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JOHAN’S DIARY – 30TH OF JANUARY 2016
2:30 I wake up from some strange dream, which is unlike me and I find it a little difficult to fall back asleep.
6:45 I wake up, as the sun starts to rise and I begin my morning procedure with getting logs for the fire, fetching water, and for breakfast it was oatmeal with tropical fruits and coffee. It’s a beautiful morning with a lot of birds around me, makes me feel cozy.
07:30 An elderly man walks by my tent, we greet with Namaste and he says something that I think I understand. He is going out to chop wood, and he walks away with the ax over his shoulder. There are a few other men who borrow the carpenter’s home-built saw to cut some logs. They are building a small kitchen outside their small tunnel houses a little bit from my tent.
I have followed their work for a few days now. It seems that very few come to a decision to rebuild a permanent home. Only one man, just above the Home of Hope, next to the health clinic has begun. Many have cleared up and taken stone and wood rescued from their destroyed homes. I guess it’s a combination of lack of money, and knowledge on how to build. So I hope our building can provide inspiration and guidance to others. However the rebuilding of the school that is soon to start will hopefully provide ideas and knowledge to others too. Workers in the village do all these projects so it has created a knowledge and experience for many people in the village. It feels very meaningful that our projects provide much more than “just” a family home for the orphans.
08:30 I go to charge my phone and computer at Asha and Shyam’s home, as all of my batteries are dead. This is the disadvantage of having running internet.
I talk a little with Asha (Shyam’s wife) and their puppy; I am invited to tea, and try to learn some Nepali words. I have begun to write down some words so that I can practice.
9:30 The builders begin to arrive as usual, some have an hour’s walk to work and before they get to work they must first feed a their animals. That is why the work only begins at 9:30-10:00.
10:00 I measure and mark the window frames for all the windows, and work to correct and adjust them while the workers begin with the walls.
11:00 I go to wash my clothes and myself now that the weather is fine but there were so many other people there. I guess I wasn’t the only one who thought it was a good day to do wash. I go back and take pictures and film daily life in the village. It’s nice weather today, and feels nice to feel warmth for a change.
12:30 Rice beer for the construction workers and lunch for me is a bar and coffee plus a clementine. Clementines are excellent to grow here but Shyam and Karma unfortunately find it difficult to find support among the people in the village to plant fruit trees. This is because there are not many fruit trees there, and it takes a long time to grow them, as not many families can wait that long for food. They hope that the fruit trees at Home of Hope will inspire others in the village to do the same, as we will grow many different fruit trees. Shyam would like to try a kitchen garden too, which I have brought many different seeds from Gran Canaria for them and are going to try to see what grows. The latitude is almost the same so it should be quite likely that it will work.
13:00 I go to wash again, and now there is space. It’s really nice and much needed, since it was a few days ago since I last bathed.
14:30 Now it is lunch time at the construction site. The work is going well, eight windows are in place. Some adjustments and changes to the design need to be done, so Shyam translates for me. I get invited to one of the builder’s brother’s wedding party next week it will be exciting!
17:00 Going to buy refill cards for my mobile phones in the village, one can only buy 100Nrs refills (approx. EUR 0.9), but they last a surprisingly long time. The shop is closed, since the lady owner is in the field working so Shyam calls for her. We go and have a cup of tea at Shyam’s house for quite a long time. After 30 minutes, the store is open again, I pay for two refill cards and a bag of peanuts and head back to my tent to cook dinner, etc. before darkness falls. Shyam and I will leave for Kathmandu tomorrow.
18:30 For dinner I have kebab casserole, not the best I’ve had on this trip but fills my belly. I sit a while by the fire and think about the day. I am hoping that we will complete as much as I have hoped we will before I go back to Sweden. Both Shyam and one of the workers commented that the work is going well so my prescence feels meaningful!
19:30 I creep out of my tent to sit by the fire, and shortly after arriving my two bonfire friends join me with 9 eggs that they want to cook on my fire and share with me. I am thankful and happy to receive them. I sit and talk with them for a while.
20:30 Once inside the tent again, and I message Sophie a little and then I fall asleep after lying down awhile.
Good night!