From the field

Came home today to do some planning work for a leadership training and to start writing two grants - work I can only do at a computer. And to also have a short break from all the walking and the heat in the middle of our field work. I head back out to Hatiya VDC (Village Development Community) tomorrow, however...

A couple of pictures to share (above).

And a couple of words that sum up a bit of the experience:

Corn. Everywhere.

Rice paddies. Everywhere.

Fresh guava.

Rain storms at any time. Hide under your backpack -or on whoever's front porch you happen to be near when the rain comes. There is a strong possibility that - not only will they share their porch and home and water with you - but also tea, snacks. And will offer a meal and a place to stay for the night if you need one.

People working. Hard. So hard that they really don't have more than a couple of moments to share with us. Everyone. This is the season to plant, plow, grow, prepare...

Our work is not easy. Lots of walking. The sun is hot. Our workload is high and time is short.

But the people I am getting to meet, what I am learning, the amazing land and views, the opportunity to be outside all day instead of in the office....I couldn't be happier.

More when I return for good.

New Project!

These days I am very happily busy participating in the starting up of a big, new program here in our district. The project title is, “Empowerment of Excluded Rural Women in Nepal”. A five year program with impressive and comprehensive goals such as (1) increasing the women in local government from 5% to 33%, (2) decreasing infant mortality rates and access to health care in general (3) insuring girls in rural areas have consistent access to education, and (4) increasing the income generation ability of rural women.

Yesterday I facilitated a workshop on gender that sparked much interest and discussion amongst the staff. They haven’t received any training like this in the past – gender roles in more rural areas are largely not contested - and are hugely curious to learn more.

Today and tomorrow staff are learning about how to conduct baseline surveys in the community. Then, we head in groups “to the field” for 15 days to implement the actual survey. This means that there will be groups of 4 of us (inclusive of at least one community health worker and one woman minimum) who will go into areas that are quite remote, and new to COSAN’s working area.

Staff will draw maps of villages (54 maps total): every road, house, temple, public building. Then will conduct surveys on resources (and lack of resources) in communities, individual and group interviews, and very comprehensive health questionnaires.

I have been asked to lead one of the teams. While I feel excited to be involved and very comfortable with what we have to do and how to lead the team, I am a bit overwhelmed by the language barrier I face still. I have been promised at least one person on my team who speaks really good English to help translate when necessary, however. Tomorrow I will remind my counterpart that I also need boiled water and hopefully a place to sleep without too many mice. My first village stay during my in-country-training program left me a bit scared about mice in village homes….and I really do need to sleep *some* in 15 days…

So, I likely will be off-line for a bit. But surely will have some interesting stories to share when I return.