Modified Life

Life in Nepal requires lots of modifications. Creativity is a must! To begin, here are just a few ways in which life is a little different:

• Unike in the US, we can’t buy everything we could possibly want in the grocery store. If you want it, you often need to figure out how to make it. Some of our favorite homemade things we would normally just buy are yogurt, ricotta cheese, crackers, english muffins, granola, pasta, and of course, ice cream.
• Doing laundry by hand.
• When there’s no gas and no hot plate, apparently you can use an iron to heat water?!? 
• My pretty strong stomach is no match for the invisible bacteria found in the water. We are constantly filtering or boiling water and/or contemplating our chances when eating out in Nepal.
• Monkeys. They are all around the city. In certain areas, including the baggage claim in the airport's domestic terminal, you need to conceal all food and/or beverages. Otherwise, they'll soon belong to the monkeys.
• New bugs. Especially land leeches during the monsoons make daily walks more adventuresome, requiring regular bug spray and even soaking socks in permethrin to keep them away. And just when leech season finally ended...tick season began.

Of course, we expect that foreigners would and should adapt to their new surroundings. But now, in light of the ongoing border blockade between Nepal and India, even Nepalis are being forced to make modifications to their daily routine. Without cooking gas, we are revisiting how to make favorite foods with the one electrical appliance that we have. Did you know you can make almost anything in a rice cooker? Bread – check! Soup – check! Molten Lava Cake – you bet! Even restaurants are now advertising a “Modi”fied menu, emphasizing the frustration with Prime Minister Modi in India who is believed to be playing a large role in keeping needed supplies from coming into Nepal.

But as the dry winter season begins here in Nepal, electricity is also becoming scarce. Nepal relies on hydroelectricity for power so without consistent rain, we have a limited supply. Many of the rural areas have no electricity at all and in the city, we have to share the supply. This means that during a good portion of the day any given house has no electricity. Below is our current schedule of when electricity is out each day:

            Power is out during the intervals listed.

No sector is immune to the shortages. Domestic flights have been cancelled. Public transportation has been drastically cut. (Christine's commute, as a result, went from $0.20/day to $20.00/day.) Hospitals are short on supplies and in terms of cooking for patients they've even had to resort to open fires. 

Resourceful employees at the Spinal Injury Rehabilitation Centre

Economists are predicting that the border blockade will have a larger negative impact on the country than even the major earthquakes this past spring. But while foreign aid (from India, even) poured in to help Nepal respond to that crisis, most in the world aren't even aware of the blockade, which is now into its 5th month. And so, for the unforeseeable future, it looks like we--along with the rest of the country--won't be traveling. May not be working. And will continue to cook creatively. Between the hours of noon and 4:00 p.m., that is. 

Mountains (The Perfect Wordless Wednesday Theme)

Makalu, 27,825 ft.

Langtang Region: Dorje Lhakpa, 22,854 ft.

Mountains are so elusive! This was five minutes after the above photo was taken. Bye-bye Dorje.

Annapurna South, peaking out at sunrise. 23,684 ft.

Machhapuchhre or "Fishtail" (for obvious reasons), 22,943 ft.

You may already recognize this shot, but we have to include Sagarmaathaa, also known as everest Everest. 29,029 ft.
(In the center with it's characteristic plume.)

For the first six months, we thought these were mountains, as this was our only view during the monsoon rains.
We now know that these are just hills. :)

Nepal Continues to Struggle Post Earthquake

Months after the earthquake, we still see evidence of its destruction on our daily walks. With the end of the monsoons, rebuilding was expected to begin. However, this is currently impossible with the lack of fuel and other resources due to the continued blockade at the Nepal-India border. Even the World Food Programme, a branch of the United Nations, has been unable to overcome this obstacle. They were delivering food via helicopter to many of these affected villages but are now grounded due to the fuel shortages. Many families affected by the earthquake are living in tents or temporary homes made of tin, which provided adequate shelter during the rains but are not as suitable for the cold winter months.

Here are just a few pictures of the homes we pass walking around Kathmandu.

House destroyed on the left with temporary corrugated tin house on right.

Tent cities for earthquake victims remain scattered throughout Kathmandu.

Children playing in one of the tent cities where earthquake victims continue to be housed.

When leaving a research conference at the Hyatt this week, one of the nicest hotels in Kathmandu, these tent cities pictured above were visible from the walkway. While contemplating this disparity and in the midst of subsequent guilt and grief, I just wanted to get them all rooms at the hotel. Although it's not a sustainable solution, I wrestle with hard questions: what is the answer? And how do we get there, especially when the entire country is in survival mode and the rest of the world, and honestly even some of us in Nepal, have moved on from the earthquake? While I don't have answers, we need to continue to seek ways to practically help while living here alongside the people of Nepal. Please continue to pray for Nepal, an end to the blockade, and a renewed focus to rebuild and restore these communities affected by the earthquake.