July 20th: Scorching Heat and Stunning Scarves

Today was another scorching day, with the sun beating earlier than we've experienced thus far. Once on the bus to Banki, we completed our morning ritual of bumping our favourite Nepalese tunes to pump us up for the day ahead.

At the job site, we got right back into the grind of transferring gravel and sand into the building for concrete mixing and later pouring of the downstairs hallway. While the concrete was being mixed, I helped Kevin finish up hanging the bricks around the walls of the top floor and Maddie and Vanessa got to try out painting the trusses whilst maintaining their balance on wood planks placed high above the top floor! Meanwhile, Dorian, Madi and Jordan walked to and from the Women's Group meeting run by Unako Cooporative and sat in on a one hour discussion on micro credit and finance.

Just before lunch, Nura asked us if we wished to see the local school from the last build and we all agreed, three of us jumping on bicycles to get to the site and the rest loading onto our beloved "I Love My Nepal" bus. We were pleased to see how great the school turned out, complete with a bright turquoise exterior and plenty of functional classrooms. Unfortunately we couldn't peek in on any classes in session as the school is government run and therefore on summer vacation. As we were leaving the school for lunch, we grinned to skies above at the sight and feel of refreshing rain. 

Lunch at the site was delicious as per usual consisting of perfectly spiced potatoes, beans and sweet grains. After lunch, one more round of shovelling and transferring sand and gravel was completed for the remainder of the concrete to be poured tomorrow. We were able to have some time in the afternoon to play with the kids while they were out for a short break from school, starting up a game of soccer across the street . One of the best moments was watching Miles and Jordan chase the kids around the school, their little faces grinning and giggling the whole way through. 

We left the site a bit earlier than normal to make a stop at the Creating Possibilities Godwin Field Office in town. The women of Unako work hard to craft beautiful scarves, bags and headbands (to name a few) that are available for sale to Canadians through the website iwenunako.com. Trust us when we say their creations are amazing! We bought tons of goodies that we're all excited to share when we return home. After our shopping trip, we continued on our bus to the hotels to shower up, eat and reflect on our productive day. 

Can't wait to see what tomorrow has in store for us! 

Until next time, 

Jasmeen Dhaliwal

DWC Participant

Nepal, July 2014