picture of the ceremony of the opening of the Patale Health Post.  We are loaded down with over 40 katas (silk scarves)each and surrounded by villagers.  The celebration included words of appreciation by Jangbu and singing and dancing until 12 midnite.

Future site of the Health Post in Patale. The site will be enlarged to provide space for at least one building.
 

Hello EverestNews.com, Here is another installment on our story about our service trek through Nepal. Thanks for letting us tell our story about our trek through this untouristed part of Nepal.

Lee says: I was pleasantly surprised by the enthusiastic celebration the village of Patale gave us in honor of their new health clinic.  They had some traditional dancers doing some sherpa dances.  This was followed by a large number of locals joining in the dancing. This was a great honor bestowed upon us.  The Sherpa people constitute only a small percentage of Nepal's peoples. Some of the other peoples we will visit include the Rai. These are Tibetan people as are the Sherpas that migrated to Nepal several centuries ago. The Rai are Hindus, while the Sherpas are Buddhists. We went through several Mugar villages. Magars are another group. These villages are all several days walk from the nearest roads, have no electricity and are largely intact due to their remoteness.  This is becoming a rarity in the present era.   -Lee Levin

Dan says: Our visit to the new Patale village health post on behalf of the Mount Everest Foundation for the Sustainable Development of Nepal and Tibet lasted 2.5 days and we kept busy throughout the visit. The health clinic is currently located in a spare room of Mingma Sherpa's family home. The two health workers, Mr. Jamyang and Ms. Puty Sherpa are originally from the village. They took two years of courses in Kathmandu and did a month of practical work in another rural village, before walking back out to Patale with two backpacks filled with medicines, to take up their residency and start the Patale Health Post, which did not exist before this. The room is about 4x4 meters. -Daniel Mazur

John says:  We've had a great trek so far.  I'm sitting here in Rumjatar, a Gurung village that I had visited 20 years ago.  This morning Jangbu, Shera, and I visited Lamichane Gurung who used to work at the UNICEF Field Office in Lamidanda.  When I walked up to his house, he was leaning over a rock wall.  We shook hands and he said "John Vavruska".  What a good memory.  We sat on his porch for 1 1/2 hours and chatted about old times.  His wife served us tea and chang.  I gave him a photo I had made of him 20 years ago and then took a picture of him now.  I told him I won't wait another 20 years to return.  He said he might not be around if I waited that long. What a rich experience to bond with someone half way around the world and be able to talk about shared memories.  We talked about all the gravity flow water systems that have been built since those days in both Okhaldhunga and Khotang districts, over 30 of them.   --John Vavruska

Rumjatar is at 4,300 feet elevation so all the tropical fruits grow here - bananas, tangerines, papayas, lemons, grapefruit, etc.  In addition, rice and millet are grown here.  The fields and surrounding high hills are just as beautiful as before.

Elselien Te Hennepe says:

Beste mensen, Vandaag is het 8 november en op dit moment zit ik in een voormalig Gurkha hotel in Rumjatar een email te typen! De afgelopen dagen hebben we veel gezien en meegemaakt. In Nepal heb je soms weinig controle over wat er gaat gebeuren en wanneer. We zijn door de Sherpa's in en rondom Patale van het ene naar het andere huis geloodst en werden keer op keer volgestopt met Dhal Bhat en Chang. Erg gastvrij en vriendelijk allemaal. 's Avonds terug in Patale waren er maar liefst meer dan honderd mensen naar onze verblijfplaats gekomen om ons te bedanken voor de Health Clinic. Ik had zoiets nog nooit meegemaakt, het was ongelooflijk. Allemaal hadden ze Katta's (sjaaltjes voor goed geluk)of bloemenkransen meegenomen en die kregen we een voor een uitgerijkt. Erg indrukwekkend! Nu zijn we onderweg naar Nimalidanda, waar John 20 jaar geleden een waterinstallatie heeft gebouwd. We zijn in erg afgelegen gebied en duidelijk de enige blanke, want we worden nagestaard alsof we aliens zijn. Vandaag heeft John zijn eerste kennis van 20 jaar geleden ontmoet en was daar erg enthousiast over. Ik ben benieuwd hoe het in Nirmalidanda zelf zal

zijn. Tot de volgende dispatch!

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