Namaskaar,
English is
diverse, though it lacks a simplicity that provides more depth in conveying
what you are trying to say in fewer words.
Living in a trilingual environment this fact resonates with me
more. For example, there are many words
in different languages for snow or rain that are more poetic than the everyday
word. Or there are sounds, conjugations,
or conjuctions that can be added to the end or part of most words to either
alter the meaning or to give respect to the person you are talking to. In Nepal, in the city, one often says Namaste
as a greeting to each other, and in the village, which is more traditional and
respectful, you are more likely to hear Namaskaar.
So I greet you
all, close friends and family, with Namaskaar.
I hope this letter receives you all well and I hope if time permits
itself for you to reply, I would love to hear a catch up from your end of the
world. It does not matter the place, the
time, the usual or unusualness of the circumstance. Each day is important, and it is the act of
recognizing this that proves this so.
When we are abroad or away from home in an unfamiliar environment, we
are drawn to recognize the fact that our time is borrowed and beautiful more
easily.
While in Nepal,
do I think about other places in the world?
Certainly. Hawai'i, New York,
California, Australia, Israel, Spain.
Friends, Family, Landscapes, memories of them all come through like
waves. Do I wish I was anywhere else
right now? Not at all. This has been a very eventful month, full of
many things that I once dreamed about. I
have this hill, Sunapati, behind our house overlooking the village that takes
about 30 minutes to walk up to. I try to
go most mornings and catch the sunrise.
I do not fear tigers, though they are said to take the occasional
goat. The colors that are spread across
the Himalayas in the distance, towering over the world at 7000 Meters, and the
clouds that sweep there way through the valley, are breathtaking (or maybe it
is the temperature that steals the carbon dioxide from my exhales).
Afterwards I walk
back to the house I am living in with one other American and 6 Israelis and we
have coffee or tea with buffalo milk which is picked up from a nearby neighbor
(nearby is relative, everything here is a good walk away) each morning, and if
hungry, a delicious, simple breakfast to start the day. We are living in a village that takes around
8 hours to get to Kathmandu, through walking, jeep, walking, public buses,
microbus. And though we bring some
vegetables with us, most is bought, traded, or gifted from what is available in
our gardens, neighbors, or the local
Pasal (shop). The Pasal, on a good day,
as in there is no strike in Nepal, will have eggs, flour, rice and
lentils. We eat what is in season as far
as fruits and vegetables go, and we have enough to make the traditional Nepali
meal, Daal Baat, eaten by locals twice a day (Rice, Daal (soupy lentils),
Tarkaari (Vegetables cooked in turmeric, curry, coriander, salt, garlic, chili). And when ingredients are available, we will
have Saag (cooked greens) and Archar (spicy chutney flavored differently
depending on what vegetables or fruits you use). Also corn flour and white flour is available,
and with our Israeli "wonder pot," besides chapati, we have been able
to bake Corn Bread, Challahs, No Knead Breads, Pitas, Cakes and more.
I have been
eating extremely well in a remote place that is not "economically
thriving," though the quality of life is high. The educational system, job opportunity,
women's rights are not very developed and we are here not to change tradition,
but to assist in bettering the villagers in holistic ways. We are working with the youth, the women, the
schools and the farmers.
So far in
Agriculture we are forming 2 new groups to help set up satelite farms and
provide trainings. Another group we have
already begun trainings. And the last
group we have set up a demo farm showing different trials of traditional vs.
modern planting. We are practicing and
training in the benefits of crop rotation, growing diversity, spacing and watering,
building nurseries, applying compost and liquid manures, organic insecticides,
and animal husbandry. We have tapped into
a local spring and have brought and dug a pipe to the farm so we no longer have
to carry buckets from a stream about 150 meters away. We have dug out a pond where we will install
a plastic liner and fill up. From this
pond we will set up drip irrigation and share the benefits of water
conservation so crops can still be watered during the dry season. Right now, the practice of agriculture of
cultivating a field involves plowing it with buffalo, scattering your seeds,
and watering once. Plants grow here,
though the diversity will benefit both the soil and nutrition of the Nepalese
families.
Our kitchen
garden's seeds are sprouting, the bamboo fence is mostly keeping away the
chickens, and in a few months we'll be eating out of it. Without trying or explaining, we have seen a few
plots copying ours with the same fence and design of raised beds. The Nepali culture is fascinating and
incredible and it would take a very long time to attempt to explain what I have
experience and learned from the few months of being here. They are a simple and warm and curious
people. Well rooted in tradition, in
religion (both Hindu and Buddhist), very hardworking, and a lot of smiles. We have been here for multiple festivals and
have felt very welcomed as becoming a part of the community. There is a language barrier, but with what we
have learned, we are able to communicate the basics and non-verbal
communication can go very deep too.
Besides the
Nepalese, the plants, and the landscape (November has been beautiful and clear,
the Himalayas are visible each day), the culture that the Israelis bring here
is also amazing. It is a strong
community, with a great knowledge and pride of their food, history, music. They bring their home with them wherever they
go, and I am happy to have landed in this trip among them. Shabbats celebrated each Friday night into
Saturday have been the best food and laughs.
Our group has
become a family, and when I return from Kathmandu back to the village in under
a week, I will feel like I am going home.
To a simple, quiet, hardworking life where everything I do and
experience around me I will witness or feel the affects of.
Happy trails all.
Excerpt of what I wrote in the village:
Nearly two weeks into Nepalese village life.
No exception to the rest of the world,
Time behaves in its own way here.
Major differences between the western world and here:
A mind perceiving this region of the world from a developed culture may
say this place is backwards, or rather behind in relation to the rest of the
world. Which would be accurate, as
Nepal still had its doors closed to the world as most of the surrounding the
countries and continents took quantum leaps forwards in the last few
centuries. Though behind in time does
not constitute an undeveloped human (not without health issues that could be
remedied by modern implements but where do you draw the line). One whose path has not been exposed to the
abundance of choices that lead to both fortune and fame means little. To distinguish between righteousness and sin,
good and evil, and approach the day with wide, caring eyes is very present
here. To think critically and try to
understand a situation with depth by cultivating your mind through education is
another matter.
Consider this:
The wheel (outside of the few jeeps and trucks that ride these
mountainous rocky "roads"), risen bread, and the bucket or shovel are
not visibly seen here. Fields are plowed
by buffalo. There is one tool for all of
agriculture work. Women cut and carry animal feed using a woven basket on their
back and strapping loads three times as big as them around their necks to their
mud homes. The same goes for carrying
water from local streams (some families have begun to tap into local springs. The language, according to English standards,
is missing more than a few words. We are
here, with our ways and our past and our knowledge of the outside world. We are privileged with opportunity and we
must be culturally sensitive to what we expose them to with our culture.
Result:
Simplicity. Truth. Buddhism.
Elements of the Caste System. No
one is homeless in the village. Hard
work. Eating the same meals. Close friends. Close family.
My perspective:
Warm welcome. Beautiful mornings, 6,000-7,000 Meter
Himilayan Mt. Range to the north. Cold nights,
open sky loaded with stars. Curiosity
all around.
