Travels in Nepal

Photos: Last night in Nepal

katecarlson — Fri, 24 Nov 2017 03:15:00 GMT

Last night in Nepal

katecarlson — Fri, 24 Nov 2017 02:22:00 GMT

I've reached the end of this Nepal journey.. Tomorrow I start the long trek home. I had many hopes and goals for this trip, and as with all travel, there remains some unmet needs...

My first goal for this trip was to survive. Traveling in a country like Nepal was a whole new experience for.me. I'm happy to report that I'm still alive!!... I did manage to sprain my ankle, which is still swollen and bruised, but did not let this derail my work with Habitat.
I hoped to gain an authentic understanding of Nepali culture. This goal has been exceeded with my Habitat work, as well as pre and post Habitat experiences. Nepali culture is complex, of course, but I leave with a genuine appreciation for the resilience and genuine goodness that I've seen repeatedly during my stay.
I hoped to build a safe/secure home for a family in need. This goal was partially met. My Habitat team worked tirelessly to get the foundation completed on our family's home, but will leave the remainder of the build to the next team. While I was disappointed that we did not complete the home, we started the process that will result in a new home for our family.
I hoped to see the Himalayas on this trip. This goal has been realized many times over. Most recently, I've been staying at a lodge overlooking the Annapurna range. My hikng has been curtailed due to an ankle injury, but I was able to get out for a three hour hike today.
My last goal was to return home slightly transformed by this experience. This goal has been exceeded, probably to a much greater degree than I realize. I can't imagine anyone traveling in Nepal who would not be positively impacted by the experience !

In sum, Nepal is a beautiful, chaotic, challenging, kind, gracious, poor, sad, happy, energized, dirty, ancient, loud, wonderful country that I hope to travel to again someday soon.

Thanks for following along with my travels. I hope you enjoyed the journey 😊 I also hope thay at least some of you will consider trips like this in the future!!

Happy Thanksgiving

Kate

Back in Kathmandu

katecarlson — Tue, 21 Nov 2017 20:13:00 GMT

Yesterday our Habitat team returned to Kathmandu from Nuwakot. I was thinking about the transformation in our group from our initial bus ride to Nuwakot to yesterday's ride back to Kathmandu. Although we've only known each other for a short time, a strong bond had formed among us. We seemed like old friends by the end of the build.

How to explain such a rapid connection among people who were strangers less than 2 weeks before? On the surface we are a very diverse group - different ages, educational levels, professions, countries of origin... But the common thread that connected our narratives was altruism. We all made a commitment to put aside our personall needs for the sake of a greater good. This was the cohesive element.

Last night we had our final dinner as a team. We were joined by staff from Nepal's Habitat program, including their national director. It was an opportunity to celebrate work done, friendships made, and to commit to continued engagement in altruistic activities, both large and small... Habitat Nepal is complete, but I'm already considering future Habitat options and welcome any/all comers. It's a life changer 😊 There's a trip to Bolivia in October 2018 that I'm looking at if anyone is interested.

In other news, today I took a flight over the Himilayas with some folks from my Habitat team. The pi!ot even let us into the cockpit to see the mountains from that perspective. Seemed a bit crazy, but the pilot just warned me to be careful of all the switches/buttons on ceiling of the cockpit 😨... Also toured Durbar Square in Kathmandu, which has historical significance for Nepal with ancient temples and palaces. Sadly, this area was badly damaged by the 2015 earthquake, so still undergoing restoration. I've included pictures in the gallery from these trips.

Tomorrow is my last leg of my Nepal trip. I'm flying from Kathmandu to Pokhara, then will have a ride up to a lodge in the mountains for some R&R before heading home. Looking forward to home and reconnecting with friends and family!!

Hope all are well!

Kate

Photos: Back in Katamdu

katecarlson — Tue, 21 Nov 2017 19:55:00 GMT

Last day on the build

katecarlson — Mon, 20 Nov 2017 12:45:00 GMT

Time for just a quick update. We had our last day on the worksite and a chance to celebrate with future home owners. There was not a dry eye to be found. This experience has been transformative for me in many ways. I am amazed at the resilience of our home owners who are not diminished by circumstances but rather somehow made better - kinder, more genuine and humane.. so much more to say but right now I need to catch my bus back to Kathmandu.. Updates to follow 😊

Photos: Last day at the worksite

katecarlson — Sun, 19 Nov 2017 21:59:00 GMT

Rocking in Nepal

katecarlson — Sun, 19 Nov 2017 01:40:00 GMT

Another day at the build. I took a 1/2 day off yesterday due to an ankle injury, but was determined to continue today with the build with my Habitat teammates.

Today's work centered on moving rocks and other building materials from one place to another. This typically involved forming a human chain to move materials up the hillside. The picture accompanying this entry is a chain formed to move rocks for the foundation from the road to the build site. Sabita, sister of the future homeowner, was in front of me in the rock chain and was a source of inspiration for all of us as she worked tirelessly throughout the day. At one point she used a traditional Nepali form of conveyance, moving materials of at least 100 pounds by putting them in a basket on her back with a band around her head. It was a remarkable feat of strength for this woman who is no more than 4 feet tall and weighing no more than 65 pounds! We also had other members of the community helping with the build today. They have become comfortable with our presence in their remote village and our Habitat Nepal project manager to!d us that our presence energizes the community and gives them a sense of connection to a world outside of their small village...

Tomorrow is our last day on the build. We will be finished with digging the foundation and filling it with a mixture of stones, rebar and concrete, per Nepali codes.while the home is not complete, I feel like we have created a sense of hope for the family whose living circumstances have been dire for a long time. We will have a chance to celebrate the progress of the house at a ceremony tomorrow with the home's future occupants and members of the community. I'm really looking forward to this. I also look forward to celebrating with my team members all our accomplishments over this past week. It has been, needless to say, an intense bonding experience and a privilege to work with a wonderful group of people!e.

I'm hoping to have time to reflect on my experiences in Nepal in the days ahead and will be in Nepal for several more days, so more entries to come...

Thanks for your interest in this journey 😊

Kate

Photos: Rocking in Nepal

katecarlson — Sat, 18 Nov 2017 23:16:00 GMT

Day 3: More digging 🙄

katecarlson — Fri, 17 Nov 2017 12:36:00 GMT

It was another day of hard labor in Nepal. We continued digging the foundation, which is now almost complete. Next up is manually mixing concrete in batches to start the foundation. It's clear our team will not complete the houses we've been assigned to and we've been told that local masons (supported by the donations to this project) will complete the remaining work on the two homes within a month of our departure. It's disappointing to not see the project to completion, but heartening to know our families will have safe homes before winter. Our team leaders, Val and Nick, who are veterans of 30+ international builds, said the current build is the hardest they've been on due to the logistical challenges ( mountainous landscapes, higher altitudes, limited places to move dirt etc) and specs required by Nepal building codes (I.e. having to dig 3 foot foundations for a small one story home).

Regardless of who finishes the houses, having the opportunity to travel far away for the express purpose of helping a family in dire need has been extraordinary. It is made all the more so by meeting so many good people, both local and Habitat volunteers. Renews a certain faith in the world that has been sorely tested of late. I've featured a picture in today's journal entry of a man who lives in the village in which we are working. Every day he shows up on site and crouches silently, watching our progress. Today I asked if I could take his picture, to which he readily agreed. When I showed him the picture, he smiled broadly and the shook my hand, which is not a typical Nepal gesture. I've also included some pictures of school children with whom we play during lunch break. These kids are so friendly and sweet. They ask all kinds of questions and swarm around us, sometimes chasing our vehicles when we head back to the work site.

Now for the not so good news. At the end of today's workday, I rolled my ankle walking down a giant dirt mound. Definitely sprained (hopefully not broken). I'm going to take a day off to ice and elevate. Definitely going to finish this build , though, so will figure out a plan to stabilize the ankle as best as possible. There's no medical services where we are, but luckily I had the foresight to travel with a nurse :-). A couple of other team members are down with GI distress, and many of us, including me, have developed a mild cough, which we are told is due to the dirt/dust that covers everything due to the post-monsoon season dryness and exacerbated by driving on primarily dirt roads. Many locals wear face masks for this reason. The locals call it "Nepal powder," while our team leader Val said it's called Kathmandu crud ....

On a positive note though, while today I'm down with this ankle injury, I'm definitely not out with regard to finishing our building project and thoroughly enjoying the rest of this trip, including a flight around Mt Everest on Tuesday on Yeti air 😜

Kate

Photos: Day 3: More digging 🙄

katecarlson — Fri, 17 Nov 2017 12:17:00 GMT

Build Day 2: digging, digging, digging

katecarlson — Thu, 16 Nov 2017 02:04:00 GMT

It's been another 24 hours in Nepal... Somehow time seems slower here..

Today was our second day on the build site. We left Hotel Water Tower around 8 a.m. in 4 jeep-style SUVs and arrived at our site an hour later. Even though it is only 12 kilometers travel distance, the road conditions are so bad that travel is at a snail's pace. We were also held up by a campaign-style event with a candidate for Parliament traveling to the rural mountain villages in the district in an attempt to garner support. Elections will held next month and we have seen numerous vehicles pass by our building site with political flags and blaring Nepali music, which is amazing considering how remote our site is.

My vehicle mates included Raj, whose picture accompanies today's entry. Raj deserves special mention. He is a Nepali native who works full-time coordinating Habitat's Nepali builds. He makes sure we get to our site on time, have tools, have local supports, get fed, have unlimited safe drinking water, and most importantly, have fun. He is like the Robin Williams of Nepal. He is constantly engaging with volunteers, making humorous observations, singing crazy songs, dancing, and generally keeping us moving forward. Most importantly he does this because he loves his country and wants to help lift others out of poverty. 💙

Our primary focus continues to be digging the foundation for the house. The foundation trench needs to be 30" wide by 36" deep. We had a more efficient system in place today with designated diggers and soil distributors. We got a lot of work done and should be finished with digging tomorrow 🙆

On our second day at the site, locals started to show up to observe us while we worked, usally discreetly squatting nearby to see what we were up to. If you caught their eye, they always offered a gentle "namaste!"...

We were also joined by Hari Ram, who is the 17-year-old son of the disabled woman who will be one of the inhabitants of the house we are building. Hari Ram worked tirelessly with us throughtout the day. He told Raj that he wants to ensure that his mother has a safe home to live in and once that happens, he plans to travel to Qatar or elsewhere in the Middle East to pursue better employment opportunities to better support his mother and sister. Nepal's economy has worsened in recent years and there are few options for young workers within the country and many immigrate to other Asian countries for better opportunities. They usually do not return to Nepal, according to Raj. So in rural villages such as where we are building, you see females, small children, and eldery men, but few young adult males.

This Habitat experience is so much more than I can put into words at this point, but hopefully i can share some deeper reflections about its meaning and impact in the near future.

Namaste!

Kate

Photos: Day 2: Digging, digging, digging

katecarlson — Wed, 15 Nov 2017 23:39:00 GMT

First Day on the Build

katecarlson — Tue, 14 Nov 2017 23:25:00 GMT

Today was our team's first day at the build site. The team leaders divided us into two groups to work on two home builds in the same community. We loaded into four SUVs and begin the 12 kilometer drive to the community we were building in. Like the bus ride the day before, today's drive was a dirt road that went up in switchbacks te entire drive and again was considered a two lane road despite barely having room for one vehicle. Needless to say it was quite harrowing and slow going up and coming down.

I was assigned to work on the house for the disabled mother who has been living in a lean to since the 2015 earthquake I learned some more about her story and worked along side her sister, Sabita, whose picture is featured in today's journal entry. What I learned is that Sabita was married to a man but was ultimately unable to bear children, and thus he left her and married her sister (while not divorcing Sabita). They ultimately had two children, but her spouse then left her for another woman. Sabita's sister was born without use of her legs and when her spouse left her, she had no way to support her family. The dire situation was compounded by the 2015 earthquake when the family's home was destroyed. Since then, she and her children have been living in a leanto with two walls and a roof, surviving on the generosity of the community and on Sabita's care giving of her disabled sister and children. Today I saw the lean to and it's a tiny structure occupied by four people and some livestock! Truly hard to imagine how anyone could survive in such a situation.

Our work task today was to dig a 30" wide by 3 foot deep trench for the home's foundation. Our tools were 8 shovels, 4 pickaxes and 2 wheel barrels. Prior to starting work, we had a ceremony at which Sabita blessed us with tikka, a red powder apploed to the forehead, and gave us small bouquets of marigolds, which are used in Hindu ceremonies. Then we got to work. It was slow going given the terrain and limited tools we were working with, but there was visible progress by day's end. Sabita insisted we accept peanuts and banana-s as a gesture of thanks at the end of today. This seems to be the way of people in Nepal, which is really beautiful 😄

Lunch was at a Habitat regional office in the area and we were joined by hoards of curious elementary school children from across the street, who weren't sure at first what to make of these srangers in their midst, but quickly became joyful little souls eager to interact. I've included a picture from this encounter from photo gallery for today. AND in bigger news, , I used a tradional Nepali toilet (a ho!e in the floor with a bucket of water to wash away the event). When in Rome....

I'm sure there is more, but I'm really tired and ready to call it a day.. I did hear that we can see My Everest from our build site on a clear day, so hopefully this might happen tomorrow...

Kate

Photos: First Day at the Build

katecarlson — Tue, 14 Nov 2017 23:20:00 GMT

Photos: Nuwakot

katecarlson — Tue, 14 Nov 2017 03:05:00 GMT

Nuwakot

katecarlson — Tue, 14 Nov 2017 02:47:00 GMT

There is a lot to report on over the past 24 hours. There was a Habitat team dinner last night in Kathmandu and I got to meet my 20 fellow volunteers, our 2 team directors, and the 2 Habitat Nepal program coordinators. I was so impressed with the entire crew. Our team ranges in age from 23 to mid-70s. We are a diverse group in terms of our backgrounds, but definitely all share a commitment to Habitat's mission. There are several on the team who have done other Habitat builds so we should be in good shape in terms of skills. We found out that we will actually be building two houses, splitting our team into two groups, but in the same community. We also learned about the two families we are building for/with. One home is being built for a disabled single mother of three children, who currently lives in a temporary makeshift shelter. She subsists on $30/month ($360/year) mostly earned by her eldest son. She was identified as a particularly vulnerable person/ family in the community after the 2015 earthquake. The other family consists of two parents and seven children. Their home was destroyed by the 2015 earthquake and they have essentially been living in a leanto since then.. Their income is from seasonal crops with an income of $50/month ($600/year). I don't know which family I'll be working with, but excited to help them both :-)

To get to the community that we are working in required a bus trip from hell. We were supposed to leave Kathmandu at 8:15 a.m., but our first bus had a flat tire. Our replacement bus was pretty sketchy and lasted for about 5k before being replaced by our 3rd bus. This bus sounded like it had no break pads and a questionable life expectancy, but it made it to on current hotel (Hotel Water Tower - very descriptive 😀). Along the way we stopped at the Monkey Temple (picture included with journal entry). This temple is hundreds of years old and as the name (and pictures) suggest has hundreds of monkeys....(see pictures n Nuwakot gallery). Total travel distance was 78 kilometers, which our team leader suggested would take 4+5 hours. This amount of time seemed ridiculous to travel 78k, however, total travel time wa actually 8 hours due to extremely poor road conditions, high level of traffic and motor vehicles accidents. The roads were mountainous switchbacks, half of which were dirt and all of which were big enough for one car comfortably, although they were considered two lanes. There were no barriers between the vehicle and an often steep drop off of several hundred to thousands of feet. We did see one 18 wheeler at the bottom of a River gorge unfortunayely. Add to the road conditions are insane drivers passing at high speeds and motorcycles weaving in and out of traffic and it was quite harrowing. But we made it :-)

I fell asleep before sending this post last night. It's now 5:30am and our team meets in an hour for building orientation and then we are off to the worksite for our first day on the build!!

More to follow...

Kate

Of, forgot to mention that we had amazing views of the Himalayas during yesterday's bus ride (definitely one bright spot to that particular adventure😸)

. Today we departed for our build site in the Nuwakot region of Nepal.

Urban Nepal

katecarlson — Sun, 12 Nov 2017 21:36:00 GMT

My travel mate Judy and I just spent many hours exploring the Thamal district of Kathmandu. This is a touristy part of the city that went from fairly tame in the early morning to loud and bustling by midday. It is really easy to be run over by vehicles in these narrow streets and pedestrians are definitely seen as roadblocks 😱... I was shocked by the electrical grid (see pictures in gallery). No wonder there ate rolling blackouts throughout the day! I was heartened to see many small bowls of scraps left out for the stray dogs, which made me somewhat less stressed about their welfare.

I've uploaded some pics from our wanderings in the photo gallery.

Next on the agenda is dinner and orientation with our habitat teammates.

Kathmandu

katecarlson — Sat, 11 Nov 2017 23:36:00 GMT

Finally reached Nepal after 24+ hours of travel, 3 planes, 4 airports and traversing 3 continents. In one day I've been in the richest country im the world per capita (Qatar) and one of the poorest countries per capita (Nepal).. Kathmandu has this kind of weird kinetic vibe, with people, mopeds, stray dogs, cars and vans all jostling for space. Poverty is painfully apparent to a degree I have not seen before andnso many stray dogs roaming the streets...It is heartbreaking... Tomorrow will be time to explore more of Kathmandu before meeting !y fellow Habitat teammates for the vfirst time tomorrow evening.

Anyway, just a quick update to let folks know I've arrived safe and sound :-)

Kate

Addendum - I was not able to send my message last night but have slept 11 hours and am feeling much note human today so off to explore :-)

The journey begins

katecarlson — Fri, 10 Nov 2017 14:47:00 GMT

In four hours my trip officially begins:

Flying from
- Connecticut to Philly
- Philly to Qatar
- Qatar to Nepal

In about 28 hours I hope to be checked in to my first destination, The Holy Himalaya Hotel in Kathmandu...

This trip seemed like it was months away for months, then all of a sudden it is here. A lot like life :-)

My hopes for this trip are ~

To survive
To learn about a culture in an authentic way
To help a family by buliding a sturdy, safe home that can be used for generations to come
To see the Himalays and do some hiking
And finally to find my way back home a slightly different person than when I left.

Stay tuned...

Photos: Nepal 2017

katecarlson — Sun, 5 Nov 2017 04:24:00 GMT

Trip to Nepal