ItTakes A Village (and a Vision)-Upper Mustang School part 2

We walked down the long, twisting path from the Eco Lodge, where we stay when in Astam. This beautiful trail winds through jungle, with spectacular views of the Annaspurnas, villagers working their fields, and on the other side, glimpses of the neatly laid out valley below. It would save us $3,000 rupees to walk the 2 hours instead of hiring a jeep to go down.
For the last two days, I've woken up to the Annapurna Himalayas towering over all, whispy bits of snow blowing off the top, and the occasional clouds floating by. The weather has been a perfect temperature for hiking-which we did much of yesterday. There really isnt much choice up here in Astam village for mode of transportation than your feet, but walking offers time to absorp the village life, meet children who come out to stare at us and offer their Namastes, and peek into the occasional shrine.
My first job was to meet with the committee. This was the group of 3 teachers, our Mustang contact Tashi and Bishow, to sketch out our ideas for the new school. The vision is a large one-this project will be more than one year, with several classroom buildings, plus a building for a kitchen and dining area, sleeping quarters for the students and a room for the adults/teachers who accompany the children. I balked at the size, and we made considerations for our budget, but everyone felt it would be better to think long term with this project-and start small. HANDS in Nepal is committing to help build the first building, which will house two classrooms. We will continue to fundraise and support the additional building of the school, along with Logged On Foundation and Amrit Treks.  As we sat outdoors with the inspiring Annapurnas as our backdrop, the mutual energy for making our visioni a reality was infectious. Bishow sketched out his idea of a desing where the classrooms make a boundary with an inner playground. I liked the idea of starting one clssroom buildng at a time, allowing us the needed time to make this project viable and possible.
The next day I hiked with Didi Patty, Kelsang, our new Aussie friend Peter out to Kalika, where we did a room addition for a new library and computer lab. It was exciting to see the strong, freshly painted wall, the pretty green shutters on the windows, and inside the books shelves with glass doors that we had made. In additin were tables that HANDS paid for and trucked up (with Kelsang in the back, holding everything together!) and a computer and a printer from Mark of Logged ON. Very exciting to see the finished product. Now we will need to bring up books, one trip at a time, to fill those pretty (but empty) shelves.
I am asking our field director, Jake Peters, to post the photos I took of the land, the new addition to the Kalika school and our meeting at Eco Lodge on our web page. This might be a week before it happens, but I hope, if you are reading this, you will go on to handsinnepal and take a look-this is going to be a "beautiful thing" as our friend Bishow says.
For now, many Namastes, and many thank you's for reading this-and for your support.
Tashi Deleks,
Didi Jan

Visualize A School? Part One

Tashi, grew up in the remote Upper Mustang region of Nepal, an area that shares a border with Tibet. He is a school teacher. He understands the importance of getting an education, of being literate and having knowledge of the world beyond your mountain range. Now in his 60's, with a small shop in Pokhara of Tibet-Buddhist items, he is passionate about helping to educate a group of  some 40 Mustang children who come down from the mountains each year to continue their education during the harsh  Mustang winters.
A brief history of Mustang. This is a region of northern Nepal, deep in the Annapurna Himalayas and sharing a border with Tibet. It has had its own King and Queen in the past, and shares the same Tibetan brand of Buddhism as Tibet. His Holiness the 4th Dalai Lama is every bit as important to them as to their neighbors to the north. And they share with Tibetans life in an extreme environment-Upper Mustang is impassable half of the year, and roads are more like foot paths traveresd by porters and hardy mountain ponies to bring in supplies.
Normally, school simply ends during the long snowy winters in Mustang. It is too cold to go out, and children must wait for spring thaw. But, says Tashi, they often "forget" what they have learned when school sessions are so short. Traveling down the mountain each winter, they board at a rented building outide Pokhara, a lakeside town with much more mild climate. Here, they sleep on the floor, and hold school outside. Teachers accompany the children during their winter hiatus at their outdoor school. Their dream is to someday have a building they call their own, for school and sleeping.
We walked the land today, land that the adults of these children banned together to buy. That was 4 and a half years ago, when they pooled their resources to acquire a loan to buy the land that would someday hold the school they seek. Birds chirped wildly from the jungle backdrop, and there were occassional monkey whoops. We were far from any man-made noise. Wildflowers topped with white butterflies were everywhere. Tashi tied pages of newspaper to the tops of bushes at the four corners of the land so we could see the boundaries. I had brought my friend Patty, who had just finished a trek in the Annapurnas to celebrate her 69th birthday, and my Tibetan side-kick Kelsang Lodue with me to survey the land. We all felt a sense of peace and didn't want to leave.
Sun warmed our shoulders, we felt dozey in the morning heat, the sounds of wildlife and beauty of the area made it seem like an ideal place for children to learn. What a wonderful respite from freezing Mustang winters! I could visualize the school building designed to fit this plot of land, making maximum use of the space. We chatted about the dimensions of the school, and how we could decorate the outer walls with murals of the natural beauty that surrounded us. Now we were had the dream! These people with so little materially could somehow purchase this land and keep their vision clear. Standing on the land, it became more clear to me how this was so.
For now, I am asking you to try to visulaize this school as well-while I try to post the photos I took today. Maybe there's something to this visualization! 

Tashi Deleks Amma La and Namaste!

The hailstorm that pounded the lawn and gardens outside the cafe at Rogkp, in Boudha, Kathmandu, was a big surprise. I expected the usual dry, hot, dusty Spring time weather, but now was wondering how I would keep warm in the villages wearing cotton skirts and tees. Today the clouds piled up again and then let loose with rolling thunder, or as my Tibetan friend Karma would say, "sky dragon talking". I wondered how the children who sit in fields to attend school were doing in this unusual climate.
Yes, there are schools here that have no walls, no desks, no benches to sit on or even water for drink. Or toilet. Yet there it was in today's Himalayan Times, a photo of children sitting in neat rows their books on their laps, having school outdoors, where they hold it every day. The newspaper article went on to report that Adarsha Saraswoti Primary School has 150 students attending it, but instead of classrooms the children carry mats from home that they sit on all day. What happens when kids get thirsty? "They have to walk all the way home to drink water," said one teacher interviewed in the article.
This is actually not the first time I've heard of this in Nepal. Many remote areas in these Himalayan areas are difficult to build in, or the authorities who can help put up their hands with a "Ke Karne?" gesture- translated as, "what to do?"
At least we've been successful in getting four schools built and functioning, plus 2 libraries through our HANDS in Nepal org.  Children in these villages have more than mats now to further their education along.
Today I met Tashi, a softly spoken Mustang Tibetan who has asked for help in building a school on land where currently the children from his homeland sit outdoors, same as the children at the Adarsha school and other outdoor schools like them in remote areas of Nepal. I am guessing when the rains fall, or the wind howls, or the sun is pounding on you, school is cancelled, which makes me wonder how any schooling is achieved at all in the outdoor scenario.
Tashi Deleks, by the way, is the Tibetan greeting, sort of a "I wish you all the best, to your family and future."
After meeting with Tashi today to discuss the palns to bring the outdoor school for Mustang Tibetans "indoors," through a HANDS in Nepal school building, I feel hopeful-for at least these children the sun, rain and wind won't dictate whether or not their education continues.
Yea, "Tashi Deleks, Amma la and everyone!"

On To Nepal-Mustang-Tibetan School Trip 2015

Namaste Everyone!
I am leaving April 1 to begin exploring our new project-a school and dormitory for school children who migrate down to the Pokhara Valley. Jake Peters, our man in the field, who was visiting our school projects last winter, discovered the children and adults who care for them while in Astam. What he found out was beautifully written about on Jake's blog, and has been transcribed to our HANDS in Nepal web site at www.handsinnepal.org. I hope you take the time to visit our web site and read Jake's story-as well as his video of the children singing and dancing for him.
This trip takes us a huge step forward towards helping the Mustang-Tibetan group realize their dream of a school...and a place to sleep.  Education is front and center to people who live on the land-and seldom have the opportunity to learn to read and write. Add to that the possibility of bringing computers and the internet to this group, as our friend Mark Pinoli of Logged On is working on.
 This is not a solo endeavor of HANDS. For the first time we are partnering with others who also care about helping children of the Himalayas. We are excited to join hands with like-minded orgs who feel like we at HANDS in Nepal that education is the greatest gift you can give people who are asking for help out of poverty. Please check-in as I begin the first leg of this project by flying over to Nepal to meet with the people, visit the land and plan out the details of this project.

Namaste and thank you so much for your support, love and help!