Nepal One Year On: The Light On Your Path Journey

Me and the local Nepalese volunteers undertaking school rebuilding work (By Hazel Chow)

(Article translated by Elaine Ng)

In February this year, our “Light On”  school rebuilding work finally started. In connection with this, the “Light On Your Path Journey”, in which international volunteers are led to do the rebuilding, also began officially.

The long delay was due to the coming of the rainy season shortly after the 7.8-magnitude huge earthquake in Nepal on 25 April last year, making the laying of foundation impossible. While we planned to start the rebuilding in September, the fuel crisis arose and last for half a year, leading to a surge in the costs of materials and transport.

In January this year, the school located in Gorkha (the epicentre) and which Light On had been planning to rebuild, suddenly received donations from other large international organizations. We therefore transferred the project to another school that was more in need – a secondary school in Lamjung.

This secondary school in Lamjung became a dangerous building after the earthquake (By Hazel Chow).

Meanwhile, the Light On Your Path Journey, taking place in February during the lunar new year, commenced at the same time as the rebuilding work. The first batch of volunteers helped to pull down the school damaged by the earthquake. They also mixed with the children, sharing happy times playing games. They helped the villagers weed the fields as well; and were lucky to have been able to take part in a wedding in the local village and experience Nepalese traditions.

Pulling down the dangerous building (By Hazel Chow).

Volunteers took a break and mixed with the children (By Hazel Chow).

During this time, Light On made an agreement with the school and the Village Development Committee to pay only for the “bricks”, while they will take care of the costs for labour and transport themselves. My many years of volunteering in Nepal has taught me that, “giving” may only create the opposite effect in terms of truly empowering the local people. The best way is to let them make use of their own abilities to obtain what they deserve to have, and to establish their sense of belonging, so that they will treasure what they get.

At first, both the school and the villagers expressed concerns. I understood that it was because they were used to being dependent. I was not worried but felt assured – I knew that they would come up with a solution.

Just as expected, our paying only for the “bricks” unleashed their potential. Not only did the villagers secured free big lorries to transport the materials, they also mobilized the villagers of the entire village to make time to be volunteers. In April, when we ran the second “Light On Your Path Journey”, the volunteers and the women of the village “hammered stones” together. Not only did the women not complain about the hard work, they enjoyed it and livened things up, mixing with the volunteers.

The Light On Your Path Journey

American volunteers “hammering stones” with the women.

Hong Kong volunteers using a shovel to flatten the rubble at the original site of the school.

Volunteers of “Light On Your Path Journey” and the local women volunteers.

“The Light On Your Path Journey” emphasized on personal internalization – we hope to make use of rebuilding Nepal and immersing in Nepalese lives to let participants attain real internal happiness.

I myself am a volunteer of “The Light On Your Path Journey” project, with no income, and sometimes even had to contribute. “Why do something for no money?” I do something wholeheartedly because just doing it makes me happy! And when I saw the smiling faces of the school children and villagers, and the exchange of love between the volunteers and the villagers, I deeply felt the values behind doing this.

(Remember to turn on the subtitle function in youtube to get the English subtitles)

Leeon, Volunteer of “The Light On Your Path Journey” in April, shared on Facebook:

“It rained in Nepal; tried wearing the specially made raincoat and it felt interesting. The weather changed quite a lot in the village, perhaps because of the high altitude. The rain was often heavy, and then it hailed, the hailstones hitting the bed in the middle of the night. According to the customs, if someone worked the day after hailing, the whole village would lose the god’s blessings. So, we could not return to the school for the rebuilding work the next day, but went to the villagers’ homes to plant corn.

I felt better and better in Lamjung. I really liked the villagers caring for each other here, and even the loud coughs of the man across at 5a.m. each morning. I also liked the sheep, the cows, the chickens, the dogs, the cats, the flies at lunchtime, the mosquitoes in the toilet of the house at noon, the trails, the horrifying shortcuts, the dim lights in the house, or even the nights without electricity, watching the stars at night in the village with everyone else – all these I liked.

Actually, when I came here to be a volunteer, I did not think of helping others, but believed that coming here would be eye-opening. I tried to have an open mind, and did not bring any presents (you all, on the other hand, became my dears). I did not have any particular expectations, and only thought of figuring out each step after having booked the flights. I had neither plans nor preparations, and it felt silly. There was a small accident on the way, and was a bit disappointed at myself, but I trusted that the difficulties made me learn to persevere. Luckily I got to know friends who always cared about child education and school rebuilding, and so I went to the village.

What I encountered today made me learn so much – I have learnt to appreciate, to encourage, to put aside my ego, and to regain love.”

What is “The Light On Your Path Journey” all about? Please watch this short video:

What if you only had 100 days to live?

One person’s sunset is another person’s dawn, depending on where you live.

(Translated by Rice, proof-read and edited by Mitch Silver)

I am not sure why I have often been reflecting on what ‘death’ means these days. I strongly believe that ‘death’ is just the endof one page of learning and the start of another. it is similar to  the excitement that we feel when we finish college and are ready to set foot into society. However, when I reflect on ‘death; again, I discover that I am still terrorized by the pain and the non-predictability of that very moment.

I am not sure about why but I watched a very old film ‘what dreams may come’, starring the late, Robin Williams. The world after ‘death’ is vividly depicted in it. In fact, ‘death’ is just another dimension where we realize our thoughts. Through this movie, we understand the meaning of ‘the truth is what your thoughts are’ and at the same time, it enables us to realize that in fact the world after ‘death’ is not that horrifying.

After that, I interviewed a dying teenager in Nepal. A Nepalese from Hong Kong had told me there was a young man diagnosed with a cancer that can only be cured by undergoing bone marrow transplantation otherwise; he could only live for 100 days more.

I tried to imagine what I would feel if I were this 22- year old who was going to enter college but now only had 100 days left. Before I can get a clue of this, I have visited this boy, Rudra and during the interview time, his smile has left me the deepest impression.

Rudra is smiling all the time. 

He told me he had chronic diarrhea last September and at the same time, he had fevers and had blood in his stool. After diagnosis, he was confirmed to have aplastic anemia. In other words, his bone marrow had lost the ability to produce new blood. This is a rare hereditary disease and the only way to cure him is for him to have a bone marrow transplant.

His parents are poor farmers. He and his elder brother were taken care of since they were young by a kind-hearted Nepalese who paid their school fees. After learning the expense needed for the operation, he soughthelp from the Kulung Community (a small tribal group of Nepal) and they immediately set up a committee named ‘Saving Rudra Campaign’ with the hopes of raising sufficient funds. Up till now, they have raised 2.4 million rupees, ie 180,000 HKD.

When Rudra was talking to me, he was always wearing a smile and I could not help asking, ‘Rudra, how do you feel now?’ He said,’ I am feeling optimistic,’ he talked with a smile, ‘originally I was desperate but after they set up the committee, I feel very happy when seeing there are so many people supporting me.’ 

                                          

I was so surprised by his reaction and thought, ‘ I don’t think any teenager in the same situation can still smile and talk as if everything were alright I cannot feel any fear of ‘death’ from him’

I continued my questions and asked him what he would like to do after his recovery. Rudra who was studying Sociology and Journalism thought for a while and answered, ‘ I had been volunteering in orphanages in the past 4 years and I hope I can keep doing it in order to help those kids a little.’

Rudra who is a shy and introverted teenager touched me when he smiled with his sincerity and warmth.  

I asked the committee of ‘Saving Rudra Committee’ , ‘ how much we still need to raise in order to have the enough amount for operation?’ They answered, ‘ if the bone marrow of his brother can be transplanted into his body, we just need to raise 2 million rupees more (around 150,000 HKD); however, if his brother’s is not compatible, then we need to raise 7.6 million rupees more( around 600,000 HKD).

I was astounded since 600,000 HKD is not a small amount.

Several days after, Rudra told me the report of his brother was out and his bone marrow is not compatible to Rudra’s so he needs to find another person to donate the bone marrow. I was a little bit speechless when I had learnt the fact since the right bone marrow cannot be found within a short period of time, even if we have money.

I recalled the interview that we had, he gave me a hug before we departed. I still can feel the warmth until now. It is hard to imagine this body will be icy after 100 days if no suitable bone marrow can be found at the end.

There is a foreign friend who said.’ I am thinking if so much money is needed to save a person, should we use this amount to save more lives?’ I totally understand what he means but I believe every life is precious and it is hard to estimate whether saving more lives is more important than saving one. What I can do is to attract the necessary attention and help that he needs.

Then, when I was with my friend in Bhaktapur(An old town near Kulung Community), something unexpected happened. Something dropped on my left arm from above and it immediately fell to the ground. Before I realized what had happened, I saw a blue cat was lying on the floor, with its body twisting and blood was flowing out from his nostrils and mouth. I was astounded at that moment and wondered if I could take it to the vet but others said there were no vets around. I moved it to the sides of the road but it kept vomiting blood. My friend asked me to leave and said I could do nothing for it. I chose to stay stubbornly and shed my tears on its body. I was thinking, ‘at least I can stay with it until the very last moment of its life.’

I was too focused on the cat and did not notice that my friend was taking a photo of me. 

At last, the little cat stopped struggling and I accepted the fact that it had died and left there.

There are times when we have no control over life and death. I also think ‘living’ does not necessarily mean being happy and ‘dying’ is not equivalent to sadness. I guess we can only try our best to live our life and live everyday as it were our last. At the same time, we should enrich our life through different kinds of experience. In this way, no matter whether we can live for 100 days or 200 days more, we can still have no regrets when we ‘graduate’ from the last phrase of our life.

I only hope to spread the story of Rudra to you and if you know doctors or other personnel who can give him assistance, or if you hope to raise money for him, please contact him directly. (FB page: Saving Rudra Campaign) or us (Light On). You can also spread the story for the sake of getting more opinion and attention to this issue. 

Nepal: Humanitarian Crises That Are Worse Than Earthquakes

When the fuel shortage earlier was at its worst, the vehicles in capital city Kathmandu all had to wait in long queues for petrol. (Photo source: website of The Himalayan Times)

(Translated by Elaine Ng, proof-read and edited by Mitch Silver)

The current fuel shortage in Nepal has significantly worsened the humanitarian crisis there. In addition to the extremely high prices as well as the shortage of fuel for transport and cooking, there is a critical medical drug shortage and ambulances are unable to operate normally.

The 7.8-magnitude huge earthquake that occurred in Nepal on 25 April this year attracted the coverage and attention of the world’s media. Although no longer in the news, Nepal is in the midst of a humanitarian crisis. The fuel shortage has resulted in reconstruction works stopping; materials are not being sent to destroyed villages where villagers are still freezing in tents during this exceptionally cold winter; hospitals and clinics lack medical resources. Even ordinary citizens have to collect twigs and sticks for cooking, and walk long distances to go to work and to school due to lack of transport.

I have been following the reports these months, and have been making observations personally in Nepal and discussing with the local people. Let me make a brief account.

On 20 September 2015, Nepal passed a new constitution. It received strong opposition from India as well as the residents of the southern Terai region of Nepal. The new constitution controversially divided the country into 7 provinces leaving the Terai residents as well as India unhappy with the new level of autonomy. Months of political unrest in Tarai obstructed oil tankers from India and the transport of food and medicine. India was alleged by the Nepalese government to have unofficially blocked the border (but denied by India), causing the serious fuel shortage.

For the past few months, the Nepalese people have been protesting against border blockade imposed unofficially by India. (Photo source: website of The Indian Express)

At its peak, some 40 civilians and policemen died during the political unrest. Nepal was in turmoil for over a week, without any fuel, food or drugs. The situation eased up a bit, but shortages and prices continue to wreak havoc on day to day life as well as Nepal’s economy.  China has promised assistance with fuel coming via the Tibet border, but the black market is still the primary source of fuel.

I thought that traffic in Kathmandu would have dropped substantially, and that there would be less air pollution. Yet there are still many vehicles on the road, and the air remains dusty. Taxi drivers use fuel shortage as an excuse to charge high fares.

I said to my local friend – it does not seem too bad judging from how the city looks like. My friend replied, “Of course – for the rich (and for the tourists), things still work although they are a lot more expensive. But think about the poor who cannot afford the prices – no gas for cooking, no money to take the taxi, and they may not even be able to find room squeeze to a bus roof. As for those in the mountainous areas who have to stay in tents due to the destruction of their houses during the earthquake, they have to collect branches for cooking and for keeping warm.” And among Nepal’s population of 28 million, 42% are below the poverty line, meaning earning less than USD2 every day.

Now whenever I take the taxi, the fare is double or more compared to before. So my local friends and I often walk – one morning, we set out at around 5am and took one hour to walk to the bus station. As I walked, the streets were full of locals who were walking or cycling to go to work or to school. It is not impossible to take the bus, but I am not sure if I will be able to tuck myself on the bus roof.

Public transport packed with passengers is commonly seen in the streets of Kathmandu.

The capital city of Kathmandu and second largest city Pokhara still appear peaceful and prosperous. You would not think that Nepal is facing such a serious situation, as visitors still have access to transportation, can still get food in restaurants and still have hot showers in hotels. They do not realize that if the coaches did not get black market fuel, it would take a few days’ queuing to refill petrol; the entire country basically does not have gas for cooking, and while some restaurants may be able to buy small amounts of gas at extremely high prices, many residents are using twigs for cooking; although some high-end hotels are being able to get gas for hot water, most guesthouses rely on solar power to get hot water for showers. If visitors were not sick or admitted to the hospital, they would not know that hospitals do not have enough oxygen for patients nor enough anaesthetics for surgery.

Nepal Red Cross Society has indicated that the 100 local blood centres seriously lack blood bags.

UNICEF also warned last month that there would be a new humanitarian crises in Nepal.

I enquired with Anjani Kumar, president of the Nepal Medical Association, about the drug shortage situation. He noted, “92 types of basic drugs (including emergency drugs) that are currently used by government hospitals and given away free to patients are in shortage. Some of them may last for 3 months, but some will be used up in a month.” He said that the government was trying different means to acquire drugs, but if this could not be done within 3 months, the plight is not optimistic.

A restaurant in Pokhara looking busy in the evening.

In fact, most restaurants use twigs to cook outdoors.

Even those who can afford to buy gasoline for cooking have to queue for a long time.

Amrit, president of Pokhara children’s home Edventure Nepal, was also concerned, “If it were just me, the problems of fuel shortage are still bearable; but I have 12 children in need of care here, and twigs are not as easily obtainable as you imagine. If any of the children gets ill, I can’t be sure if the hospitals can provide the necessary drugs.”

Edventure Nepal children’s home set up a stove outdoors for cooking.

Nepal typically undergoes power cut for 8 to 12 hours each day. Electricity mainly comes from hydropower. When there is a power cut, most organizations including hospitals generate electricity using back-up generators fuelled by diesel or petrol. Operating rooms, surgical instruments and emergency equipment require electricity, and infant incubators also need electricity to keep premature babies warm. Many hospitals have low fuel storage. If not supplemented in time, most can only last for about 50 hours. It is easy to imagine the certain lethal disaster that will occur if all power is lost when important surgeries are being done.

The coach I took from Kathmandu to Pokhara could not escape from the long queue for petrol.

Armed forces on duty in petrol stations.

A friend observed that instant noodles became harder to get. I asked why. My friend said, “Without electricity and fuel to power them, factories cannot manufacture.” I have forgotten how much modern industry relies on fuel. It can be imagined that many food supplies will be exhausted (if it continues to be difficult to import food).

I thought that the problems could be solved by the entering into agreement between Nepal and China, and the proposed setting up of 7 border points. But on a quick research, I discover that the border points between China and Nepal are all above 2000m (the highest at 6495m). A friend added, “When winter comes, those border points will be closed for 6 months due to heavy snow.” The reality is that currently there is only one open border crossing between Nepal and China, The importation is severely limited by physical and practical constraints of the border situation as well as political failings.

The current situation in Nepal is far from positive. While local reports say that Nepalese officials are negotiating in India, no consensus has been reached yet.

I hope to be able to make more reports here to let people know about the present dire circumstances in Nepal. If you care about Nepal and hope to prevent the humanitarian crisis, I urge you to spread the message so that there may be more international aid.

前往Detox瑜伽靜心營路線

如因事而不能跟大隊於碼頭集合, 需自行前往鮑思高青年中心者，請參考以下路線 :

(一出碼頭右轉直行約150米會見到呢個轉彎位,轉入去)

（見到來姐地產，直行）

（見到拉麵店，右轉直行）

(見到勵進地產字眼的一修窄巷，左轉入去）

（直到見到中電站轉角位轉左上山）

(繼續直上)

(見到分叉口,行左面)


(沿住大球場行)


(沿住長洲體育路行)


(落斜後會見到左面有這條路)


(見到呢堆牌, 轉右)

(又見到堆牌, 行右邊條路)

(行下行下, 見到呢D長椅, 繼續行)

(好快會見到呢舊色彩繽紛的大石, 行上斜路)

(到達鮑思高青年中心)

The Happiest Country

The innocent smiles of the Nepalese people most touch my heart

(Translated by Elaine Ng.  Proof-read and edited by Mitch Silver.)

I remember having seen a documentary in which a Nepalese said these words – which still rings in my ears - “Although Nepal is one of the poorest countries in the world, I am sure we are one of the happiest.”

My experiences as a volunteer in Nepal these years confirmed those words. Every time I walked on the streets, the Nepalese people, whether old or young, would smile to me beautifully; sometimes putting their palms together in front of their heart, greeting me with “Namaste!”.

I ran into some Nepalese people on my way, and they would enthusiastically let me take pictures of them.

Even after the earthquake disaster, they are able to laugh away the troubles – such an attitude makes a strong impression on me. This is not to say that they did not feel sad or did not cry after the earthquake; nor that they were not stressed or fearful when they had to sleep in the tents during the days of aftershocks. However, I often feel they have a natural tendency to see beyond life and death – which may be due to the fact that poverty and illness easily take away lives there.

When we were on our way to Gorkha 4 days ago, there were people carrying the deceased to a funeral. There were many onlookers, and Amrit of the children’s home explained, “It is good fortune in our tradition to come across a scene like this. Our journey today will be blessed.” A traditional believe like this is incredible – usually when we come across a funeral or a coffin, we would try to run away. Yet to the Nepalese, they would get together to watch to receive good luck. I believe this is probably one of the reasons why the Nepalese people are happy-go-lucky.

The Nepalese people are always able to laugh away any situations.

Four days ago we went to Gorkha to inspect several schools that had been destroyed. I was deeply moved by the villager’s strength of character. The first school we observed was Shree Sharada Secondary School (being the only secondary school in the Khoplang area in Gorkha), with 407 students and 15 teachers. 31 May was the first day of school after the earthquake. The two buildings of the school were destroyed by the two earthquakes. Although one building remained, it had been assessed as too dangerous for classroom use by engineers, so the students were attending classes in the temporary shelter.

The campus of Sree Sharada Secondary School was destroyed in the earthquake.

When we arrived, we realized that even the temporary classrooms were not ready, and several hundred students were having classes under the trees. At first, this natural “classroom” looked beautiful, with boulders as chairs and leaves as roof. However, we could not imagine the insects, the heat and the downpours once the rainy season began. 

Temporary shelters still being built.

Students having classes under the trees.

These Grade 9 big boys had to sit on the same boulder for class.

I felt strong admiration for the teachers and the students who did not complain but remained cheerful, understanding that it was a temporary solution.

Amrit and the teachers discussing about the temporary classroom.

No desks; books in laps

Next, we went to inspect the only higher secondary school in the Khoplang area. It, being a mountainous area, this school with 750 students was located at least one and a half hours walk from the main road. We were lucky enough to have the local volunteers arrange motorbikes for us. When I saw the steep and muddy paths, I could easily visualize the students having to walk the difficult route on a daily basis.

This school had six buildings, two of which were completely destroyed, one was half damaged, and the other three were assessed as dangerous buildings. Fortunately, the school had already built some temporary shelters using tin sheets for the roof and bamboo for the walls.

One of the completely destroyed school buildings in Annapurna higher secondary school.

The local engineer explained the advantages of using bamboo to build the shelters. He recommended that we also use bamboo as the main material for reconstruction.

Even though the administration building of Annapurna secondary school did not collapse, it was quite heavily scarred.

The last school we inspected was Esthanika primary school. It was smaller, with only 40 students. They recently constructed a new building on the campus, but it together with the two old school buildings were all destroyed in the earthquake.

The Esthanika campus was completely destroyed, with the desks and chairs left in open air.

There were 5 other primary schools in the area. The campuses were intact, but as the aftershocks were still frequent, the students are still having classes in temporary shelters. We also experienced a small aftershock when we were inspecting the school.

After inspecting these schools, Amrit and I felt that they were in great need of help. Thanks to the donations from all over the world in the past months, Light On will be able to partly finance rebuilding one of the schools. I want to thank Hong Kong architect Charles Lai, who volunteered to draft the reconstruction plans for us as well as provide other assistance. However, the reconstruction work is expensive, so we still need your help. If you want to know more about our reconstruction work, or provide financial or any other assistance, please contact us and follow us on FB: Light On

The beautiful and curious students in the mountains are waiting for us to help.