Hello everyone! You would think with all the free time I
have I would be able to blog more…my apologies. My excuses are limited so I
will make you for them in this awesome post!
This past week has been…better! I started to “volunteer”
with the Lutheran World Federation (LWF), which is one of the 4 organizations
that work with the Bhutanese refugees in Damak. At LWF I have been going
through their “monthly reports” and “bi-annual reports” with the goal being to find what has been THE most successful thing that LWF has done in their past
25 years. It has been difficult to choose just one thing that they have done well…so I have limited it to 4
categories…which each has 3 specific things each. LWF supplies clean water and
water sanitation classes to the refugees as well as provides shelter maintenance
and camp management tools like fire safety etc. ALSO LWF does a great job
hosting and supporting various social groups within the camps such as
“Bhutanese Refugee Women’s Forum” and “Income Generating Activities” (like
mushroom farming Steph you would LOVE this and bee keeping). So as you
can see, I have found it difficult to choose just one thing. So I didn’t. To my
credit, when I was assigned this project they were specific to say that “we are
interested to know what a Westerner has to think” so there you go LWF, I cannot
choose just one great thing you have
done but 12+.
Bee Keeping, which both the Bhutanese and the host community (Nepalis) participate in as an Income Generating Activity (IGA)
Mushroom growing!!!!!
Over 70,000 mushrooms will be harvested from the ones in this hut
The honey that was made by the refugees and host community. It was SO sweet that the bees wanted a taste of it too! Sharing is caring!
Every morning I naturally wake up between 5:50am and 6:15am
where I proceed to get up and go for a run. (I swear the entire Damak community
starts working and cooking at 5:30 am—I am not sure how they do it). Like I
mentioned in my last post I have been really enjoying running along the tea
fields but recently I have discovered Beldangi road, which leads to the refugee
camps and have found myself favoring this route. It is a nice run because you
can see the foothills of the Himalayan mountains and I also see many passerbyers
on bikes heading from the refugee camps to Damak town. This morning I was on my
run and had two girls on one bike coasting next to me. We exchanged smiles, and
unlike other bikers they continued to ride along side me. I sped up my pace to
see if they would want to race me. They did. We continued to race from
telephone pole to telephone pole until the pavement turned into dirt and we had
reached the camps. Another thing that is
interesting about my morning routine is that I have become a source of
entertainment for the local women on my road. As I finish up my run I like to
conclude by doing “leg exercises” which basically mean a series of lunges. It
has become a thing that each morning I have a crowd of (mostly) women lining
the street to my apartment watching me complete my exercises. I can’t help but
wonder what they are thinking…they laugh and laugh, I’m sure they think I am
doing something super abnormal. I have come to embrace the attention because
admittedly at first I have a bit overwhelmed with it all. It is the funniest
when one of the women will see me coming down the road and she yells into her
house “Auntie, Auntie” (which means woman in Nepali) and all of her friends and
family will come running out of their houses to watch me. I am hoping to get
them to join in by the end of the week!
The shops once you reach Beldangi I Camp
Beauuuutiful flowers along the road
Yesterday (Easter Sunday), I went to an Easter Brunch hosted
by an American family who work for UNHCR. It was a great time filled with a
traditional Easter egg hunt for the children (both International and Nepali)
and a delicious feast. It is hard to come by simple ingredients that we value
so much in the USA so I really found myself enjoying some Quinoa and the leafy
green salad! (Those are on my list of “first things to eat” when I get back to
the USA). I had a fun time and it was really great to celebrate a holiday with
Nepalis who are not accustomed to our tradition. (They still don’t understand
the significance of the egg hunt…and to be honest, I do not either).
The highlight of my week culminated on Saturday when I biked
to the refugee camps to get some interviews. Because I still do not have access into the camps I am really struggling to
get any sort of substantial research to write this paper. So I took it upon
myself to get as close to the camps as I could. I woke up early and biked my way
to the first Beldangi I camp. To give you a picture: about 6k outside of Damak
town, if you drive straight down Beldangi road, you will reach the first of
three refugee camps. Along the side of the road, near to the camps, you will
find little stores selling anything from bike tires, to juices, to clothing, to
fruits and I even saw a “Facebook store” (In Nepal, they LOVE Facebook). From
my research I gained that the stores are mostly owned by Nepali families but
are frequented by Bhutanese who leave the camps to buy things (like bike tires,
juices and even Facebook?). I got off my bike once I reached the area of the
camp in order to make myself less intimidating. And I think it worked! Walking
my bike down the road I was chirped by a boy who said “Hello, where are you
going?! I turned around and smiled and said “just walking”. I knew he must be
confident with his English (or at least some what) to chirp at me so I walked
over and we struck up a conversation. This boy was a 14-year-old Nepali and his
name was Praswal. He was hanging out with his grandmother and grandfather who
owned the shop that we were sitting at. We got talking and he explained a lot
about the positive relationship that the Nepalis have with the Bhutanese
refugees. “I have many Bhutanese friends. They are just like me and we play
futbol together. They live in the camps and I live out here but we are still
friends”. This was a great start to my time. I continued along the way and met
many more people similar to Praswal and even more Bhutanese that were outside
of the camps. It was really great to get out and explore and get some of my
lingering questions answered. Although I did not get into the camps there are no rules about me conducting research
outside of the camps!
Khada B. Shrestha (60+ years old) crushing up banana tree for live-stock feed
Ros Maya Shrestha (50+ years old) the Shop keeper of this store
Praswal Shrestha and his grandmother, Ros Maya Shrestha
Bhumi, Ujjwal Moktan, and his daughter
The whole family (Bhumi, Kala, Mona Lisa and Ujjwal Moktan)
The photo shoot was never ending
This was a Bhutanese and Nepali mixed family. Uggwal Moktan (Bhutanese) married his wife (Nepali) and now they live in this Nepali house outside the camps
Beautiful woman I met on my walk along Beldangi road. She force fed me her last piece of roasted maize and we tried to have a conversation--her only speaking Nepali and me only speaking English
And then the whole family came
This family was having me take photo after photo of this little child making this same face hahah
Two boys wanting to be photographed (side note: Angry birds is THE biggest thing in rural Nepal)
This little boy was playing in the ally way with a bamboo stick--completely enjoying his life! Simplicity.
As much as I wanted not to take this photo I couldn't resist. Look at the lower left hand corner...that is the skin of the "buff" cow.
Then I was swarmed by Nepali and Bhutanese children. So fun!
This game was being played everywhere around the camps. It is the same thing as pool just without sticks and you use your fingers to push the chips instead.
This is Beepan Bacoas. He REALLY wanted to talk to me and get his photograph taken. He is an 18 year old Bhutanese refugee and hopes to be resettled to the USA soon.
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