Middle of this month, I had a visit from my friend and former colleague, Emily. As a keen volunteer and someone who has been heavily involved in social work, she wanted to visit our project site to find out how our projects were progressing and to get a taste for the Nepalese countryside.
Early morning of June 15 Emily and I set out towards Thangpalkot in a local bus. We got off at Tipeni from where we began our walk towards the village. It was perfect walking weather–overcast, a little grey, no rains, no harsh sunshine! That, however, didn’t stop Emily from getting sun burnt!
We made our customary stop at the tea house run by Ashmita’s mom. This time, I gave her the present I had promised her: a Science book given to me by good friends in Hong Kong, a book that their daughter had used at one time! (On the way back, the mom told me how Ashmita had been pouring over the book comparing its contents to those of her own school textbooks!)
By the time we reached Thangpalkot, it was late afternoon!
On this short visit, we made a round of the new fishery ponds, paid a visit to the school, talked to a couple of the villagers etc. Emily ran a highly successful impromptu art activity with a number of students, the details about which can be found on this blog post published on COMMITTED’s blog. I wasn’t able to take part in the activity as I came down with a stomach bug and was so weakened that my afternoon was spent napping!
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The buildings are coming along really well and the project to address WASH (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene) issues at the school has also begun!
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After just two nights in the village though we decided to head back as my stomach didn’t seem to be improving–it wasn’t getting worse either, which was reassuring!
