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.
