Packing up and farewells
The details have come together; from logistics to broader goals, we’re getting close to readiness for departure. We now have a host NGO (Village Environment Community – Gangkharka), www.vec.org.np. They’re a wonderful group of people, with commitment to their work and enthusiasm in their engagement with us. We’ll be working with them, for at least a year with their projects benefiting children in remote mountain communities of Helambu’s eastern valleys. We’ll run a series of mobile health clinics, help build a new village health post, and make a documentary film about VEC’s work, the region, its cultures, and its development. We may also work some with the new boarding school set up for children who have lost parents or were left behind as their parents seek employment overseas. See http://www.gonewandering.net/?page_id=80 for more.
In helping us prepare, VEC has gone so far as to organize a couple horses for us. I think we’ll probably be the first tourist family to do horse trekking in eastern Helambu. After two weeks in Kathmandu (the capitol), we’ll head out to Melamchi Bazaar (about 5 hours northeast of Kathmandu by road), from where we’ll begin 10 to 20 days of trekking up the Indrawadi khola river valley, visiting the villages served by VEC’s projects. Through these initial visits (accomapanied by a VEC staff guide), our roles should get more clear, and we’ll rent a place to live in one of the project vilages.
If the horses work out well, we may help VEC’s trekking arm, Charity Treks, to set up for offering family horse treks as a unique offering ammongst Nepal’s many trekking agencies. We’ll see.
It’s all pretty exciting at this point. We’ve already been raising funds for the medical camps – 500 Euros and a few boxes of donated supplies so far – and we’re beginning to pack up our own household for storage. Immunizations, visas, flights, hotels…it’s all coming together. Only three weeks to go now! Already the first friends have said their final ‘farewells’.
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