May 28, 2008

Well, there we were . . . in Phaplu, with no Sherpas to carry our bags.  Pem said he could get them, but I looked around and it would have been Pem, Dendi, Chokba, Nhongpre, Pasang, Phude, and Nema to carry all the supplies, and our bags.  It would be too much for them, so Dan, Brandi, Gerri and I lugged our own.  That is when I realized the 80 pounds of luggage, was just too much.  We hiked up the small hillside, which sat near the airport.  There was a tea house close.  Once we arrived, Pem was taken aside by a couple of Education leaders of the Chyangba region.  Apparently the tea house where Pem scheduled for us to stay would be unsafe, as the Maoists had just asked the King of Nepal to step down from his reign.  He agreed, and he only had 15 days to do so.  That caused schools to close immediately, shops to close, parades to form, protesters and politicians to line the street, along with armed city and state police.  The four of us, very white Americans – especially me, the only blonde hair, blue-eyed American, seemed vulnerable, and somewhat in danger.  Our moods immediately changed.  We were scared, depressed, and helpless.  The computers didn’t work, phones didn’t work.  The Nepalese flew their communist, Maoist flags, and marched in the streets.  What could we do but leave for Chyangba?!  Pem said that it would be the safest place for us anyway.  So, we went to bed early that night, amongst the enormous spiders and beetles, to avoid any confrontation(s).  We left for Chyangba the following morning.

May 29, 2008

We managed to get emails to our families before we left, into the jungle, up and around the Himalayas.  New news, after a very restless, anxious night’s sleep, was “explosions and bombings of protest in Kathmandu”, “200 of 500 Tibetan women arrested in Kathmandu”, due to protesting, “10,000 troops brought in to Kathmandu to keep peace in the capital, along with 20,000 more volunteers” – to hold off any rioting.  We walked and walked through village after village, to get to Chyangba.  The feeling was eerie.  The villagers were listening to their radios, and just quietly watched us, staring at the four Education Elevated team members – white as we could be, walking through with our trekking poles and packs.  The terrain was rugged, steep, hot and muggy.  Along with the heat and Monsoon season, we all were getting eaten from the blood sucking jungle bugs, which we had not prepared for. We hiked down the mountain to the river, then back up again – many times, finally reaching Chyangba (8500 feet in elevation) 7 hours later.  We were greeted warmly and fed immediately.  This was Pem’s village, his family.  We had reached our destination, and it was now time to prove to the Chyangba villagers, we were there to fulfill a promise . . . to change the lives of their children, one day at a time. 

The remainder of our trek/expedition was helping and visiting Chyangba.  We spent time with the children, hiked to their monastery, met the school teachers, painted the school, planned the changes and the construction of the new library, ate lots of potatoes, drank lots of “chang” – a home brew of potatoes, wheat, and corn, and danced and laughed lots with Pem’s family and Sherpas.  Chyangba is truly a primitive, yet worthy place to contribute.  We left Chyangba, June 3, 2008 with hopes to return some day . . . to see the smiles we were able to give to Pem’s village.