Bharat and his family some exercises. We arrived in the village and were greeted by many of the friends we had made while staying in the village. It was great to see them all again. When we arrived at Bharat’s home his wife informed us that he was in bed sick with yet another UTI. Despite being so sick and feverish he was awaiting our visit and excited to learn the exercises. In addition we spent considerable time talking to his wife and son about the Foley catheter and how to reduce the number of UTIs. We learned that his wife was a village health care worker prior and as such she has quite a bit of experience talking care of sick people.

As the conversation progressed his wife opened up and told us of their mounting financial challenges. She told us that no matter how hard she works she just can’t seem to make ends meet. Bharat told us how he felt like a burden and a disappointment to his family. It was an incredibly difficult conversation to have with them. As we were driving back to Kathmandu we discussed in depth the need for Bharat to have something to look forward to in his life, something that would make him feel like he is a contributing part of the family and something that would help boost his self worth. We discussed ideas like making straw mats, or hats but this would require months and months of rehab on his hands before he would be able has such dexterity. We then came up with the idea of supplying a micro loan for him and his family to start a small grocery store out of one room of their home. In the villages the stores are small and typically occupy one small room of a home. They are stocked with the bare essentials needed in everyday life. The nearest store to their home is about a 20 minute walk, and right around their home are probably 30 homes. It might not produce a great deal of income, but enough to help and the greatest benefit would be giving Bharat something to occupy his time and something to help him contribute again. We determined that for as little as $300.00 they could convert the room and buy the inventory needed to get the store off the ground. Ramesh will present the idea to the family and see if it is something they might be interested in.

While the physical therapist and I were in talking with Bharat and his family, a relatively new born baby was brought to Lynn Topham. The baby was born with severely clubbed feet. Lynn’s heart melted and a now just a short time later she has already found a hospital and a surgeon to take care of the baby’s feet. Lynn is a great lady and she and Sam do amazing things here in Nepal.

After we had finished with Bharat and his family we were preparing to head back to Kathmandu when my friend Bishnu Thapa said that he had a gift for me. We had met Bishnu when we were staying in the village with the Waterfalls. He is maybe 23 years old and one of the hardest workers I have even seen. He has a huge crush on Liz Waterfall and tells everyone he has an American girlfriend. He is the epitome of a Nepali…he is kind, generous, industrious, and loves to sing and dance. He is one of the drummers in the local group of boys that plays music whenever dancing is going on. I walked with him to his home where he presented me with a drum that he and some of his friends had made for me. It is hand made using a hand carved hardwood for the ring and then animal skin as the cover. They then painted an “OM” symbol on the cover. It is an amazing gift that I cherish greatly.

The drive home was uneventful for us. We had decided to use Baudre, a driver that we know well and trust implicitly. We did however come across an accident that had just occured. A small pickup truck somehow lost control, slammed into a rock and cement barrier and hung precariously over the side of a cliff. The driver was standing in the road considering his quandary. He was lucky the barrier was there as it was the only thing that saved him from plunging 1,000 feet to the river below.