Today I am buried in hundreds of pieces of fleece clothing as I examine all the zippers, snaps, buttons and organize everything by size. This is the culmination of a year long effort of visiting schools throughout New England and presenting an interactive program called "A Day in the Life of a Nepali Child" in order to educate students about how their peers are living and going about their daily activities half way around the world.
Me on the far right with a gaggle of my favorite female porters. We were greeted by the villagers with handmade leis made from the national flower, Rhododendron.
As we near local villages, the word goes out that the "Jacket Lady" is on her way. Knowing not to miss out on the chance to keep warm with these colorful fleeces, hundreds of curious and hopeful villagers have shown up for their chance to see western faces and to receive a warm jacket.
From the very young, to the very old curious onlookers.
The students become very engaged in the process as I ask them to donate any outgrown or unused fleece jackets from their households. I especially love the "recycled" aspect of this and always think it's an important lesson to reinforce! Now I am packing, packing, packing 20-24 body-sized duffel bags that will accompany me to Nepal when I leave on April 6th. Over the last 8 years I have assembled an amazing Nepali "team" of sirdars (guides), assistant guides, cooks, kitchen staff and porters who will trek for a month with me into extremely remote regions of the country to distribute this clothing, usually attracting lots of curious attention as most people have never before seen a Western face. We will be carrying all of the fleece duffel bags, all of our food, all of our cooking fuel and camping equipment as this year we make our way up onto the Tibetan Plateau in Mustang, on the northern border of Nepal.
Namaste !
One of my greatest joys is to carefully photograph the "journey of the jackets", from the time that they leave the students who have collected them to their final destination high in the Himalayas. When I return stateside in June, I will re-visit each school and show the students what an amazing impact their efforts have made to those in need half-way around the world! It's very tangible too when I transport pen pal letters back and forth, uniting Nepali children with school children in America. But perhaps the most touching and poignant aspect of this program has been in the inner city schools where student populations feels incredibly marginalized and disengaged. I have been absolutely amazed by their enthusiasm and the tender realization that they TOO can make a difference in the world! However, I always try to leave them with a very, very specific message: Even though MY passion and MY heart took me half way around the world to try and make a difference, every student out there can do the same thing in his/her own backyard.I just want to encourage each and every one of them to dream and then run with it........to chart their own, unrefined, maybe messy adventures, becoming aware of our interdependence as the global community increasingly shrinks. I think we all play a role, however small or seemingly insignificant, in the melding of cultures around the world and I would love to see education adopt as a primary objective the nurturing of first hand interactions with the staggering beauty and diversity of our planet.
Could that fleece hat and jacket be any cuter?
Here, children from the remote village of Mehta, near the Tibetan border, don hats made by the local school kids here in Mattapoisett, Massachusetts. This village is high up in the Himalayas, far above the tree line, so dwellings are literally carved into the face of the mountains. Clothing is often made from heavy woollen cloth and animal skins.
Here we set up camp on the only area flat enough for our tents, the top of a goat shed.
One of my greatest joys is to see the smiles.
No comments:
Post a Comment