What a country! Beautiful doesn’t even touch the edges, the scenery is so breathlessly incredible, it renders me speechless. Massive mountains, twisting and deep valleys, huge-drop waterfalls, and all so green and lush. The roads are insane – the gradients of them are certainly steep at times, but the number of hairpin bends that can be squeezed into a vertical mile are impressive. A reasonable number of the roads have concrete coverings, but not surprisingly there is also a lot of rough surfaces that have potholes galore. They definitely make for bumpy rides, that’s for sure!
Transportation is fairly standard in the cities, but in the rural areas it seems to be motorbike or walking. And the paths that the local people walk along (and ride along) cling to the sides of the hills, but also includes long series of steps weaving up and down between homes and fields. Getting to school for the children can involve a long walk, maybe even crossing from one slope to another via one of the amazing suspension bridges that are so prevalent here.
Despite the gradient of the slopes, there is a lot of food production. Terracing is done for growing rice, and I’ve also seen many squashes and pumpkins etc growing, as well as beans, tomatoes, cabbages, onions, peppers. Chickens, bullocks, and pigs are the main livestock that I’ve seen. And nothing goes to waste – even the weeds that are dug up are carried up to the house to give to the livestock.
Homes can be found so high up in the hills. Today we drove and drove, up and up, along an increasingly unkept and winding, bumpy road. And each time I thought we must have reached the end of the homes, we came across another house, perched precariously but sturdily on the hillside, with a thriving vegetable garden.
I think that the lifestyle here in the remote villages is more different to any other place I’ve been. Just the logistics of getting from one place to another are something else – no popping to the nearest shop when you run out of milk! Self-sufficiency is definitely the name of the game. But despite the remoteness, there is no lack of access to internet – I’ve been able to check WhatsApp, emails and search the web more easily here than along many parts of the M4!
I do wonder though how the people here view their surroundings. Living here every day, with no light pollution, and massive views is just incredible. But when it is every day – does familiarity get in the way, and instead the struggles of daily life take over? I asked Bishnu, my host in Nepal, about this. He feels that people do appreciate their surroundings, and do know just beautiful they are, but that is not stopping the younger generation from migrating to the towns, cities and even overseas in search of work. Yes, they still view their rural village as ‘home’ but there clearly isn’t the same desire to stay and work the land, or earn money in a small community. Instead, the lure of bigger opportunities call, and it tends to be older people that are seen working the land.
This is also seen in schools where the numbers on roll are falling year on year. A challenge for the government, because how to combine two small and vaguely viable ‘neighbouring’ schools when the resultant commute for some of the children might be 2 or 3 hours, with an altitude difference of 1000m or more. And a not insignificant proportion of the children living in the villages live with their grandparents, because the parents have gone to work overseas, just to bring in more money.
Nepal is a stunningly beautiful place, and to the tourist, it paints an unforgettable picture of creation at its finest. But behind that façade, life is complicated, and there is no simple solution to the challenges being faced – impact of climate change, political unrest, it’s geopolitical position….Being here has been such a treat, and I feel overwhelmed with it in some ways – what have I done to deserve this gig? That is one of those questions without answer, but I am forever grateful to God for this opportunity, and I thank Nepal for welcoming me as they have done and pray that they will find solutions to the way forward in peaceful, positive ways.
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