Dear TRAS members,
What a boost for the Humla Delights Café in Simikot, the little capital of Humla District in Nepal! This article appeared in the main daily national newspaper in Kathmandu. All profits from the goodies sold at the café go to the READI Nepal hostel for the TRAS education project there.
A year has gone by since the devastating earthquakes in Nepal – and Nepal’s people have shown their incredible resilience and determination.
True, there are reports of promised aid not getting through, and a lack of comprehensive planning – but the PEOPLE have just pulled together and made the best of it. TRAS members who have visited recently talk of cheerful, smiling people going about their daily lives -it’s almost as though the disaster has drawn them closer to support each other and do what they can themselves to make life bearable.
These photos, from the Times of India, show that many buildings have not been rebuilt, but they have cleared away the rubble, tidied up, repaved damaged streets and it’s almost business as usual!
The world has suffered new calamities recently and many people have moved on to help in other places – but those of us who love the beauty of Nepal and its people know that much still needs to be done to bring lasting improvements. Several aid agencies and charities are still working hard to support the local efforts, TRAS among them. Strong, sanitary toilets are being rebuilt in the Dolakha villages with the funds TRAS members have sent.
TRAS Speaker Series is very pleased to present:
Date: March 4, 2016
Time: Doors open at 7:00 pm – talk at 7:30 pm
Location: Sutherland Secondary School, 1860 Sutherland Avenue, North Vancouver (free parking)
Cost: By Donation. (Handicrafts and baked goods will be on sale) Proceeds to TRAS
SPACE IS LIMITED – REGISTER by email at cbunbury@sd44.ca or by phoning the TRAS office at 604-224-5133
Event Details:
In this presentation, anthropologist, linguist and broadcaster Mark Turin will share insights from his 25 years living and working in Nepal and the greater Himalayan region. Mark’s richly illustrated talk will position the nation’s response, relief and recovery, following the catastrophic earthquakes of April and May, 2015, in a deeper historical and social context. Reflecting on Nepal’s extraordinary ethnic and linguistic diversity, Mark will speak to the creativity and resilience of the country’s citizens in the face of mounting uncertainty.
Speaker bio:
Mark Turin is an Associate Professor of Anthropology at UBC, where he also serves as Chair of the First Nations and Endangered Languages Program. Prior to moving to Vancouver, Mark was an Associate Research Scientist with the South Asian Studies Council at Yale University, and the Founding Program Director of the Yale Himalaya Initiative. He directs the Digital Himalaya Project, of which he is a co-founder, and the co-editor of the longest running open-access journal of Himalayan studies, entitled HIMALAYA. Follow him on Twitter: @markturin
Mark and his wife Sara were instrumental in bringing to TRAS the ‘Twin your Toilet’ reconstruction project in Dolakha.
This special event is co-hosted by the new Global Perspectives Program at Sutherland Secondary School in North Vancouver.
December 2015: The latest news from Lama Paljor is that the children are much healthier now that they are enjoying a nutritious lunch. For many who come from extremely poor families, this lunch is the most substantial meal of the day. The children are not falling asleep during the afternoon classes, and are better able to concentrate. Almost all the mothers are now able to work in their fields, and work on the roads – but this work is intermittent; they may get work perhaps for a month, and then none for a couple of months. Lama Paljor feels, therefore, that he cannot ask the parents to pay for the lunch.
He had hoped to have the greenhouse up and running this past summer, but heavy rains and landslides (caused perhaps by the massive Himalayan earthquakes this year) have prevented the construction. The land has been levelled, and the supplies are purchased, so we hope he is soon able to build the greenhouse and start growing vegetables.
TRAS has agreed to fund the lunch program for a further three months.
