Tansen: Moms, a Hosptial, & Coffee

The next set of excursions included an women's group, called the aamaa's group, a hospital visit, and a coffee cooperative.

We met the aamaa's group in Madan Pokhara, the same location of the community forestry and Radio Nepal. They served us a huge lunch, then started telling us about themselves. Their objectives for the group were to be self sufficient, spread women empowerment, environmental cleanliness, health awareness, and fight "bad behavior" (heavy drinking, corruption, etc). To be a part of the group, they have to be a mother. During the discussion, 5 of their cell phones went off - my neighbor and I kept track. They sounded pretty successful with their goals by helping people to stop drinking and almost all the women in the area area part of the group. They said that fathers and husbands were supportive of the group. It was interesting because after their speech, they asked us for feedback on how to improve, which no other organization had asked for. They also asked us questions like, "why did we come to Nepal?" and, "how are the women in Nepal different from the ones in America?"

Finally, they started dancing and convinced everybody to dance too. It was fun!

aamaa's group - all the women wore red saris.

Beautiful hills.

We visited a United Mission Hospital and received a presentation by a white, British lady - our first presentation in fluent English or without a translator. We got the usual speech about what they're up to and how great they are. I thought it was interesting because the hospital is a missionary church, but you don't have to be Christian to be treated, nor do they attempt to convert patients. The director said they ask if they can pray for the patients, and people usually seem to appreciate that. Later for an assignment, I interviewed some locals about their healthcare and all the families love the hospital. They like that it's foreign, so the medicine seems more trustworthy. It's also affordable and near by. The other option, a new teaching hospital has long waits and the Nepali doctors are "lazy." I think this hospital is still trying to get on its feet and locals aren't used to it yet.

Hospital in Palpa

More green hills.

We took the jeeps out to a coffee co-op. It's government registered and regulated, but not run. The members don't like doing the bureaucratic stuff. The co-op requires a monthly fee, which they use to make a local banking system. It was interesting because they just got an espresso machine, but they have no idea how to use it, so one of my friend's showed them how it worked. They also gave us coffee - and it was so delicious I had 2 cups! But it was Nepali coffee, so it had tons of sugar in it, which is probably why I liked it.

Later they took us on a little tour of their farm...in the jungle. I need to stay away from jungles, that's where the LARGE spiders live. I heard my classmates exclaiming behind me, and one of my friends told me not to look up or to my left. I asked how big they were later - monstrosities.

Coffee

Mollie teaching the co-op how to use the espresso machine. She said she didn't really know how to work it, but after being a barista, she had enough knowledge to teach some of the buttons' functions.

Coffee beans

Giant banana leaves

Pest control: Sticky panels catch bugs. Someone asked, "what happens if it doesn't catch all the pests and they eat the coffee?" The farmer said, "eh, ke garne?" meaning, "what to do?" They just roll with it.