Alan and Megan Barker
November 2024
Adventures in Rukum
Hello everyone and first of all we want to wish you all a very happy and joy filled Christmas.
It has been quite a busy and interesting time for us since we last wrote to you.
After all the devastating floods and landslides that we mentioned in our last newsletter, things have settled down again now and people are gradually getting back to normal. It was encouraging to see all the effort that was made by local organisations and individuals to help those that had been affected by the floods and landslides. This time of year is one of the best for weather – warm, dry and sunny for several weeks with no rain – so it means that people have had a chance to dry out their houses and belongings.
In October the country celebrated the two biggest festivals of the Nepali Hindu year – Deshain and Tihar. Deshain is a ten-day festival which is followed a couple of weeks later by Tihar, or Diwali as it is known in other countries. We took the opportunity to have a night away in a nearby town, Bhaktapur, where we enjoyed the Tihar festival lights with some good friends.
Alan has also had a new experience for him. In October he led a couple of online training sessions on project design and proposal writing for a BMS partner organisation based in Uganda. The people were located in three different places in Uganda and Alan was sitting at home in Kathmandu. We have taken part in many online training sessions before but never led one. It was a bit nerve racking to start with but seemed to go well. Megan was on also on hand to arrange break-out rooms and other administrative issues!
At the beginning of November, we were privileged to take part in an Asia-wide conference arranged by the Micah Network, which is a world-wide network that links and coordinates with many of the world's Christian development agencies, large and small. The theme of the conference was 'Humanitarian Response' and there were delegates from all around Asia and some from further afield as well. There were about 200 delegates, 70 from overseas and the rest from Nepal. It was a great opportunity for meeting old friends and making new ones, as well as being challenged and reminded of the many needs that present themselves in the context of Asia and especially as disasters strike, when it is the poor that inevitably suffer the most. Megan co-presented an interactive seminar on the theme of Disability Inclusion in Humanitarian Response and Alan co-presented one on Disaster Risk Reduction and planning in advance of disasters happening.
After the conference, which was held in a hotel just outside Kathmandu we packed our bags and headed off to Rukum, a district in the remote western part of the country. (Challenge: see if you can find Chaurjahari on a map of Nepal – that's where we were based). We travelled with a colleague from the UK-office of BMS who had come for the Micah conference, but who also wanted to see some of the earthquake recovery work that HDCS has been doing in the area after last year's earthquake there. HDCS is the BMS partner that we are seconded to here in Nepal and BMS had given a grant to contribute to HDCS's earthquake recovery work. The journey to Chaurjahari consisted of an hour's flight followed by another five hours bouncing around in a 4-wheel drive vehicle. Punctures in two different tyres but at the same time slowed our progress down! We stayed in HDCS's hospital accommodation in Chaurjahari and the next couple of days were again spent bouncing around in a 4-wheel drive vehicle as we visited some of the sites where HDCS had been helping local people recover from the effects of the earthquake. In one village HDCS contributed to building earthquake resistant houses, replacing those that were destroyed or damaged in the earthquake. We also visited a village where a water supply system has been repaired, restoring water to the village where the ladies were having to walk a round-trip of two hours each time to collect water after the earthquake damaged the pumping system.
We also visited a school where a water system had also been restored and upgraded. As we were leaving the school, the caretaker quietly came and asked if Megan would mind visiting his home where he had a disabled daughter. After a brief therapy session, watched on by several intrigued locals, Megan was able to invite the family to the next 'Joni and Friends' wheelchair distribution programme which was scheduled for the next week in Chaujahari hospital. The young lady had been given a wheelchair at some time in the past, but it was totally unsuitable and no one in the family had been given any training in how to manoeuvre it properly.
And that is where Megan is as we write this newsletter. She stayed on in Chaujahari after Alan and our guest left. For a few days she helped the hospital therapist improve the facilities in the physio room in the hospital and saw a few patients, but as we write the wheelchair programme is underway. They are expecting to assess about 100 people over six days and adapt wheelchairs and train people how to use them. They will be long and tiring days for the whole team, but hopefully worth it for the increased mobility and independence an appropriate wheelchair and training in how to use it can bring to the people who come.
For those who pray:
First of all, we give thanks for:
The Micah conference that was a useful and interesting time
Safe travels to and from and within Rukum
All the people that have new homes and restored water after last year's earthquake
The donations from BMS and other organisations and individuals that made it possible
We ask you to join us in prayer for:
A successful wheelchair distribution camp
Strength and energy for the team as they prepare the chairs and train the users
A happy and joyful Christmas as all our family come to visit
Thank you, as always, for your friendship, love and support
Alan and Megan
xx