The blog is back, after a quiet period! Apologies for the absence. We have some great stories to share, so please log in again soon.

The trekkers held a reunion in Edinburgh on Saturday 6 March.  After a short walk on Blackford Hill, we assembled at the HQ of the Venture Trust to share memories, exchange photographs, and view a short film put together by some of the young people with the help of BBC Scotland.

The trekkers at Blackford Hill, Edinburgh

We enjoyed a meal provided by the Gurkha Nepalese restaurant of Dunfermline and then heard reports on the plans for supporting the school at Chite Tilahar. An engineer representing Community Action Nepal will visit the village this week to conduct a survey. Meanwhile we have plans for a work squad to travel to Nepal in November 2010 or March 2011. Kirsten McManus of Who Cares? Scotland has been appointed as project manager and one meeting has been held. There has been a terrific response from trekkers volunteering to return to Nepal and decisions about the composition of the party will be made soon.

Meanwhile the dictionary appeal has provided around 90 dictionaries at different age levels, from pre-school to college standard. We are grateful to everyone who donated a dictionary, and to John Smith & Son at Strathclyde University who donated additional dictionaries and cards. There are plans to get the dictionaries to Nepal, along with running shoes and climbing and medical equipment which have also been donated. Watch this space for more news.

Amy and Kirsten with local children

Panic
On the lead up to going to Nepal I thought I wasn’t going to get there at all….my passport wasn’t sorted out and things could have been more organised. Everything was left to the last minute and my Visa never arrived till 4 days before we departed, it was a nightmare, I thought I was going to miss out !

Journey
Oh the journey to Nepal was good, it was good because I got to sit next to my pal Harry all the way. Wullie sat behind us and entertained us with his singing- it was such a laugh. But it was tiring, it seemed to take hours and hours.

Kathmandu & Pokhara
Oh it was scary, the amount of people all in the one place, the mess. I didn’t like it because it was too cramped. When we were in Pokhara, Janice from Who Cares? Scotland and Cathy Jamieson and me were out shopping, they were my shopping buddies ! There was a power cut and the whole street blacked out. It was scary, but it was a protest- there were people walking down the street with big sticks with fire coming out the end, there was a guy shouting into a megaphone thing. It was an organised protest against the Nepalese Government. It was frightening, but I liked it- I don’t know why, I think it was because the people there were standing up for themselves and didn’t expect them to do that.

Special Moments
It was really nice going to the local schools. The kids over there were so happy to see you- the people in Nepal are lovely and gorgeous. I made hundreds of pals, you get dead attached to them and you didn’t want to leave them. I would love to go back work over there, it would be a great job to help people in Nepal. We showed the local people how to play our games and they showed us how to do a dance. I was dancing their dance and one of them said they really liked my dancing !
There was one day when me and Harry went a walk and we met some local young people. They spoke to us asking about Scotland, talking about trekking and what they did in school. One of them wanted to go to Kathmandu college, I was so impressed by their English- it was great. That was a special moment.

Embarrassing Moments
I was embarrassed for Kirsten (young person) when she fell, it was hilarious. Don’t think I did anything embarrassing, I fainted with the altitude- so suppose that’s pretty embarrassing

Amy at the Peace Pagoda

What would you change about the trip?
Nothing, the whole trip was amazing. It was great to get the opportunity to go. It was life changing, breathtaking. I look at stuff differently now I am back home. Before I went to Nepal I was doing a beauty course at college, but I am now doing travel and tourism instead- that was because of getting to go to Nepal.

New Friends
I’m good friends with Kirsten who went, we see each other quite a lot. I am friends with 2 of the Sherpa’s from our trip, I talk to them on Facebook all the time. I am planning to go back, maybe with my Mum so she can see what it is like. You can’t explain to people what its like, you have experience it.

The grandeur of Glasgow University is an appropriate setting – Scott who is 68, possesses the gravitas of a revered academic, being slightly unkempt with grey hair swept back off his face and a crumpled suit jacket to boot…

He also adopts the air of a travelling salesman, and in the lecture theatre there are tables laden with goods brought from his beloved Nepal. Besides books Scott has written there are framed prints of photographs he took on his climbs – he is an acclaimed photographer too – and bundles of yak wool hats, gloves and scarves for sale, plus colourful Buddhist prayer flags and beads, with the money raised tonight going to support remote Sherpa communities in Nepal. This, Scott says, is now his overriding passion and most of his time these days is devoted to Community Action Nepal (CAN), a charity he set up in 1989 in order to give something back to the people who helped him achieve his ambitions.

Doug Scott with some of our trekkers

More information about CAN can be found here. Doug Scott’s own website is here.

Who Cares? Scotland had a particularly busy year in 2009. The central office moved to more suitable premises - at the same address in Oswald Street, Glasgow. We introduced the Reaching Higher strategy to signal our high aspirations for children and young people in care, and we demonstrated our confidence in our young people by taking 21 of them trekking in Nepal. We learned a lot about fund-raising. We reviewed our governance and introduced new young and adult Board members, following a rigorous selection process. Finally, in association with the Scottish Government and other supporters, we launched a campaign to tackle the stigma associated with being in care.

We expect 2010 to be equally busy year. Watch out for more public evidence of the anti-stigma campaign. We will develop the Reaching Higher campaign in a variety of ways, including trying to capitalise on the enthusiasm for hillwalking resulting from the training for Nepal. Our links with Nepal and Community Action Nepal will be formalised, crucially through the plans to support the school at Chite Tilahar.

Edinburgh Castle

Meanwhile, we thank all our supporters for their tremendous work in the past year and wish you all a very happy and successful 2010.

Image of CAT's home page

Community Action Treks is the trading arm of Community Action Nepal (CAN), the charity set up by Doug Scott. CAN describes its aim as follows:

CAN is a mountaineers’ charity to help mountain people to help themselves raise their standard of living and strengthen indigenous, community-based culture.

Who Cares? Scotland has almost reached the target of raising £6,000 to improve the fresh water supply and upgrade the toilets at the school. An appeal to provide dictionaries for English teacher, Ram, has so far allowed the purchase of 65 dictionaries. The dictionaries, purchased at special prices through university booksellers John Smith & Son, are in four different age levels: first dictionary, school, student and teacher.  Each dictionary has a card with a message from the donor.

Follow the link to the CAT home page here.

Sarita on the trek

Gemma Stewart, a member of trek 2, said:

I felt privileged to have Sarita on the trek with us. She was happy, helpful and always full of fun. I was delighted to be invited into her home and we keep in touch by email. I am sure we will remain friends for many years to come.

We wanted to profile Sarita for the blog and so she agreed to speak on Skype phone about her life in Nepal and working for CAT. Sarita is married to international mountain leader, Ian Wall, who looks after CAT’s Kathmandu operation and runs Community Action Nepal. They have just moved house and, with time between treks, Sarita is busy organising their home and preparing a vegetable garden.

Sarita has lived in Kathmandu since the age of six when her father took the family to the capital, but her home village is Megri, near Jiri, in north-eastern Nepal. Jiri lies at the eastern end of the highway from Kathmandu, about seven hours by bus, and is the main trail-head for treks and expeditions to the Everest region.

Ian, who is writing a book about the many ethnic groups making up the Nepal population, explained that Sarita is a Tamang, descended from one of the largest Tibeto-Burman speaking groups in Nepal, people who originate from Mongolia, Bhote, from north of the Himalaya.

The word ‘Tamang’ means horse traders, from ‘Ta’ – horse and ‘Mang’ – traders. It is thought that at one time they were sent south from the Tibetan plateau to keep the Tibetan army supplied with horses. Many of the men trained as Buddhist monks in order to become recognised lamas, or holy men. Traditionally, while the first son helped on the land, the second-born son went to the monastery. This fulfilled two functions: firstly it took one mouth out of the family struggle for food and secondly it was for education. Tamangs are now agriculturalists. In time this sect became a sub-caste of the Tamangs and the sons of lamas married daughters of lamas. They are now a recognised sub group of the Tamangs, based on the fact that the men are trained to perform all the religious ceremonies – almost identified by their ‘profession’ – although today they won’t all be practising lamas in crimson robes, maybe just for their family and friends.

After attending a girls’ high school in Kathmandu, Sarita progressed to professional education in nursing which included on-the-job training in a government hospital and working in a polio eradication programme. Six years ago Sarita was working for a small non-governmental organisation (NGO) when she saw a job advert in a newspaper for what she thought sounded like interesting work with Community Action Nepal.

The work with CAN/CAT is varied. Our first attempt to speak on Skype was postponed when Sarita and Ian had to deal with an emergency involving the evacuation by helicopter of a trekker suffering from a severe infection. Sarita is responsible for maintaining the medical equipment carried on treks and for distributing medicines to the mountain health posts established and supported by CAN. Trekkers are asked to donate unused medicines at the end of treks.

Sarita with trek leader Jeff Frew

It sounds like 2010 will be a busy year for Sarita. There will be the health camp organised by Ian in the Khumbu district, the British Heart Foundation’s fund-raising trek to Everest Base Camp, and the Himalayan Rescue Association of Nepal’s medical clinic, also at Everest Base Camp. It was while on a previous BHF trek to Everest Base Camp that Sarita met Grant Gilroy and so she was involved in the early discussions with Grant and Jeff about taking a group of young people from Scotland trekking in Nepal.

Sarita has a range of other interests, including helping Ian with CAN’s porter shelter construction project, involvement in the International Porter Protection Group established by Australian Dr Jim Duff, and studying for a part-time degree in rural development. For relaxation, Sarita enjoys embroidery and she hope to fit in time to learn piano.

Who Cares? Scotland plans to develop the relationship with CAN and our trekkers, particularly the young people, are pleased that it will mean we can keep in touch with Sarita and Ian. Sarita said of our fund-raising for the school at Chite Tilahar:

If they can do anything helpful, it is appreciated.

Sarita with the girls on Trek 2

David Dunne, Who Cares? Chair and a young person on trek 1 said:

Sarita was like a pillar of strength and support and was really warm and welcoming. And it was amazing to meet her.

Nicola Corbett, who met Sarita on trek 2 said:

Sarita is the kindest person I have ever met.  She is just so full of joy and I wish her the very best on her future. Love, Nicola xxxxxxxxxx

I was desperate to get involved in Who Cares? Scotland’s ‘Reaching Higher’ project from the minute I heard about it. Thanks to Lynne and Grant I got a Yes! 

 
I had been fortunate enough to visit Nepal twice before. I knew it was a wonderful place where the people were friendly, unassuming and happy. The culture, poverty and deprivation definitely tested me and always will! When I am there I soon see beyond that and can’t help but feel lucky to be there. It really does challenge my perspective about life. I knew that our young people in care often get a raw deal and as a result they don’t get the same life opportunities as others who are not in their predicament. I wanted to be part of something that could change this. I thought it would and I was not disappointed!!
 

From arriving at the Who Cares? Scotland office the night we left for Nepal I could feel a buzz about the place and was so excited!! My sister was with me and I was really proud that she could see that I was part of such a great thing. I always knew Who Cares? Scotland was special and she told me she recognised that as she left and went home, as I SET OFF FOR NEPAL! It was good for both of us!!
 

Before I knew it we were on the bus and had such a great send off!! I felt our group bonded really quickly and the sense of anticipation (even through our travelling) seemed to build the closer we got to Nepal, and the ‘actual’ trek. I think the trek was probably the most physically and mentally challenging thing I have ever done. However, the people, laughter, conversations, views, and the realisation of Nepalese life in contrast to our own, that we all experienced, made it all worthwhile. I set out to achieve a goal of contributing to, and witnessing, young people being challenged and using this to build their own strengths, goals and aspirations in life. I am so proud to say that they all did this and much more. Thanks to all of you for being so resilient by facing and conquering so many challenges, and wanting more… I loved getting to know you all and watching you grow every day! You helped me achieve a personal goal so thanks again!
 
What I didn’t think about was the supporting adults that I would share this experience with. I am really glad to have met such great people and I believe we will remain firm friends and be able to call on each other. I think this kind of journey tends to do that. Thank you to everyone. I had a ball!!! You are all still very much in my thoughts and I look forward to seeing you all again. I feel that future projects are inevitable but I do take heed, Beshtari Beshtari (thanks Jeff and Angus…. much needed in our culture, daily life and aspirations)  
 
My high points:

My low points:

* The reality of Nepal.
* Swearing at Wullie (ha ha – sorry, Wullie, I luv u!! – it was a low point, you’ll know what I mean if I say it was reflective of the difficulties that the trek threw at us, eh?)  
* Missing Michael and Geraldine.

Sarita and Heather approaching our hosts' house

A particular delight in visiting another country is the possibility of receiving an invitation to visit someone in their own home. It’s such a personal thing and something which is a rare occurrence in a standard holiday. Two of our young people, Gemma and Leona, spent time at the Kathmandu home of trek nurse Sarita and her husband Ian. Apparently the three girls engaged in the very Nepali pastime of…watching Mamma Mia on DVD!

A few days’ earlier, Graham and Heather (Hatten), along with Sarita, received a spontaneous invitation to have tea with a family whose home sat close to the path, just beyond the mountain village of Phurano Duwar.

Heather recalls how the invitation came about.

Some school children joined us on their way home. One of the girls ran ahead and asked her mother if she might invite myself and Graham in for tea. It was brilliant we were able to accept as our Nepalese nurse, Sarita, happened to be with us and was glad to take us in. This was without a doubt the highlight of my trip.

We entered the main room of the house which had a stone floor, and circular fire pit over which was a rack for drying maize.  There was a shelf with utensils. We had to stoop to get inside through the low entrance. One tiny window allowed miniscule light to filter through from the cattle bed on the porch. There was no other light apart from the embers of the fire upon which the young host boiled a kettle to make our tea. We were given straw mats to sit on. Our young friend sat proudly grinding sugar beet between two stones. This thrilled me as we had been doing that very thing back in Kennoway school recently. Wow! Along with the very splendid tea we were given popcorn and a fiery chilli dip.

Our tea being prepared

For Graham, too, this was an experience to cherish.

The house reminded me of the black houses (or taigh dubh in Gaelic) that were common on crofts in the highlands and islands of Scotland and in Ireland but which were virtually uninhabited after the 1970s. I’d seen restored examples in Perthshire and at Gearrannan village in Lewis. But here we were being invited inside a real family home of a similar kind, in 2009. There was clearly no electricity and water must have been drawn from the village stand-pipe.

Before I left for Nepal my friends and family were sure I would not cope well without my regular ‘fix’ of espresso. Although I’m enjoying it again, I didn’t really miss it while in Nepal. Why would I with such wonderful teas and herbal concoctions to try? The tea the girls made for us was an infusion of ginger, chard and a herb which Sarita told me later was ‘badmachal’, though I haven’t been able to find the word in a search on Google. I was very happy to accept a second brew, made from freshly ground ingredients, and no doubt with a variation in the recipe as I could detect a subtle difference in taste.

Some of the family: preparing popcorn for their guests

Heather again:

We were made so welcome and with Sarita’s help translating we asked all sorts of questions and laughed lots. The time passed and another flavour of tea was presented. It was lovely. Word appeared to get out and soon the wee house filled with relatives and friends apparently eager to see us foreigners. The teenage girls could not get close enough to me and were desperate to touch me. They warmed – almost burnt – their hands in order to press them on my skin to warm my arms and legs. I suspect they have eyesight problems as they kept saying, ‘you beautiful’!

Heather's willing masseuses

Graham again:

This was an enchanting and humbling experience, something so special that we will never forget it. Even now, writing this some weeks later, I get goosebumps recalling it. Our hosts had little in the way of material goods, but they were so pleased that they could share their home with us for a short while and provide travellers with refreshments. We were only sorry that our young people, anxious to get to camp, had pushed on ahead and had missed out on the special tea party.

Namaste.x

If you could describe your experience of Nepal in one word what would it be?

What was the high point of the trip, any special moments? God there were so many; watching the young people bond together was great. The night we completed the trek everyone was hugging each other, there was a real sense of team. The last night the Sherpas danced and sang, it was great.

If you could change anything about the trip, what would it be? The only thing that I would maybe change that it was that it was always ‘on the go’ all the time. It would have been good to have had a couple of relaxing days in between.

What was most difficult part of the Nepal experience? I was concentrating on the physical side of the trek, I wasn’t prepared for the emotional side. It was hard feeling so helpless about the scale of poverty.

Were there any embarrassing or funny moments you would like to tell us about? I had a toilet embarrassing moment. We had dinner and I visited the toilet tent afterwards- I was in there for about 10 minutes and when I left the tent I got a big round of applause from everyone. You see, the tent sat in a sideways position and I was sitting there with my head torch on- making the whole tent see through. Everyone could see me sitting there- I was horrified ! 

What were the local people like in Nepal, how did their lives differ from ours? Welcoming smiles wherever you went, calls of ‘namaste’ which means ‘hello’ in Nepal. They weren’t phased by us at all, very friendly. They had a lack of material goods, but they were always sweeping up and making the best of what they had. It made me think that I should take more care of my stuff.

Now you are back in Scotland what are your thoughts looking back? I really miss the group, the adults and the young people- I miss them all. It has been really hard to adjust and part of me wonders if I will ever be the same again.

Interview by Denny Ford

Our recent visit to the region showed us how important the Marsayandi river system is to Nepal’s economy, providing water for life in so many ways, including irrigation of the rice paddies and hydro-electric power. While glacier melt in the summer feeds the rivers, reduced snowfall would have major consequences for the countries which depend on water from the Himalaya.

The glaciers of Annapurna IV, Annapurna II and Lamjung Himal

You can read a story about the Nepali cabinet meeting on the BBC website here. The BBC also provides a good account of the debate amongst scientists in relation to whether the glaciers really are melting – read it here.

The dam on the Marsayandi river downstream from Phalliya Sangu supplies electricity to Kathmandu