Earthquake in Nepal

We have not updated this Blog in some time.  The internet is so slow in Nepal that it take hours.  That is no excuse for now.  Even though we knew this mission would be an adventure, it has turned out to be more than we had ever imagined.  The Lord knows all and in someway we were put in Nepal doing humanitarian work when the largest earthquake in the last 80 years decided to unleash.  There were so many miracles that happened that day and the following days that we cannot list them.  We definitely were protected and the members of our Branch were protected.

We will not tell our story in this post but we wanted to share some pictures.  I did not take a lot of pictures.  For one, the camera was only working half the time.  I have now purchased my third camera of our mission - one we lost the first day in Kathmandu, one that quit working for a multitude o reason, and the new one we bought in Thailand.  For a little background, we were not together when the earthquake hit.  Chris was on the 7th floor of our apartment doing the final preparations for a dinner with the youth.  The Branch meets on Saturdays, another blessing, and I was watching delayed conference.  We were watching the Saturday afternoon session when the earthquake hit.  Chris ran down the 7 flights of stairs, essentially unharmed.  We met in the road that runs by the apartment.  It was a joyous reunion.

Here are some pictures and captions.

The members and neighbors gathered on the road near the chapel.

We had to sit much of the time as the aftershocks kept coming and we could not stand up.

The youth started to sing hymns and all of us took comfort while singing.

Cell phones were used to locate members and family.

After a while we gathered back in the courtyard to put together a plan.

This is the chapel.  Not heavily damaged but of poor construction.  Many buildings similar to this came down.  This chapel damaged enough to be unsafe to continue to use for meetings.

We waited and waited!  The water cooler became our earthquake indicator.  About every 15 minutes we would watch and feel the tremors.  After everyone went to their homes, we slept outside under the tree you see in this picture.

Another picture in the chapel showing some of the damage.  There is crack from the drapes to the electrical conduit.  We were blessed it did not come down.

About half of the back wall came down.

Here is where we slept in the American Embassy for two nights.

This was the day of the quake when we were walking to the Shangrala. It is near the Teaching Hospital.  There were shops under this building.  

People gathered where ever they could outside.  The rains continued to come down and the earth continued to shake.

Here is our apartment.  Fortunately still standing but we will not live there.

Some of the cracks.

This is a corner support.

Here is the entry to our apartment.  Almost everything was on the floor.

More apartment.

Here is a wall on a fifth floor apartment.  Yes, that is daylight.

Here is our apartment and the field next to it.  Rukmina and her family stayed here for some time.  We were flown out to Bangkok on the 28th.

On our revisit we visited Bhaktapur.  Here is a section of highway that fell 4 feet.

This is Maya.  She and her aunt lost their home.

Here is the front of Maya's home.  Doesn't look too bad from this photo.  Look at the next.

Here is Maya's home from the back.  They would not even let us go back there as the buildings all around are crumbling.

I liked this picture of a dog watching the people from a window.

Here is Elder Funk talking to the Branch.  He brought great comfort.  We stopped in Kathmandu on our way from Thailand to Hong Kong.  We spent 3 days in Nepal.

The members took great comfort in being together.

Here is our new apartment.  Not a crack in it.  In fact it is the only building I saw in Nepal that did not show a crack.

The Faces with the Wheelchairs

All wheelchair recipients have an amazing story of their own.  They are humbling and inspiring. We can only post a few of their faces.   We love what we do, and we are glad to help these faces lead more independent lives.

Isn't this boy darling?  He told us he had muscular dystrophy.  He will probably only have his wheelchair about 4 or 5 years before his disability will be so severe that he won't be able to be in a wheelchair.  We are not always sure that they even really know what their exact problem is.  Sometimes they are misdiagnosed or not even diagnosed at all.  We do what we can to make them happier.

This family is semi-homeless.  They live under a tarp, and dad lives 24 hours a day in his wheelchair.  You would never know with the smiles on their faces that their lives are so humble.

The assessors go to work to get just the right chair for this cute boy.  He will finally have wheels and then he can move around and even go to school.  He will finally have a little independence.

This little woman might not have the use of her legs, but she has her pride.  We love these sweet people who hold their heads up high despite the difficulties of their lives.

We have learned more than we have served. Service is like that.   Besides wheelchairs, we help with metal stoves with chimneys, green houses, bio-gas digesters, latrines, neonatal resuscitation training programs, computer training for the blind and the disabled, and knitting and sewing classes for abused and disabled women.  We even proofread social studies books in our free time.  We are busy, but if is nothing in comparison to what needs to be done here.  We live well.  We have all that we need.  But we need others to serve.  The other senior couple is going home with no replacement in sight.  There is more than enough work for 2 couples.  So if you have a feeling for doing a great service for a very humbled nation, put in your papers.  Then you will know what we know.  We love God's children.  Just look at their faces.  

Wheelchairs, Wheelchairs and More Wheelchairs

Latter-day Saint Charities gives out wheelchairs in Nepal. Five percent of those who need wheelchairs receive wheelchairs in Nepal, and LDSC gives 80% of them.  This year along with the wheelchairs Kim and Gaye Brown, physical therapists, came to Nepal to teach government physical therapists how to properly fit a patient for a wheelchair.  We held 2 trainings - one in Kathmandu and one in Pokhara.  The last day of each training was a clinical where people of all ages who need wheelchairs but can't afford wheelchairs came to test our newly trained assessors.  Our Hong Kong supervisors also attended the training so they would be more knowledgeable when wheelchair projects came across their desks.  It was quite the two weeks ending with an American Thanksgiving dinner and Elder Valentine getting hauled off by airport guards when they suspected he had broken into a donation box.  Oh the stories we will have to tell when we return home.

There was a lecture portion to the training, but much of the training was hands on.  Students took turns learning how to move patients. Besides fitting wheelchairs, assessors have to know how to teach wheelchair-patient skills.  Everyone had to take their turn.

Praatziek is on the left and Nitika is on the left.  They were our Nepali physical therapist trainers whose job it was to translate for Kim and Gaye and then teach their own sections.  They were fabulous!!!  

Students were handed a newly uncrated wheelchair and together they learned to put it together.  

Students practiced how to handle wheelchairs on hills. 

Elder Valentine took part of the class out to the dirt roads.  Most Nepali roads are dirt and some wheelchairs are difficult to move on the dirt.  The chairs that work best on the roads are also harder to get on public transportation.  So it is a trade off and assessors need to have a hands on knowledge to be able to counsel their patients.

Stairs are everywhere, so to the stairs the students went.  

Kim and Gaye Brown have been handling all of LDSC wheelchair projects and trainings in the Asia area for the last 5 years.  They really care about the disabled and work hard to make sure LDSC gives out quality wheelchairs and physical therapists know how to assess patients.  Nick Shrestha, a branch member, was our assistant.  He did everything from translating documents to communicating with students to role playing a patent.  This was a perfect threesome.  

To the Tops of the Mountains We Went

Lukla is the beginning of the trek to Everest base camp, and that was as far as we were going to go.  We are literally at the gate that starts the trek to base camp - about a week's hike away.  It was chilly during the day and cold at night.  We are standing with our guide, Parash, who spent the couple of days with us even though we never left Lukla.  It is a government law to have a guide.  Lukla is known for having the world's most dangerous airport.  The mountains were spectacular and for the pampered Chris, this was well out of her comfort zone, but totally fun!

This was our little hotel - The Nest at Lukla.  The airport is literally yards away from the patio.  Someone forgot to tell us  to bring  sleeping bags but the hotel gave us a blanket.  We spent the evenings in the restaurant playing games and the day we spent seeing the small town.  All Everest trekkers start here.  They all have guides and porters who carry their belongings.  Trekkers carry a day back pack.  Rescue helicopters were flying steadily through the day picking up trekkers who got sick or had accidents.  It is not if you get sick on the trail; it is when you get sick on the trail - a nurse who just returned from Everest base camp told us.  Hmmmm - glad we stayed in Lukla. 

Children in Nepal rarely have toys - no matter if you are in Kathmandu or outside of Kathmandu.  Children play with whatever they can find.  This little one has a bottle and is putting rocks inside it.  They are happy children.

We went to Lukla so we could see the yaks.  These are not true yaks, but a hybrid animal with less fur.  Yaks are further up where it is really, really cold.  These "yaks" come down into Lukla once a week for a villager shopping day.  The villagers bring things to sell at the local market - tarps on the ground with vegetables, meats, clothing, etc laid on them.  They sell yak meat, yak butter, and all sorts of random things villagers might need.  Then the "yaks" are loaded back up and back to the villages they go.  If villagers do not have animals to carry their goods, they put their supplies on their back and they hike back home.

Jim said he found Yoda from Star Wars.  People who carry their goods have baskets on their back that are carried with a cloth like strap attached to their heads.  You can see one villager with his basket on his back.  

When the supplies are in boxes they strap the boxes with cords and then using the strap around their heads, walk back to their village.  Their villages are not close and nothing is flat.  They are walking up mountains to get back and between getting to Lukla and returning home, it takes a whole day.  Sometimes entire families come, and some of the children are carrying packs of supplies.  

The "yaks" are headed home with supplies.  They are not tied together, but follow a man who has a stick.  They are not terribly friendly animals and those horns are sharp.  We kept our distance.  

One of the views from our hotel -we were literally nestled in the mountains.  These mountains do not seem so extraordinarily tall, but we are already way up in the mountains.  The only airport runway which is very short runs uphill to land and when you depart, the airplane goes back down the runway and flies off the edge of the mountain.


This will be the only little side trip we will make during our mission. It was short - flew up one day, stayed a day, and flew home the next day.  We are not here to sight see, but to do the Lord's work.  There is a lot of that we have to do.  Nepal will someday be a "garden of Eden" when they harvest their power (water), fix their sanitation, and a host of other problems - all do-able.  But they will have to do it.  We only play a small role in their road out of poverty, but they are great people.  They are truly kind.  And when I think who is the most blessed by the work we do here, I come up with the same answer.  It is always us.  Isn't that always how it is?  We wish you were all here to get a taste of not only the beauty of Nepal, but the people.  Then you would understand how easy it is to love where we are!  

October is Festival Month

October is festival month here in Nepal.  Dashain basically celebrates the battle of good over evil.  Each day there is a celebration of a particular animal.  Families get together and the people in Kathmandu travel back to their villages to celebrate with their families.  The streets are relatively quiet and many shutter stores close.  People have colored tikas on their foreheads.  Tikas are blessing.  Even animals have tikas on their heads and flowers around their necks.  

Shop owners sell all colors of paint for tikas. 

This dog has already been blessed with the tika on his head and the flowers around his neck.  

Tihar, another festival, starts several days after Dashain.  It is the festival of lights and the city is all decorated with lights.  The people all come back to Kathmandu and bring their families. Kathmandu becomes packed with people.  We took a walk in the market places in the evening so we could see the lights and enjoy the painted decorations on the sidewalks.  Rukmina and her son, Hitson were our guides.  Rukmina is a close friend from our church who helps us with anything to do with Nepal.  

One of our partners invited us to enjoy the last day of Dashain with his extended family.  We were blessed with tikas on our foreheads and grass behind our ears - all a part of Hindu customs.

Our church members work or go to school 6 days a week so they can only see each other on the Sabbath.  They use the holidays to plan activities.  The youth and the single adults planned an all day conference. They played games, watched videos, painted church rooms, discussed gospel principles, and ate lots.  They planned it all themselves.  We just got to attend.  It was awesome!