The Story So Far...

Since arriving in Kathmandu on the 28th January, the Project 36 team have been busy settling into a community in the region of Tanahun, and have been making important first steps in our project. From teaching children about the impacts of Iron Deficiency Anemia (IDA), to taking surveys on local’s dietary habits and farming, there has been plenty to keep us busy in the village.

After a long-haul flight via Doha, the team landed in Kathmandu late in the evening of the 28th, and spent the night in Kathmandu Guest House. Though exhausted, we made some useful contacts in the lobby area such as Khil Thapa from Gurkha Adventures - an Ex Gurkha Officer and Everest Summiter, and Lena – a German proposal writer for development projects.

We woke up early the next day at the crack of dawn in order to avoid rush hour traffic when leaving Kathmandu in a mini bus. We arrived at the town of Bhimad after roughly 6 hours of driving on rough roads, and from there we met our host Paul Ale and caught a local bus up to our destined village in the hills. When we finally arrived at the house where we would be staying for the next 8 days, we received a hospitable welcome from a local women’s institute and other families. Later that night, we were blessed to experience a dancing ceremony from locals in the village, and though exhausted and sober, they managed to make us dance for a good few hours!

Our third day revolved around orientation around the Aspakdi village and its surrounding area. The scenery surrounding the village is stunning, and adds a dramatic backdrop to our work. After climbing the hill overlooking the area, we explored the village and, with that, got the chance to meet locals and gain valuable contacts in the area.

During the afternoon we met the Principal of the primary school, local farmers, shop owners and a medical professional. We conducted a transit walk on this day which composed of surveying fields and interacting with local farmers. To finish the day, visited Ex-Gurkha Major Prem Ale’s family home, which was a heartwarming experience to say the least.

Our fourth day was dedicated to partaking in activities hosted by the local school during their sports day. This provided a fun and casual way to introduce ourselves to the staff of the school. We played team sports such as tug of war and the native Nepalese game of ‘Kabaddi’, a game similar to bulldog but far more physical, as we found to our surprise. As the day drew to close, Chris and Sanjay made short speeches to all the pupils, in which they introduced all the team members and informed them on our purpose here.

This morning saw us returning to the school to teach both primary and secondary classes. Anna and Shimal thoroughly planned engaging sessions to educate the children on the issue of IDA. The morning classes went down well with pupils, as evidence suggested in the feedback we received from the short tests taken by the pupils at the end of the class.

Later this afternoon Sanjay, Dinda and I started interviewing local women in the area with the surveys we finalized and translated last night. We were surprised by the results and encouraged to take far larger quantity over the following days in order to get a more accurate understanding of the situation of this health issue in the region.

So with this said, the Project 36 team are feeling optimistic about the coming days, with plenty to keep us busy on the itinerary. I will post later in the week on the coming progress and look forward to speaking again.