April.
PeAk is due begin the Solar Home Lighting project in Jatoli. "Where does time go to?" or the issue of vanishing time lines pertinent. April turned bitterly cold and wet after an unseasonally warm March. Not quite cold enough to crack ice off buckets of water in the mornings to undertake ablutions after a spicy meal the night before - often a welcome relief (the ice that is....). But grey, damp & at times downright dismal.
The kids are making brilliant progress at school. It is wonderful to see children so eager and keen for classes, though sometimes I am driven a little crazy when they keep asking for their turn in class! We still collect the kids from the Government school for classes that run between 1-2 hours a class depending on the age bracket. And while the government paid primary school teachers are non frequent attenders, there is a positive to having community teachers who at least turn up to school everyday. Sometimes I wonder how the first few tourists that are making their way into the valley feel when small dark eyes look upwards, full of intent on the right word usage, come out with "Hello - what is your name?" or "Where are you from?" all with an Aussie 'twang'....
It was the month we had an incredible insight into the mysterious world of 'women's business'. Scott was called to Mohani's house just after she had given birth and there she was, the new mother almost a child herself, in the corner of the cattle shed cradling her downy wet newborn. A small fire burning sent plumes of grey smoke curling around the stone mud rendered walls which combined with the moist warmth of animals to create an atmosphere suffocation and dankness. Straw and leaves neatly swept away from the birthing corner with buffaloes and cattle tethered to one side, with their space invaded, gravitate between snorting angrily or, in a lighter/happier moment, trying nibble your clothes or limbs should you stray too close.
Mohani's husband works at a hotel in Delhi. She has only lived with him for two weeks in their first year of married life. She is young, scared, and feels a stranger in her new home. When we arrived the new mum looked bewildered and in a break with tradition due to worry over the new born son her mother and sister in law took charge of washing and cleaning up. Concern palpable as blood spewed forth. Eventually with umbilical cord clamped, blood flow stopped, sponged down, the healthy new baby pinkness covered in clean clothes, the concern shifted to the mother who was weak and hadn't passed the placenta. After decisions were made the following morning on a hospital evacuation the placenta was passed. Scott secretly suspected that the thought of putting her new in laws through so much worry to be compounded by an expensive hospital trip was enough for rapid placenta evacuation!! At the end of the day mother and child are doing well.
Bonnie
peAk
