Food Relief in the Mountains

July third was spent delivering food stuffs to a remote area of Nepal in the Ramechhap District.  Because of landslides blocking the road, we were only able to go to a town shortly over the border of this district to meet the people needing assistance.  Each village sent several representatives to bring back the supplies of rice, lentils, salt and cooking oil.  These folks walked anywhere from one to eight hours to reach the drop-off location.  Not a simple stroll either but a hike over 2, 3, or 4 mountains at altitudes of up to 12,000 feet!  Sadly, all of these villagers have damaged or destroyed homes.  The rock and mud structures, with no foundation, crumbled under the power of the moving earth.  One village,  the one we slept in on our first trip to Nepal, was completely covered by a landslide and is no longer inhabitable at all.  It's 34 households are currently living in tents on a small bit of land provided by the government, but hope to buy a piece of land together large enough for everyone to build a small home on.

Metal roofing was also delivered by tractor to a school which lost it's roof in the earthquake (the May 12 aftershock of over 7 on the Richter scale was centered in this district).  The roofs are traditionally made of slate so they did not hold up well in the earthquake and are difficult to rebuild.  This metal roofing will allow school to resume soon. 


On the way back we had a flat.  It was all in all a 17 hour journey, most of that driving.  It was very hot and dusty.  With no AC you had to keep the windows open.  When I showered that night rivers of mud ran out of my hair.  In reality it's actually less hot here then back home in SC but with no AC it sure seems hotter!   If you want to see more pics check out the Nepal and India page.