Nepal has been such a crazy month. It has been the hardest and best all-around month thus far on the race. When we first arrived I knew it was going to be cold and I may be a New Yorker but I officially have Floridian blood because it was way too cold for me. We spent the first week in a very touristy area in Kathmandu, having debrief and doing team changes. It was tough to part from the old team but change is good and I was very excited to learn from new teammates.
Our team, Machaceh, consists of some pretty awesome people and I am excited to do life with them over the next few months.
After debrief, our team was sent to a mountain Village <Enter name here> 4 hours outside of Kathmandu. The village was severely impacted by the earthquake and we were told that we would be helping to rebuild the church. In true World Race fashion, when we got to the village we learned we would not be helping to rebuild the church because they did not have any more materials to do so. They did have a tin hut structure set up, which we would sleep in over the course of the week. And let me tell you, when in the mountains, during winter, in a tin hut with many many openings, it gets incredible cold at night. That week I may have worn multiple shirts, a north face long sleeve shirt, a sweatshirt, a rain jacket, was in my tent, in my sleeping bag, with a yak wool blanket AND STILL was freezing!!!!! However, it was the most beautiful place I have ever been to and well worth the cold. The families who hosted us, Pastor Kemal and Yam and Alisha, along with all their families were amazing and it was a blessing to get to know them.
Within a day of being there, a bunch of children gathered at the church. We soon found out that those children would be receiving the Project Christmas Child boxes that we saw within the church. Now most of us have been a part of making these boxes back in the states but as majority of the people we never got to see the fruit of it. On this day we were blessed to see kids receive and open boxes of toys, books, clothes and school supplies.
On Friday, I volunteered, along with Kris to go with Yam to another village for church the next day. So we packed our backpacks, and hoped on the back of motorcycles to travel an hour through the mountains to the base of the village. We crossed a rickety metal bridge, roughly 75-100 yards long. Then climbed 800 steps (we were originally told 100, but very soon found out that was not the case) to the village and spent the night in Yam’s aunt’s Quonset hut. The church was small but filled with the love of the Lord and some very sweet people. It was super evident that the Lord was present in this village. Right after church we hiked back down the 800 steps, and you better believe I made sure Yam knew it was not even close to the 100 steps he told us (if you don’t know me, I am very sarcastic) =).
It was a blessing to see the beauty of another village but it was sad too. Between the two villages that we visited most everybody lived in a Quonset hut because their homes were destroyed from the earthquake. This is the mountains in Nepal and these tin hut provide little to no shelter from the cold, but they people were so welcoming and they make due with what they have. We were told that aid takes too long to get to them from the government, and even when others send money through big organizations it tends to not make it to them because of all the red tape.
After leaving the mountain village, Kris and myself hoped into the back of a pickup full of Nepalis, literally the back, and went truck bed surfing through Nepal. We met up with the rest of our team, hoped into another truck bed and headed for the China border (not to cross but to see) and then finally take well needed showers at the hot springs. Along the way we saw more of the destruction from the earthquake. Boulders the size of cars in the ground flood of buildings, a school bus demolished but still sitting there, piles of rubble which used to be someone’s home. This is over a year after the earthquake and the government has still done next to nothing to help these townspeople.
On the way back to Kathmandu, another World Race moment happened. Let’s fit 20 people into an 8 person jeep, there’s plenty of room =) I joked about me riding on the roof onto of the bags. Little did I know that once we got to the bottom of the mountain that is exactly where I would be.
It was funny watching all the Nepalis doing double takes because there is a foreigner onto of a jeep. I had a blast! I was also told by some drunk guys at one point that it would be safer for me if I left my group and jumped into the car with them. Spoiler alert, I did not do that.
When we got back to Kathmandu we met up with Pastor Reuben (our host for the whole month) and a few days later left in 2 jeeps to take a 14 hour drive to a village were we would first help build an orphanage and then trek to his home village. Once there we would help build the foundation for a new room in a school. The ride to the village was interesting, especially at one point where we had to wait at a check point and follow a police escort. Apparently it was too dangerous to drive through a certain part without the escort (to elaborate, because of the new constitution in Nepal many Nepali’s were very upset and to “get back” they would make that stretch of road too dangerous for trucks carrying supplies or fuel and passenger vehicles. They would throw rocks and cause some unwanted havoc, so Nepal set up the escort station.) To me and a few others who were awake for this part of the journey it was more like a nascar race because all the drivers wanted to be the first one behind the escort. So there was a lot of racing and cutting off going on.
When we got to the orphanage we helped bring a lot of the materials from the ground floor to the third and forth floor. Hundreds and hundreds of bricks and a ton of sand. It was fun to see how everyone worked together to get the job done in the most efficient way.
Then we got our packs ready and hiked 4 hours to the remote village where Pastor Rueben grew up and his parents still live. Lots of uphill and downhill climbing. It was not easy but it was beautiful and worth it. Once there, we helped set the foundation for a new room in the school. We also found out that prior to this school being built many of the kids had to hike through the river, and risk getting sick (which many of them did, and some of them died from it) just to attend school. It was cool to be a part of the construction and see how they had to work so much harder to get things done that would be so simple in the states. sifting through sand, digging out the holes, hauling up rocks from the river bed down below, hulling up buckets and buckets of water from the same river bed, mixing the cement using a shovel, setting the rocks an brick in the cement, leveling off the ground by digging a hole in another area and bringing it to the foundation. There were 21 of us and always a job for someone to do. After a few days of working, we packed our bags again and hiked this time through the river to get back to a location a bus could pick us up. We crossed it 12 times in a 2 hour hike and it was both cold and beautiful. We got back to the orphanage and the next day hoped in some jeeps for another 14 hours back to Kathmandu.
This has been such an amazing month and it’s been incredible to be able to be God’s hands and feet throughout the country of Nepal. The glory does not go out to me or my teammates but it goes to Him. He created the beauty of the land and the people. I am humbled by the fact that I here. I have had some struggles this month in terms of illness and injuries, but God gave me the strength and the heart to do as much as I could. As well as the ability to continue throughout all of the hard times. I was able to see the fruit of His love in the country. There is more work to be done in the mountain villages in terms of earthquake relief. Also, the orphanage and school both need a significant amount of work before they can help all the kids they can. If you feel it in your heart to help out in any of these projects I have talked about in Nepal, I encourage you to reach out to me and I will set out up with the contacts so that your support may go directly to them.
