Dhading Diaries - Volunteers' D-Day

Dear Astha,

Yesterday we (me, Kristian, Johan, Ksitiz, Ankit, & Tassia) went for the field survey in Panchaling’s primary school. We demarcated the land & identified plant species that can reduce landslides there. Initially, there was some issue with getting hold of the ActionNepal contact for yesterday’s activity. He was misnomered in the contact list we were given. But we did the task ourselves anyways & it went very well. We also talked to the principle and discussed another future activity in the school, the class decoration & cleaning. Then in the evening, we had a meeting at my home & we sent an order list of materials to ActionNepal for plantation & class decoration (paints, protective gear, etc) activities. Ganesh ji responded by saying he would get back to me after talking to his team today early morning. But I received no response. I called him later today & he said that AN is trying to procure our orders but he says not all items will be available for us. He said some plant saplings like the fruit-bearing trees (mango, peach, litchi) will not be provided. We were sad to hear this because we had a robust plan to include many locally suitable plants to reduce landslide. However, they said we will only be provided 2 species of plants. Lastly, he said he will get back to us & the Fajimtar group with our order status. Actually we need all our materials before the activity day i.e. this Wednesday.

Today we distributed agriculture info calendar to 45 households. Johan & Ksitiz couldn’t join us. We all began from Ankit’s home today. Before beginning the day’s activity, First the doctor visited Tassia & diagnosed her with UTI (urinal tract infection). She is also bleeding through her urine.

She has been given few medications for that. Her other vitals are good. It hasn’t affected her endurance & she is woking fine with us. The doctor also visited Johan & gave him some medication too. He is suffering from bacterial infection in his ears & hasn’t slept or eaten well. He rested today with Ksitiz looking after him.

We then proceeded with our activity for today (calendar dist to 45HH) like yesterday it went very well. We finished quite early so after completig the task we went down the hill to help the Fajimtar group. We dont see each other often due to our different placement & action plan. But today we met them & helped them with their school cleaning pre-activity. It was hard work to remove the stones from the premise ground to make it safe for the kids. Jacqueline did well managing today’s task. She is extra concerned when it comes to school related activities. She including us were quite surprised when AN people at the HQ and at the field did not correspond to us so well, in managing logistics & giving us timely updates. But we did well there today anyways. Romisha was saying she needs to go back to kTM for a viba exam. Panchaling group returned to their households all dirty. Tassia, I, & Kristian are desperately in need of shower. We are smelling & dirty but need to go early tomorrow morning for another round of distribution. So, we will only shower later tomorrow. Since we cannot return for lunch tomorrow due to long hike due & we leave at 7am, we plan pack crackers & bananas with us.

AN hasn’t still provided us with our IDs, phone credits, map hardcopies, and water purification. Its the 3rd day now.

Yeah in a nutshell we’ve been carrying out our tasks very well. Johan’s sick & not been able to come with us. Tassia is recovering & can hike well. Kristian is the healthiest & has quite an endurance. We two have had no issues whatsoever. We read books during leisure & talk to our host family. We two get along very well. He is very humble, erudite & one of the best persons I’ve met. He is keen on Buddhism & reads on Tibet. We have been well taken care of by our family. They are very sweet. Food has been great & so is our stay & room. I dont know about other friends if theres any issues in the house.

Theres no internet connection out here & I am quite occupied with the activities so am not able to send you updates frequently. And theres so much happening I wish I could share. Though I will try to be regular & will update you on urgent matters asap. So far I am having a great experience.

Take care,
Biju
(Reporting from the Hamster house, Panchaling village, Dhading)