Back to the basics: Water, fuel, electricity, and air

Welcome to another addition of “Nepal Updates”. When you last heard from us, we were together celebrating Christmas in warm and sunny Thailand. Things have changed. Craig has moved to Munich, Germany for 11 weeks to complete his final unit of Rolfing certification- where it is cold and snowy. Shannon has remained in cold and slightly miserable Kathmandu waiting it out patiently till spring break, when Craig returns. I suppose that’s not the biggest news of changes yet… The happy couple is now expecting a child, due to join them sometime in September in Bellingham, WA. Figuring that a new job, a new career, a new home, a new country, a new marriage just weren’t enough of a change; they have now added a new baby to the list of major life changes to embrace all at once. It’s easier writing about it all in the third person, because it’s all still a bit surreal. I’m sure it will be real enough, soon enough. We’re very excited and happy to bring our child into our lives and share the experiences of parenting together. Wow. It will be a big change…

In the meantime, how about an update on life in Nepal?
So, if you haven’t seen it, this weeks’ TIME magazine cover story is Nepal, “The Battle for Nepal: Why Maoists, royalists and the big powers all want to control the Himalayan nation”. Here’s a link if you want to check it out; there’re some pretty good photos of what life looks like here too. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1708585,00.html

You know, reading the article, one would get the impression that what people want here is democracy, equality, and first and foremost: elections to make that happen. If only that were so. Really what people want are: electricity, fuel, water, clean air, and basic sanitary services. Not too much to ask for, right?

Water: I mean I’ve always taken it for granted that when you turn on the tap you have clean drinking water. Here, you just turn it on (if you even have running water in your home) and wait and see if anything comes out. As foreigners, we never drink it without first boiling, filtering and sterilizing it (although we have taken to brushing our teeth with it – risqué!) Nepal probably has some of the world’s richest potential for fresh drinking water. With the Himalayas as our backdrop, snow melt rivers cascade down in the valley most of the year. Plus, we have a significant rainy monsoon season that stretches May until October (at least this year). Yet, there is no catchment system; no storage or centralized planning for water. You would think that there would be reservoirs and a system for holding water and dispensing regularly as needed. Of course not! We have a few huge tanks at our house, one under-ground that apparently has city water (most don’t have this and if you live on a hill- you can forget about city water all together- you pay for it- but none ever makes it to your home). Luckily we live at the bottom of a hill. Anyhow, I have no idea how this water gets here, but I do know that it requires a pump system- which is problematic because the water comes at irregular intervals and you need electricity-which we rarely have- to pump your tank full. Okay, the craziest thing is that these Indian Tata trucks- they are painted bright green red or blue, have flowers and Hindu gods and goddess painted all over them- they drive up at odd times, maybe 3:00am- yes, in the morning, and with a big hose they deliver water. Water is delivered by Hindu religiously painted trucks in a country that has terrible roads and a chronic fuel shortage. Where do the trucks get their water? I don’t know, but I have seen a few parked alongside a hillside spring, just out side of the city. It’s weird.