Still reeling from the Raksi, we head up the valley after lunch to visit a school.
This is a government school and I say this because there are a lot of private schools and these are considered to be gerally better than the government ones.
Durga is very supportive of this school because it is technical and practical. What is unusual is it is teaching sustainable agriculture along with all the other subjects. For Durga also there is another angle, he needs to be taken seriously by this community to be accepted.
We had a formal introduction and this is not unusual in Nepal. Adorned with garlands, tikka on our foreheads (red for a joyous occasion, although I looked like I’d been hit with an axe) and a presentation from the teachers.
The school clearly see Durga as a benefactor and as I listened I understood that while the government pay for the infrastructure of the school is up to the school to fund much of their resources. So there was a plea for financial help.
If it hadn’t been for the help of a New Zealand teacher and his wife, they would not have any computers. They very proudly showed us these.
Some of the other equipment has seen better days.
Durga made a speech and gave them an electronic soil testing device as a gift.
Then suddenly it was my turn to give a speech, I was rather caught off guard! Gulp! Recorded Gulp!
Unaccustomed as I am……….
Seriously I think I can help the school so I asked for them to provide me a list with exactly what they need and approximate costs. A number of organisations in the UK have a focus on Nepal at present so I will approach them when I get home.
We did a walkabout and I felt very uncomfortable when the teachers asked if I was a proffesor of agriculture or botany. I said that I wasn’t, I’m no dignitary either but, as we went on talking it didn’t seem to matter, I was interested and knew enough. They showed me the projects; the recent introduction of a lemon grove, this had failed initially (because they had used lemon trees from the warmer south), they also have a fish farm! A huge tank of grass carp. What they want are bee hives and they have cleared an area for this. They were very excited to find I am a bee keeper!
So my thoughts here, and Ive discussed it with Durga is the community here could support a cooperative apiary, so everyone benefits and potentially they can sell any surplus honey/wax to plough back into the project/school.
If hives die and sometimes they do, the loss to the individual will not be so great! I can produce something about hive hygiene practices and this will go a long way to prevent the catastrophic infection Durgas Nephew saw.
After the walkabout I got to play babminton with the teachers and kids. I’m rubbish at it but, it was fun!
I’m impressed with the teachers here, one in particular grew up in this valley and went to this school, gained his degree in India and came back to teach here and he is quite rightly proud of the school.
Later to my horror I find I’m on Facebook giving my speech!
The Travelling Bee 