Waiting for Gas

We are now in the third month of this blockade. We wrote at the end of September about how the Nepali border with India had been closed. Nepal is landlocked and so depends very heavily on India for pretty much all its imports.

Queuing for kerosene...

A lot of people have now run out of cooking gas and so are cooking on wood fires – the air is noticeably smoggier.

Petrol is being sold in very limited amounts. What petrol there is being prioritised to schools, hospitals, buses and government agencies.

Shop shelves are looking sparse as all imported goods start to run out.

Electricity is erratic as those who can afford it have bought electric induction plates and other similar things for cooking and are stretching the system. From tomorrow our regularly scheduled power cuts will increase to 8 and 9 hours a day due to the increased electric usage. Although the fuel shortage has meant a number of business have shut down, reducing some power usage, so it could be worse.

The black market is doing a roaring trade though. Roads are not as quiet as we thought they would be, so some petrol is getting through, but is reportedly costing 3 or 4 times the normal price and gas bottles are about 5 times the normal price.

... on our route to school.

The government has allowed gas distributors to sell half full bottles – but transporting them is the next challenge. Our local store apparently has half full gas bottles about 2 hours outside Kathmandu, but the distributors won’t deliver them due to petrol shortages and fears for their own safety.  

We heard of one local organisation that had a supply of partly used gas bottles ready for their heaters this winter, but decided to “raffle” them off to staff who had none for cooking. There was apparently much dancing and celebrating from those who won! KISC has made the decision to not use any gas to heat this year and just keep what we’ve got to keep cooking lunches for staff and students.

So as the weather turns cold here most people are preparing themselves for a cold and grim winter with no fuel, but the bigger danger now is that there is also a big shortage of medicines and vaccines putting many at risk if they have an accident or become ill. This does not count those who lost everything in the April and May earthquakes here and haven’t received the aid they need to get them through the winter – much of it is in country, but can’t be delivered to rural areas due to fuel shortages.

The Nepali people are tough and they are resilient, but they have had a tough year and they deserve a break. People are suffering, people who have already survived two massive earthquakes and hundreds of terrifying aftershocks, people who have buried their loved ones, who have lost homes and possessions.

It is so frustrating to be here in Nepal and feel completely helpless. Please join us in praying that a resolution will be found to this situation quickly.

Outward Bound

Going up hill through paddy fields.

Last week was KISC’s annual activity week. We have blogged about this before, here and here.

This year, I (Dan) got to complete my full set. I have now been involved in Primary Activity Week (last year), Year 8 (Chitwan jungle in 2008), Year 9 (House building in 2010), Year 10 (Outward Bound resort in 2011), Year 11 (Work Experience visits in 2012), Year 13 (International trip to Thailand in 2009) and now, the full set: Trekking with Year 7.

Despite the ongoing full crisis (see previous blogs here and here), we were able to carry on as normal and our students spread out around the country. I boarded the bus with nineteen Year 7 students, three Year 12 junior leaders and four other teachers at 6am last Monday and we journeyed for 8 hours west to beyond Pokhara. We actually stopped in Pokhara to pickup our trekking team and all the gear. Alongside the 27 of us from KISC we had a support team of 36! 20 Porters to carry our main bags, tents and other camp resources, 7 sherpas/guides plus one head guide and 7 kitchen assistants (who doubled as porters for all the kitchen stuff and most of the food for the week) and head cook.

Trying to be a porter, for 1 minute

Our initial reaction was this seemed like an awful lot of people, but we realised what a blessing this was. With the earthquakes earlier in the year and ongoing fuel situation both impacting tourism significantly we were providing an income to these guys. I got chatting to one of the porters one day and he was telling me his story. He was a cook at a hotel in Pokhara but due to the lack of gas to cook with he hadn’t had work and had to take this work as a porter, this was his first trek. His home had been significantly damaged in the earthquake and he has had to rebuild this year, no doubt taking loans to help, and now the lack of work. We shared photos of our children and wives on our phones and he took plenty of selfies with his new friend.

The ‘support team’ did a great job. Each morning we were woken from our tents with tea at 6am, then a bowl of warm water to wash with, followed by breakfast. As we ate breakfast the porters were loading up the bags and packing up the tents (each porter took 3-4 teachers and students bags). We then headed off each day for our trek. Usually after about 30 minutes or so the porters with the dinning tent and tables and the kitchen crew with all their gear stormed past us, usually in flip flops.

Camp

We walked

for between 4 and 7 hours each day. Stopping for a cooked lunch as we caught up with the kitchen crew around the middle of the day. Tuesday was a tough day due to overnight rain and an abundance of leeches and slippery steps. On Wednesday a smaller group of five year 7 students, one year 12, three teachers and two guides broke off to reach the summit of Panchese at 2,500 metres, while the rest took the flatter route to lunch.  The summit just about gave us good views as the clouds shifted around us, but we got fabulous views from our campsite on the last day.

Friday morning view from our campsite

Friday we returned to Kathmandu on another 8 hour bus ride. Tired, but with a great sense of achievement for both us teachers, but mostly for the young students who knew what they had achieved and overcome during a great week.

Holiday at Home

This past two weeks has been a break for the big Hindu festival of Dashain (think Christmas). School has been closed and we’ve enjoyed our break. We were supposed to go to Pokhara for a week, 200 kilometres west of Kathmandu, however due to the continuing fuel crisis we elected to stay home.

While we probably could have got there and back it wasn’t a guarantee and we didn’t really want to risk it with the uncertainty that continues to surround the situation. While there is some fuel and gas getting through the border now it is still a trickle compared to the normal amount that comes through and the concern is now for a humanitarian crisis in the areas affected by the earthquake.

The riding crew

But apart from our holiday we are still not significantly affected. We can afford the increased food costs, we’ve got enough gas to last us a while and we have been experimenting with all the things you can cook in a rice cooker (turns our quite a bit – this week we’ve had banana cake, biryani, pasta, soda bread amongst other things)

So instead of holiday away, this week we’ve holidayed at home. On Tuesday we went with 3 other families and our BMS Action team (a gap year program) to a forest resort about 10 miles south of us. Due to the fuel crisis finding vehicles to take us there was always going to prove difficult, so about 14 of us, including a number of upper primary aged children, cycled the 10 miles, mostly up hill, to the bottom of the resort before walking the 30 minutes up the steep hill. The 14 others squished into two taxis (plus drivers) which cost about 4 times the normal price, but allowed the young kids and those who didn’t fancy the ride to get out there. Once at the top of the resort we made a fire, had a picnic lunch and enjoyed toasted marshmallows, a wide game and a day outside the city. The return journey on the bikes mainly involved brakes and very little cycling and took less than half the time!

Enjoying Picnic with friends and Action Teamers

Thursday we visited the zoo. We’ve been there many times, but it’s always fun for the kids, especially when we go with friends, and the BMS Action team.

Then Friday we decided to hike out to Chobar, a small town on a hill about 3 miles south west of us. Both kids walked the whole way, with plenty of up and down hills, as we walked there and back with another family and of course the BMS action team! A third family cycled out there and we enjoyed a picnic, games and some cricket before the hike back.

So while we didn’t get to go away, we’ve enjoyed our holiday at home, kept active and managed to get out of the city a little bit. Next week it’s back to school.

Closed for Business

This past week the border between Nepal and India has been closed causing a lot of problems and concerns here in Nepal. As a landlocked country Nepal relies heavily on India for many essential supplies, especially as the land routes to China were damaged in the earthquake. Most notably cooking gas (which comes in cylinders, not piped to houses), petrol and diesel.

Prices for everyday essentials such as fruits and vegetables are rising rapidly, something that we personally can afford temporarily, but many here don’t have any extra cash. There are huge queues for petrol or diesel – people are queuing overnight and the government has introduced vehicle restrictions so people can only use their vehicles every other day depending on their number plate. A bonus is that the roads are pretty quiet! We are aware of restaurants closing temporarily and even schools that can’t run buses, so some have closed.

Not too many of these full at the minute

Kathmandu airport has stopped refuelling international flights as they only have a few days’ supply of aviation fuel left. So international carriers have to carry enough fuel to get back out again. We understand that most have made arrangements to land in airports close to Nepal and refuel there before continuing onto Nepal, although one airline has already cancelled all flights to Nepal.

I even heard today that all the Indian TV channels have been taken off air within Nepal.

So why is this happening? To be honest we are not 100% sure, although this New York Times article has a good summary. India has denied enforcing a blockade, but much of the coverage here in Nepal is blaming India. India says that it is protestors down on the Terai who are not happy with the constitution blocking the boarder.

The big Hindu festival of Dashain is in two weeks’ time (Nepal’s equivalent of Christmas) when half the country travel back to their villages to see their families. Obviously at this time of year there is a lot of extra expense to buy the special food needed, many often get new clothes and now there is worry that buses won’t even be running.

This is also a big trekking season, one of Nepal’s big incomes, and if tourists can’t get in or to the trekking routes then that is another huge blow for the Nepal economy which has already suffered enough this year.

With Dashain so close we hope it will get resolved quickly and the fears of not having gas to cook or food to eat will become a memory. Please pray with us for the Nepali people, that this gets sorted quickly and fairly, that they will not be forced to endure more hardships this year of all years, after already enduring an Earthquake.

STOP PRESS: We've just read that some trucks have been allowed over the border, at least according to this article. Still, keep praying as it's only a start.

Constitution Day

Today is a momentous day in the history of Nepal. After 7 years and 4 months (nearly our entire time in Nepal), a democratically elected body has written a new constitution for Nepal. At 5pm today Nepal time (12:15 BST) the President will declare the commencement of the new constitution. This whole week the parliament has been voting through the various articles of the constitution. Just over 500 of the 600 members of the parliament voted in favour, one party abstained from all voting and another, the party in favour of a return to the monarchy, voted against.

The BBC has a good article covering the complexities of how the nation is feeling. Of course there are many who are happy to have a new constitution and many who are disappointed with part or all of it. It is not really our place to dissect and comment on individual elements of it, but we are pleased that Nepal does now have a constitution after such a long time trying. We are praying that this will be the start of a new dawn for Nepal and that the focus can now move from constitution writing to strong governance which we hope will help improve the lot of the average Nepali.

We are hoping too for peace. The BBC article explains about some of the violence and protests t

hat have been ongoing during the last few weeks (and indeed for the last seven years) as people who are unhappy with elements of the constitution or their representation within it seek change. Now that it is finalised we hope that these elements will seek democratic solutions to these problems.

The government has declared today and tomorrow a Public holiday to celebrate and honour the new constitution. So we are enjoying a long weekend and will raise a glass and say a prayer for the nation that has been our home through this whole process.

EQUIP Visit

with Khim and Simon outside the district hospital

This past week I (Dan) travelled with my colleague Simon, former ICT teacher and new ICT teacher trainer, out to a rural part of Nepal called Lamjung to visit one of the projects of KISC EQUIP, the teacher training branch of KISC. Lamjung is about 150km (and a 7 hour bus ride) to the West of Kathmandu and only 30km from the epicentre of April’s earthquake. However, as most of the force of the quake went East there was very little damage evident even compared to Kathmandu which was more than 100km from the epicentre.

EQUIP works with a number of schools in the Lamjung area, and the EQUIP team had already been there for 5 days by the time we showed up. This visit included following up on trainings given on their last visit, classroom observations of teachers, giving out scholarships, setting up classroom libraries and doing some trainings.

The hospital walls were painted with simple health advice such as on how and why to wash your hands 
and this one which says "Lets brush our teeth well"

KISC works in Lamjung because of its connection to the region through the district hospital. This is run by HDCS, the Nepali NGO which also owns KISC. So the first thing that happened was that Khim Kandel, the head of EQUIP and fellow Director of KISC, took us to the hospital where we were showed round by two doctors, one Nepali and one American. The American is a former KISC parent as he and his wife had spent 18 months in Kathmandu learning language before moving to Lamjung. Their eldest daughter had attended KISC during that time. It was great to see the impact of KISC again in this way, knowing that we’d been able to support this family while they prepared for their role in this important district hospital.

Walking to school

The Nepali doctor explained that this hospital was the only one in the district and served 40,000 outpatients a year. Many patients lived in the rural areas around and would walk for up to 2 days to get to this hospital. While many of these rural areas are now served by local health posts, these are obviously not enough for villagers that need significant care. They also proudly showed us their maternity unit. The Infant mortality rate in Nepal is still quite high and so the government is giving 4,000 Nepal rupees (about £25) to mothers who do 4 anti-natal visits and give birth in the hospital – a significant incentive. The hospital had about 1200 mothers give birth last year. The visit to the hospital concluded with the obligatory Masala Chiyaa (Nepali spiced tea) in the courtyard as we discussed the state of healthcare in Nepal.

Line up in the school yard.

Khim reading with a student, new classroom library
behind them

The next day it was time to visit one of the local Nepali schools. This school was about an hour’s walk from the town we were staying in and was situated in a small village nestled in a scenic valley. As we walked to the village we passed a number of young people in school uniform heading towards the town we were leaving. These were children who attended one of the private schools in the town rather than staying in the village to go to the government school we were visiting. Last year just under 50% of 16 year olds passed their School Leaving certificate, but that figure was significantly lower in government schools. Khim shared the story of one young girl he knew of from the village who walked the 2 hour round trip 3 times a day to visit market to sell milk in the morning and evening as well as attend school. It highlighted to us the urgency of EQUIP's work helping to improve the government schools so that parents feel they can send their children to the local school rather than spending money they don’t really have and requiring their children to travel long distances (many travel much further than a 2 hour round trip) to attend private schools which are barely better resourced than the government schools.

The school started with line-up in the courtyard and approximately 150 students who ranged from pre-Kindergarten up to Grade 10 (16 years old) spread out across the grass courtyard and were then lead through some simple drilled exercises before singing the national anthem. After this we met with the principal and then headed to grade 3 where we were giving the school a classroom library. These small libraries which are very light weight contain about 30 age-appropriate books for the students. Khim explained to the students how to care for the books and got one child to read to the class before helping them think about the benefits of reading. He encouraged them to keep a record of how much they read and promised a prize on his next visit to the child who had read the most.

The "ICT Lab"

After this we went to check out the school’s ICT lab. This consisted of 6 rather dusty computers that wouldn’t have looked out of place in a lab 15 years ago. None of them were working so Simon and I set about getting them working. For the most part this just consisted of connecting them up, but Simon also managed to fix one that wasn’t working at all. The next question was what to do with them now they were working, that is something the Nepal government are working on and will become Simon’s job in his new role as ICT teacher trainer.

Some of the EQUIP team with the Principal and grateful
mothers of  scholarship recepients

Our final task of the day was to give out scholarships. Even though this is a government school there are still costs involved, such as uniform, stationary, exam fees and a few other additional costs. These scholarships were only about £50 for the year, but this is a significant amount of money for many of these families who live hand to mouth. The families showed their appreciation by decking each of us with a Maalaa, a garland of flowers, a traditional symbol of appreciation in Nepal. The six of us who visited that school looked rather fetching as we posed for photos with the parents.

The next day we visited a second school and this one followed a similar pattern, and we also got to see a training on “Checking for Understanding”, given by one of the EQUIP Nepali teacher trainers. It was really great to see these guys who we know from around KISC in their natural environment, working with Nepali teachers to improve the quality of education across Nepal. It was a great trip and one I am very thankful to have been able to be part of.

A New School Year

Walking to school in the Monsoon

We are now into the third week of our new school year.

We're yet to feel settled into a regular routine as a family yet (or maybe that's just me figuring out how my routine works around everyone else's!), but it has been a good start.

Dan is finally breathing easy again after a manic two weeks beforehand getting everything ready, with the added pressure of still having urgent staffing needs. KISC was able to recruit a primary class teacher the day before staff started back and she was already in country and ready to start the next day! An English teacher arrived this week from the UK and is able to teach the exam classes. Ideally they would love to have a second English teacher, but can manage with non specialists teaching the junior classes. The Secondary principal formally took over at the start of term and so Dan is feeling like he can get on with his own job rather then everyone else's (especially now he's not covering year 11 English!).

Sam is loving year 2 and his new schedule. They have shortened the school day from 8.10-3 to 8.10-2.10 with optional clubs from 2.10-3.10 Monday-Thursday. So Sam is enjoying Nepali, Art, Chess and Motor skills clubs each day after school. Mim is doing well too, enjoying being back with her friends at preschool - but with half an eye looking forward to being at KISC in one year!

I have carried on teaching year 7 geography, and have also taken on some ESL. I'm still finding my feet with the ESL, but looking forward to getting more into it. Life is also busy as I coordinate with fellow BMSer, Wendy Hall, for this year's BMS Action Team. We will be jointly responsible for 4 girls aged 18-21 for 6 months from October-March as they volunteer here in several local organisations as part of their gap years.

Wendy, and her husband, Simon, will be taking the bulk of this responsibility though as we take our home leave this Christmas. We will be back in the UK from 19 Dec - 2nd March. After 7 1/2 years in Nepal this will be our first "normal" home leave with no babies or masters degrees! We are available for speaking engagements from 9th January - 24th February. If you would like us to speak at your church or related activity while we are back then you need to get in touch with BMS church relations team by 14 September to book us in.