Even during the tough moments, there has never been a second of my placement I would trade. The name of my project “Samarth” means ‘making someone able’ in Nepali; and with your wonderful support that’s just what’s been done. Through sharing skills I have been able to help empower dairy farmers throughout Nepal, and I leave happy in the knowledge that those farmers will continue to share their learning with others.
As I prepare to leave Nepal, I can’t stop thinking about all the fantastic people I have met during my placement. Unfortunately, if I tried to describe all of them this blog would go on for hours, so instead I have picked a few of my ultimate VSO Champions.
Jessica Stanford
Jessica in the tent she called home.
Working alongside fellow VSO volunteer Jessica Stanford has been a privilege. In 2015, immediately after the earthquake struck, Jessica moved from her volunteering role as a bio gas engineer to join the team coordinating disaster response in one of the hardest hit areas in the country: Sindhupalchowk District.
Without complaint she then spent three months living in a tent and worked tirelessly to ensure that international relief resources went to the right places and duplication across charities was avoided. Both my wife Jude and I helped Jessica by completing a ten day trek in our region of Lamjung to ascertain which rural schools and communities needed immediate assistance.
Jessica has coordinated efforts across VSO and the charity sector with incredible professionalism; and she’s just 34. Once the time came for Jessica to go back to her former placement as a bio gas engineer; she chose instead to continue coordinating recovery efforts in a district so badly damaged that it will take years to fix. I remember her telling me; “I’m in Nepal for the long haul and I wouldn’t be anywhere else in the world right now.”
The wonderful Kim West. © VSO / Suraj Shakya
Kim West
Friends and family keep asking me and Jude how we coped when the earthquakes struck. The answer’s obvious - Kim West, the VSO Country Director for Nepal, whose leadership and compassion kept us going during such a disastrous and tragic event.
Mere months after Kim started in her post she had to face the challenge of completely reorienting the programme so it included an earthquake response. At the same time Kim has always had the wellbeing of her volunteers (which at the time included teams of youth volunteers) and staff at the forefront of her work.
I do not know what Jude and I would have done without someone like Kim guiding us through the programme.
Dhruba
Drubha and his wife.
Throughout my time in Nepal I have met many dairy farmers that have each inspired and impressed me. In my last update I told you all about Binuka Joshi, whose drive and ambition helped her push new cheeses in to the Nepali market and set up her own training programmes. This week I want to tell you about another farmer, whose willingness to experiment and improve his products is a lesson to us all.
Cows are no different to the rest of us, they like to eat, drink and sleep. Whether they are kept in a large herd or individually these principles apply, especially if they are to be happy, produce lots of milk and have babies. I was surprised to see that here in Nepal, water is very much a restricted part of the cows’ ration and so have been trying to convince farmers to make the change. Dhruba was one of the very first who grasped this advice and has since seen his milk output rise by 10%, and by doing nothing more than offering what is freely available here, water. Since then he has helped me inspire other farmers to follow his footsteps and change their cows’ diets.
There are so many dairy farmers I could have put on my champion list. They seem to have huge reserves of personal and community resilience, far beyond anything I have previously experienced. They soldier on creating solutions to the most intractable problems on an almost daily basis. “Can’t get my products to market without fuel - just pop them on the bus.” “Nobody to take my pigs to slaughter - we’ll just walk them there!”
The champion of champions: my wife Judith
I have met many new people who have impressed me in a variety of different ways but my greatest hero and champion is still and always will be my wife Jude.
At the start of the year my work took me back to Kathmandu, which has meant us living seven hours apart and I can’t tell you how much I missed her. Since the earthquake her programme has been used to deliver support to ruined schools and damaged lives in Lamjung. Never daunted, she got involved in tasks as diverse as sourcing building supplies and delivering menstrual awareness training. She has even been known to walk for up to ten hours a day to check on school buildings.
As you would expect she has remained solidly defiant and stoical throughout the past year facing every challenge head on and developing a whole new set of skills to overcome each particular adversity. She is my champion of champions.
One of my favourite pictures of Jude - I fee it sums up our time here.
A future Champion
Ian Arnold has just begun his first VSO journey. He brings decades of experience in the food industry to his placement in central Nigeria, where he will be supporting farmers growing maize and soya beans. Sadly their annual income is a measly £150, so Ian’s hard work will have a huge impact on communities. I hope you show Ian the same fantastic support that you gave me.
And finally…you!
I am not exaggerating when I say I could not have done this without you. The last couple of years have been full of ups and downs. The ups take care of themselves, but the downs… when I missed home the most, knowing you were there, supporting my journey, believing in my work- it made all the difference.
I am going to miss you as much as I am going to miss Nepal.
Thank you so much for everything!
Simon
