Shuva Din! (Good day!)
6/4/19 - 6/11/19
Over the past week, your favorite team of undergrads (and Bhupal and Noah) have tackled the task of monitoring and evaluating projects completed by EWB-CU Nepal team over the past 10 years. We have traveled around Ilam visiting projects, testing water quality and discussing systems with locals. Suffice to say, we’ve grown quite accustomed to the stench of fresh grown E. coli. Data collection aside, it was awesome just to see the history of our team and know that many of our projects are functional and serve an important role in their communities.
June 5th was the official end of Ramadan, and the team got a well needed break for the holiday. We spent the day relaxing and exploring the Ilam Bazaar. Inspired by Evan’s constant cravings, we went on a 20 minute hunt for peanut butter, jam, and bread. We then hiked up to the beautiful tea gardens where the famous Ilam tea is grown and found a nice knoll to sit on overlooking the enormous gardens and enjoyed some PB&Js. After that day of rest, it was back to work!
On Sunday we traveled from Ilam to Namsaling and celebrated Eliza’s birthday! Eliza, Cosmo, and Evan chose to forgo another Jeep ride, and instead hike five hours through the jungle. A local high school student helped the team navigate in exchange for a couple of selfies with the Americans. After hiking several miles uphill (with only one significant wrong turn) the dahl baht and birthday cake tasted especially good.
Now that we’re back in Namsaling, the team is hard at work planning for a future project in Hatitar. Tuesday was spent in the NCDC office planning our weeks here.
Yesterday we began more extensive surveying at the potential project site in Hatitar, including finding dimensions of the spring source, and taking GPS data. Turns out, trying to mark a surveying point by putting down a stick is not a great strategy in the jungle. We also started to venture into the village, to get a picture of the Hatitar’s village layout. While exploring, we also learned a valuable lesson: corn fields terraces make terrible short cuts!
Today was our first day splitting the team. Eliza and Hayley spent the day with Bhupal, conducting workshops at a school for a “Child Friendly Local Government” program. Bhupal taught child rights and Eliza and Hayley spoke about menstrual hygiene management. Meanwhile, Evan, Cosmo, and Noah spent the day on a quest to test the water of as many spring sources as possible as a part of the water profile we are helping the local government create.
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