WOW. I am so floored by all of the generous donations I have received for Nepal in the last week. I have exceeded my goal, and am working with my Nepali partners to decide how to best allocate it beyond the library and warm clothes. I think I will be able to make a donation to our Women’s Empowerment project as well. I will report back as soon as I arrive in Nepal in just over 2 weeks!!
Until then, you can visit our new website (still in progress) at CASDUSA.org. I will try to make another …
Well, a lot has happened in the last 6 months, although it may not feel like it. After returning from Asia and a brief visit to Colorado I was hired by a sustainable house building design-build firm in Napa, CA. The last few months have felt long as I try to settle in and make a home for myself. In some ways it has been harder than expected, and in some ways easier. I hope to tease more of that out in the following weeks. But I am already looking across the Ocean again, and have …
Credit: Ric Chong
Unfortunately the incredible synergy of our shelter building group couldn’t last the whole time I was there. The boys (Sean and Ben) had work to return to in Colorado, Ric was needed back in Kathmandu, and we needed to arrange another shipment of zinc roofing sheets. So what did I do with the rest of my time in Nepal?
I tagged along with all other CASD field operatives that I could. Ric and I visited the orphanage where he and Prakash met – Prakash as an employee and Ric as a volunteer. The kids were mostly …
Nepal has affected me in ways that I don’t even know yet. I cried in the morning, thinking about leaving. I cried saying goodbye to my friends. And then saying goodbye to my other friends at the airport. I cried the entire walk from the terminal to the plane, thanking the Nepali earth I walked upon. Maybe I’m just more open now, but something grabbed my heart here.
My brain isn’t exactly sure why I’m so effected. There are definitely things here that make me uncomfortable. I’ve never been in a caste culture before. On the …
It has been an amazing week. Upon arrival I was welcomed into the home of the director of CASD-Nepal, along with the team of four that I was joining. In fact all 6 of us slept in one room, three women on the bed and three men on the floor. Last night we were laughing about how they took a big risk on me, and I took a big risk on them. It couldnt have turned out any better.
The village we worked in stretches along this ridgeline. The school we slept in is the white …