The wild Far West

We have recently returned from 8 days in the Far West where I was monitoring schools and meeting with partner staff and Roger was finding out at first hand what  effect climate change is having  on poor farmers in this vulnerable region just south of the Himalayas

Machapuchre and the Annapurnas as seen from the plane

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one of our computer labs in a remote school

We flew to Dhangadi airport in the extreme South West of the country and were rewarded with the most spectacular views of the entire Himalayan range from Khathmandu to the extreme west of Nepal. Tibet is just the other side of the mountains , which are so high that our little plane was well below the summits. On arrival we travelled by jeep for several hours to reach our first school. travelling with us was the generous donor who was funding our TAP computer labs and also the Nepal Director of a well known computer company who was providing all the software for the schools.
As well as monitoring how the students were learning computer skills, I also had a chance to talk with teachers about the impact of the trainings they have had on child friendly learning. It was good to see the younger students sitting on carpet instead of concrete floors, with posters on the walls and children being taught more actively, rather than just be rote learning. However, in these remote government schools there is so much to do and the pace of school improvement seems very slow. The key to sustainability is the involvement of the whole community, including the school management committee. The parents in these communities do not have the means to send their children to the private schools so they have a keen interest in improving their local school, even when resources are so scarce.

Children getting a snack in the street after school

We had great welcomes in the schools with Malas( necklaces ) of marigold flowers and speeches. The head teachers were keen to have feedback on how their school was progressing and I was able to give the teachers some help with  teaching and learning , but the best part was talking with the students. Students of all ages are keen to learn here and their parents, many of whom can only writ etheir name , value education highly.

young students in child friendly classroom

The terain in Bhajang district in the far west is towering hills and deep valleys with few roads. To reach one school we had to walk for four hours straight up hill with a three hour walk back in the afternoon. We also met with farmers groups who told us about the effect the changing climaate was having on their lives. It was well worth the effort and we slept well that night!

Walking to a remote school

Life here is still very  traditional

We stayed in different local hotels but my favourite was a traditional stone  and thatch guesthouse with no electricity or running water. it was an hour each day round trip to fetch water but we had excellent food and the landlady was so welcoming. One solar panel on the thatched roof provided lighting and to my suprise we slept really well.. 

The air was so clean compared with the city and at night the stars were amazing, recalling Psalm 8 .

The kitchen at the guesthouse-the young goats are left behind when their mothers are out feeding in the forest

Overall the Far West seems similar to our life in Pokhara 20 years ago, with friendly people, and a very  traditional way of life. However the constant striving of the ordinary people for a better life for themselves and their  children is something that we can all empathise with.

Tihar-the festival of lights

We have just returned to work after the  4 day Tihar festival holiday. In India this hindu festival is known as diwali and is second only to dasain in importance in the hindu calandar.

Tihar market in the street on the way to work

 The first day is Kaag tikka when crows and other birds are worshipped by having food left out for them.

Kaag (crow ) food left out for the birds

Ladies making marigold malas

This is followed by kukur tikka, the day when dogs throughout Nepal are worshipped with good food, malas( flower garlands around the neck) and tikka ( coloured powder on the forehead). The dogs are worshipped so they will continue to guard homes in the coming year. We saw many dogs like this one  so full of food that they were just lying in the sun dozing all the afternoon of kukur tika.

A very full dog who cannot finish all his tihar meal

The third day of tihar is gai tikka when all cows, are worshipped with extra food, malla and tikka . Cows are sacred here, hindus believe them to be an incarnation of the goddess laxmi ( the goddess of wealth and prosperity). The cows wander freely about although they are supposed to be restricted to outside the ring road. Often they can be found lying down in the road as busy traffic swerves to avoid them. The penalties for killing a cow are severe and their meat is  forbidden food for a hindu.

Happy cow with mala and tikka on her special day!

In the evening of gai tika there is great excitement as homes are decorated with multiple candles, and sometimes with electric lights.This diwali when a trail of footprints is drawn from outside in the street into the house to show the goddess laxmi the way in. Mandelas (circular patterns of coloured powder ) are painstakingly drawn outside the houses , with flowers and candles for worship (puja). A trail of red mud mixed with cow dung ( rato mato ) is laid into the house since the cow is sacred. devout hindus also sprinkle cows urine in their homes. Firecrackers and fireworks are let off in the streets and groups of girls go singing and dancing from door to door.
There is special puja ( worship) in the temples for Tihar.
Many churches also have special Christian programmes at this time since everyone gets at least 4 days of holiday. It is a happy festival with families reunited and lots of feasting.

Mandela, candles and rato mato path  leading into a house 

The final day of tihar is Bhai tikka when sisters worship their brothers with tikka and malla and gifts of dried fruit and nuts are traditionally given. Some siblings travel long distances ot meet up and feast on this day.I would be happier if the sisters also got worshipped by their brothers but this is not the case in such a male dominated society. I read recently that 11.5% of Nepali women were married before they were 14 and 21% have been  deprived of education due to their early marriage when they would have preferred to continue their schooling. Of course, early marriage ,and child labour, happened in the UK too, only a couple of hundred years ago but it does not make it right.

It is good that the government has now raised the legal age for marriage to 20 years and has good policies in place to stop child labour. However, 41% f the nepali population are children below 16 years and 34% of all nepali children are engaged in some kind of work on a regular basis. As always here, there is a considerable gap between the policies and the reality.
Our project work on improving girls enrollment and attendance at school is part of a move here to give girls better life chances by keeping them in school to continue their education.for longer. Incidentally, girls who marry young (and give birth between 15 and 20 years) are twice as likely to die in childbirth compared with those who do not marry until age 20. Poor nutrition and rudimentary health care make childbirth a very hazardous event in many remote areas. Allowing a girl to continue her education for longer can therefore sometimes even save her life!