Nepal Update from the Harsevoorts

(NEPAL) We‘ve been in Nepal for 6 weeks already! Time has flown by. We arrived in Kathmandu the evening of Wednesday, September 9th. Early the following morning, our IRM colleague, Dwayne Nienhuis, dragged us off to an 8:00 a.m. “Integral Alliance” meeting at the “Tearfund” office. Next, we attended a UN Food Security Cluster meeting at 10:30. We had lunch, went to the office to meet the staff, did some shopping, and went to bed early. Talk about starting off with a bang!

After we arrived, Harry bought 2 cell phones. Wow, what a process. His passport was photocopied, he needed to provide a separate passport photo, and he was fingerprinted. That was more of an ordeal than getting our 90-day visa at Immigration!

Kathmandu is a large city of over 1,000,000 inhabitants and the traffic in the city is crazy. There are no traffic lights or stop signs and buses, trucks, taxis, motorbikes, bicycles and pedestrians all struggle and push to get through. One does see police directing traffic in some of the busiest areas. Somehow, they do make it work! The air quality is very bad and many people wear breathing masks. Both our apartment and office are just south of the main city, where the air is somewhat better.

During our walk to the office, we see people using community water sources to fill up their water jugs, do their laundry and even bathe themselves.

World Renew has targeted the community of Manakamana, in the district of Nuwakot, for recovery assistance. We have been able to assist all 9 wards with our emergency and WASH programs.

A World Renew field office has been set up in the town of Bidur, approximately a 3-hour drive west of Kathmandu. From the field office, our team drives from ½ to 1 hour up mountain roads to reach one of the wards. The roads are narrow, switch back and forth, cross streams, and in some locations are partly washed out. We must admit that walking through the wards is a challenge for us out-of-shape seniors!

Early World Renew projects completed before we arrived included the distributions of emergency food, hygiene kits, blankets, and corrugated galvanized iron (CGI) sheets, tools, etc. for repairing homes or building temporary shelters. We are presently implementing our WASH (Water and Sanitation & Health) program and IRM Brad Lucas has arrived to start planning and organizing our Shelter (Housing) program.

CGI sheets provided by World were used to build this temporary home before the onset of the Monsoon season. On Sept 20th, after 7 years of deliberations, the government of Nepal finally proclaimed a constitution. Although there was much celebration in most of the country, some groups to the south along the India border are unhappy and have been staging protest demonstrations at the Nepal/India border crossings.

Only a few truckloads of fuel per day are being allowed into the country and Nepal has pretty much come to a standstill. This is another disaster for Nepal! People are parking their cars and running out of cooking fuel (propane); stores are running out of merchandise and closing; most restaurants have very limited menus and are cooking over wood fires, tourists are cancelling their bookings. We hear of people queuing for a day or more to buy fuel – limited to 15L for cars or 5L for motorbikes.

The fuel embargo has of course made the relief efforts of World Renew and other INGOs very challenging this past month. Last week, our team in Nuwakot was ready to proceed with a latrine distribution. They had put in a lot of overtime working with the suppliers to make sure that all the necessary components were available (cement, latrine pads, pipes, etc), and also that they had enough fuel available for the trucks. The hired trucks were being loaded when a policeman came along and told them to stop. It seems that In order to conserve fuel, the government will now only allow the transportation of people and food!

Sashi, our driver and Sanjay, our procurement officer spend many hours trying to find enough fuel for our essential transportation needs. We plan our trips very carefully and walk to and from the office each day.

In summary, here we are again, in a new country, experiencing a different language, different people, different culture, different customs and a new set of challenges.

In addition to the fuel shortage (only temporary, we hope), one of our major challenges has been the language barrier. Except for a few words/phrases, we don’t understand/speak Nepali and making ourselves understood is often quite difficult and frustrating. We are also experiencing difficulty in hiring staff, as often applicants do not have a sufficient command of the English language.

We are grateful to be given the opportunity to work in this beautiful country. The scenery is spectacular, the climate is quite moderate and pleasant, and the people we meet are friendly and gracious. The needs of the people in earthquake damaged communities is great and we feel truly blessed to be given the opportunity to serve here in Nepal.

Prayer Requests:

That God will provide us with wisdom, patience, as we try to encourage and support our team members
That the right people will come forward to fill our staffing needs
That the fuel embargo at the India border will soon come to an end
For a stable government as Nepal adjusts to the reality of a new constitution and a newly elected prime minister

Blessings,