Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

Let me start by wishing everyone a belated Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. I have wanted to write sooner, but my life over the past few weeks has been beyond busy, and also I have been in places where internet was not available. The Waterfalls have since left, and I have been back to the village where we did the water project and also down to Chitwan. I arrived back in Kathmandu yesterday making today the first day that I have had time to relax and to write. I am currently sitting at a small restaurant across the street from my hotel called New Orleans Café. They provide free internet, but charge for electricity if you use it. The food is great and the icing on the cake is that they have some indoor seating with a small gas heater to keep me warm.

Much has happened over the past two weeks, and as before, I find it daunting to write a detailed accounting of all that has occurred. I will attempt to write chronologically, focusing on the most significant, particularly funny, or strange occurrences.

Truth be told, the Waterfalls coming to Nepal is the main reason that I am here. I met the Waterfalls about 18 months ago while leading a group to Kenya for Choice Humanitarian. Scott and Nancy came with several of their children. It didn’t take long for me to feel a strong connection to this family. As we were leaving Kenya we talked about planning a trip to Nepal. That was the genesis of my trip here, and the timing was perfect for me to come early and spend more time in Nepal. It was then that I was contacted by Bishnu and asked to help out with the Hospital. Everything fell into place perfectly.

Organizing the Waterfall’s stay in Nepal was a huge undertaking that was only made possible through the help and support of friends, both long time friends and new friends, here in Nepal. I have been to Nepal on several other occasions and have been fortunate to keep in contact with many people I have met previously. I have been equally fortunate this trip as I have made new friends who have quickly become my protectors, my confidants and my supporters. As I look ahead to my departure, I am certain that it will be very difficult to say good-bye to these people.

In as much as I will mention these people as I write about the last few weeks, I will briefly introduce these people.

I have written previously about Ganesh. He has become a great friend and quickly became an important part of organizing the Waterfall’s stay here in Nepal. He took it upon himself to assure that they were comfortable, safe and happy while here.

Sam and Lynn Topham are an American couple that I met years ago here in Nepal. They came here first as missionaries, then since have started their own NGO called Nepal Hope, and live here 6 months out of the year. They are around 70 years old and are as active as someone in their 30’s. They have quickly made it onto my list of greatest heroes. They have a Nepali man by the name of Ramesh Adhakari who co-directs the NGO with them. He is one of those people that you can’t help but be drawn to. He is driven, smart and well respected by all.

Ruben, Ravi and Summit are three guys that I met one day while touring a historical site in Kathmandu. They work as tour guides there. I was with Rich and Nyge at the time and we decided to use their services. I have since become friends with them. They are good guys….a bit on the wild side, but they have helped me quite a bit. It is thanks to them that all our food, sleeping pads, pillows, and supplies for the water system made it to the village.

Dilip is a trekking guide who led our trek when I was here in 2003. He lives in Pokhara and is another one of those great people that I am very lucky to know. He has helped me out with several groups that I have taken to that area.

Waterfall’s arrival

Ganesh and I went to the airport to meet the Waterfalls. He was excited to be a part of this adventure. He has mentioned on many occasions that he would love to work for a NGO doing things to help his fellow Nepalis. So it seemed like to perfect opportunity for him to get involved with this whole experience...

The plane arrived on time, but the group took forever to make it through immigration and customs. In the time that we waited we befriended one of the police officers that guards the airport and controls traffic. I asked him about the automatic rifle he had slung over his shoulder and the conversation went from there. When he found that I was meeting a family of 11 from the US he told me not to worry about all the very aggressive taxi drivers and men that want to help with your bags…weather the help is wanted or not. He said he would protect the Waterfalls…. When most of the people from the flight had come out and the Waterfalls were no where to be seen, I grew a little concerned. He told me not to worry and ushered us into the airport so we could find them. We ended up finding them just coming out of customs and much to my surprise it turns out that all of their bags had arrived. It was good to be with the Waterfalls in Nepal after so many months of planning.

First night

After getting the group to the hotel, we decided to head out to do some shopping for sleeping bags. You can buy really nice down North Face sleeping bags here for about $40.00. After making our way through Thamel going in and out of the myriad of outdoor equipment stores (probably 5+ per block) we found a place that would sell us the bags for the best price. (it was during this time that I had the slight meltdown mentioned in the previous entry) The man informed us that he had to go to his warehouse to get all of the bags that we needed….10 or 11 I think. In the interim I decided to take the group to Or2K….what better way to welcome them to Nepal than to eat at an Israeli vegetarian restaurant. It was quite the scene….12 Americans sitting on the floor eating Israeli food. (Have I mentioned previously that you sit on the floor to eat there?) True to form there were some people smoking pot a few tables down from us…..I wasn’t sure poor Nancy was going to survive it all. But the food was good, the music was good and the company was great….

To Bandipur

The next morning the Waterfalls, the Tophams, Ramesh, Ganesh and I departed fairly early to head to a small resort type village high in the mountains called Bandipur. We stayed one night there before heading to the village where we would be doing the water project. I had not been their before but, at the recommendation of my friend Landon, we stayed in a small hotel called The Old Bandipur Inn. It was a really cool old building with amazing views across the valley to the Himalayas. As luck would have it we arrived in the middle of a festival. There was good food, a lot of loud music and dancing, and the craziest “man” powered Ferris wheel. The would load people into the seats and then two guys would climb to the top of the wheel to make it top heavy, so it would start to spin. They would then climb up from bar to bar to keep it spinning…..it was great!

To the village

Nepal Hope, which is run by the Tophams and Ramesh was the organization that found the water project. It is in a small village that is about an hour from a town called Damauli. It is there that we would spend 4 days working along side the villagers to improve an existing water system that had started to fail after 20 years of use.

The ceremony to welcome us into the village was an all day event. There was singing and dancing, tikas for all, and lots of amazing food. The lunch the villagers provided was one of the best Nepali meals I have ever had….and then there were oranges and more oranges…..the village had orange trees everywhere…..They were so good.

We were invited to stay in the home of one of the villagers. The family has one of the bigger houses in the village and they were kind enough to invite 12 big Americans into their small home. Let me just say….it was an experience…the ceilings with all the exposed wooden crossbeams were about 5’ 9” tall….all of us tall people had sore heads the entire time we were staying in the home….

To be continued............