It was appropriate that our first field trip was to Dharding
district, close to the epicentre of last April’s earthquake. We left Kathmandu
at 7 am in a project 4x4 vehicle accompanied by our German guest from Bread For
the World, a knowledgeable nepali colleague of Roger’s and our excellent driver. After negotiating
the usual heavy traffic and sheer drops of the road leaving the city, we
stopped to look at some mushroom growing projects. We then travelled off road
down dirt tracks that seemed far too narrow for a vehicle to pass until we
stopped in front of a buffalo shelter by a little farmhouse looking out onto an
idyllic little valley with green irrigated terraces set against the dry, wooded
towering hills. I am still not able to put weight on my foot but a chair was
brought for me and I sat in the shade overlooking the valley, drinking tea,chatting
and eating the fresh cucumbers brought by the farmers who were in the middle of
harvesting them. I also talked to lots of villagers passing by and the
conversation was usually about my plaster cast and how many children I had and
they had and what were were doing up in their village today. I also saw some
beautiful birds, so although we had not been able to set up educational visits
due to the school holidays, I was so glad I had made the effort to go on the
trip.
It was shocking to
see that almost every home had been damaged by the earthquake and repair work
had still not been started, with tarpaulins and corrugated iron sheets plugging
gaps in walls a whole year after the big quake.
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