Our first full day in the village we got an introduction to the work we would be doing during the week. Projects with Choice are filling local needs in tandem with support from the villagers themselves. In joining an expedition you are jumping in on projects already in progress. So it can be a little bit of this and that depending on what the needs are and what the current projects are. This week we worked on a variety of things, but we started the week by helping finish schoolhouse furniture. Our job was to prime and paint the furniture to get it ready for use in the school. It was great to see how easily the kids all jumped in to get to work. A great first day of service and interaction with the villagers.
Local artisan displaying hand carved wooden pots for us to browse after breakfast.
Typical village home near our worksite above the village
Spending the day working on furniture for the school
A storm threatened the work we had just completed so we had to think fast and get it all under cover
Kiran playing drums with the village children, nice to have some time to enjoy the culture of Nepal
After lunch face painting--and arm and hand painting--with the village chilren
Took a little evening stroll to see a bit of the village
Singing and dancing by lantern light at the end of a full day
Our second work day was much the same, only a different project. This time we hiked to some of the more remote villagers' homes to help some of the most needy villagers build biogas digesters. A biogas digester is a simple unit that is a real game changer for a villager. Most people have to burn open fires in their homes for warmth and cooking. A biogas digester provides methane gas piped directly into their homes from natural sources by using animal waste to fuel the gas. This means that the people are not breathing in toxic smoke all day and also frees up enormous time that would've been spent collecting wood and building fires. It's a pretty amazing, yet simple, technology. Biogas digesters require a lot of manual labour to build, especially on the hillside of a Nepali village.
Rise and shine campers!
Hazy views on our hike to the outer village homes
Digging the hole for the biogas digester
Preparing the cement
Bucket brigade to move the cement
Roof completed and a job well done
Back to the village centre for more interaction with the villagers
Evening talk by Nepal Choice director, Bishnu Adhikari
Stephash kids ready to work on our third work day.
Our family with our amazing in country team--Kiran, Chandra and GC
Our family with the Choice in country operations head, Bishnu Adhikari and Choice expedition leaders Veronica Schindler and Keith Ellis
Back digging in the biogas digester pits, this time in a different part of the village for another home.
Village livestock resident
The gracious Nepali woman for whom we were building a biogas digester welcomed me into her humble home and allowed me to photograph some very intimate spaces. It was truly one of the most beautiful experiences of my life.
Such pride and simultaneous humble gratitude for what they have.
Grains kept inside on the first floor of villager homes above sleeping quarters for which they have great pride and gratitude.
The kitchen is in a small separate room outside the main home.
I love the beautiful, colourful designs on the homes,
Dallin taking a break from digging, and interacting with the livestock
Games with the village children while we take shifts digging the biogas digesters.
Taking a break in the shade.
Scenes from the hillsides around Chiti village
Back in Chiti village to finish working on the school furniture, Trevon takes a break with Bishnu.
Our bucket showers. Village life as a Choice volunteer is a rugged experience. The cold water bucket shower is part of the experience. And eventually even the most hesitant succumb to the cleansing, refreshing experience of the bucket shower!
Squat toilets that the villagers attempted to westernise with the added toilet seats, which I tried to avoid. Squat toilets are not so bad, something you get used to as you travel in certain regions of the world.
Our shower and toilet facilities were a ways from where we slept, which made for some interesting nighttime experiences!
After a day of work Becca and I took some of the kids and wondered the village centre. We ended up in this cute little jewellery shop run by this family who also keep turtles and rabbits.
Day three in the village is a wrap!
Rise and shine and ready for day four in the village!
The amount of bottled water that our group consumed was staggering!
Our fourth day was more about cultural exchange, giving us more insight into the projects and learning more about the culture and village life. So we set off to see some of the local work life.
Beautiful views along the hike
Blacksmith
Millers
Collecting wood
Carrying grains through the village
Trevon making friends with everyone, per usual
Back in the village centre we returned to the family-run jewellery shop for another visit.
The girls picking out a piece, a great souvenir and nice way to support the local community.
It's the year 2072 in Nepal!
Playing with the pets at the family jewellery shop and home
Amazing the kind of access you get into people's homes and hearts so quickly when working with Choice. It's one of the most amazing parts of this experience.
Our school room turned dining room. The Choice kitchen staff kept us happily fed throughout the week.
Creative use of everyday items to create late afternoon games with the local village kids. Trevon did such a great job putting himself out there and making friends.
Later in the afternoon we had an opportunity to visit a villager home where a biogas digester was already in full use. It was a great experience to see what good these units are doing in the lives of the villagers, and what the completed product looks like of the work we had been doing on the units during our week in Chiti.
Beautiful people along the way to our home visit.
Kiran jumps in and helps with ploughing on our way.
Visiting the home of this Nepali woman who runs a dairy farm. Her working biogas digester gives her gas piped directly into her home to use for heating and cooking, saving her so much time, work and improving her quality of life and the quality of life of those who benefit from her dairy work.
Back in the village, some final scenes of village kids.
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