-
Scout trip to Nepal 2009
Bernard Pentecost
While most people would have sat back and relaxed over the Easter break, 23 Explorer Scouts, 3 Loki Network members and 4 Leaders opted for some hard work in a remote hillside village in Nepal.
The team had spent the last 18months raising over £9000 to supply and install a clean drinking water supply to the village of Nepani, a small village of 18 homes located high in the Annapurna foothills. Unlike a typical Surrey Village, Nepani is spread out over wide area with the first and last houses being over 1km apart. Accessing the village was not easy either as everything has to be carried by hand, up a steep hill, from the end of the road some two hours away.
Having raised the funds and arranged for the materials to be sourced locally, the team arrived at the village and set about the task of installing the 5km of pipe work, 3 large storage tanks and the 18 water stands that were required to connect every home to the new supply. Everyone from the village, plus many people from the surrounding areas joined in the work and in 5 days the pipe work was installed and the first water was flowing from the new taps. Nepani was dying as a village Young families were leaving for the towns and cities in large numbers, now water is available to both drink and water the fields many are moving back and three new homes are already under construction.
The villagers do have one small problem. Nepani literally translates to “No Water” perhaps they should rename it “Scoutpani” as one explorer scout was heard to comment!
The inauguration ceremony was attended by hundreds of people some even walking over from Paudwar and other neighbouring villages more than 1½ hours away.
The expedition was not all hard work. Once the water scheme was commissioned the Explorers set off on a trek in the surrounding Annapurna foothills. Starting from Nepani the team had the advantage of following local trails which were well away from the traditional trekking routes. This gave everyone the chance to see life in rural Nepal as it really is. After an afternoon relaxing in the Tatopani hot springs, the team headed uphill steeply to Paudwar before the long haul up to the highlight of the trek the remote Khopra Ridge with its magnificent views of the Annapurna mountain range. Having spent the previous week in temperatures around 28ºC, it came as a shock to reach the ridge in a hail and lightning storm. After a bright start the next afternoon soon deteriorated and we had to seek shelter in the “dining room” from a full blown snowstorm. We woke to 8in of snow around the tents next morning but the sky had cleared and the views were spectacular. After a massive snowball fight with our Sherpas it was photo time and our decent to Swanta. Within 3 hours all the down jackets were gone as the temperature soared to 33ºC and the factor 50 was in huge demand!
From Swanta we picked up the main trekking route to Ghorepani where we climbed Poon Hill at 4:30am to watch the sunrise before heading down to Tirkhedhunga for our final night under canvas.
We then had a couple of days in Pokhara where we visited the Ghurkha Museum and the Ghurkha Welfare Scheme. Then it was back to the Kathmandu for afternoon tea with the deputy high commissioner followed by more sightseeing and shopping. The team finally returned home on Saturday evening, tired but satisfied with the work they had carried out and the knowledge that they have helped to bring a village new life.
Watch out for LANGTANG 11, coming to an explorer unit near you soon
Sponsorship & Grants ›› Scout trip to Nepal 2009