Yesterday we celebrated the culmination of our hard work, sweat, tears and yes, blood. In what could only be described as an 'unusual' ceremony we handed over ownership of two new lovely homes to the home partners.
It seemed most of the village turned out for the event and Brim, our fantastic bus driver supplied the red plastic chairs - is there anything that man can't do ?? The ceremony was delayed for about 40 mnutes while we waited for Shiva from the Community Development Centre to arrive with a distinguished guest - that being the former Minister for Agriculture. There were speeches left right and centre and we had to move between House A and B to sut the ribbons and welcome the families to their new homes.
It seemed most of the village turned out for the event and Brim, our fantastic bus driver supplied the red plastic chairs - is there anything that man can't do ?? The ceremony was delayed for about 40 mnutes while we waited for Shiva from the Community Development Centre to arrive with a distinguished guest - that being the former Minister for Agriculture. There were speeches left right and centre and we had to move between House A and B to sut the ribbons and welcome the families to their new homes.
They seemed overwhelmed with the gifts we had bought them as well - new mattersses, blankets and pillows and a framed photo of each family in front of their home with the whole team. The kids got our beanies, and small trinkets like bangles, badges, balls, yoyos and Aussie Flag tattoos
Sarah delivered a great speech in behalf of Team B and even spoke some of it in Nepali but Rajesh still translated. Oh, and Jon spoke on behalf of Team A.
We then went up to the restaurant and had lunch with the families - Dahl Baaht again - Yay !!
One of the hardest things I have ever had to do was say goodbye to these lovely people and walk away. It broke my heart to say goodbye to Punam, the little deaf girl from Home B. It was a very somber trip back to club Tuborg knowing we were going to say goodbye all over again. Again we handed out beanies, tattoos and other small toys.
Sarah delivered a great speech in behalf of Team B and even spoke some of it in Nepali but Rajesh still translated. Oh, and Jon spoke on behalf of Team A.
We then went up to the restaurant and had lunch with the families - Dahl Baaht again - Yay !!
One of the hardest things I have ever had to do was say goodbye to these lovely people and walk away. It broke my heart to say goodbye to Punam, the little deaf girl from Home B. It was a very somber trip back to club Tuborg knowing we were going to say goodbye all over again. Again we handed out beanies, tattoos and other small toys.
We then had a very quiet trip back to the hotel where we said bye to Sarah and Rajesh.
Thursday is our day off to look around Pokhara maybe hire some bikes and brave the traffic before we start our treks on Friday.
Internet access may not be great while on our trek so the blog might slow down for a few days but we'll see how it goes.
Missing you all and Daddy Dean is especially missing Claudia for her 6th Birthday today. Daddy and all his friends hope you have a wonderful day.
Internet access may not be great while on our trek so the blog might slow down for a few days but we'll see how it goes.
Missing you all and Daddy Dean is especially missing Claudia for her 6th Birthday today. Daddy and all his friends hope you have a wonderful day.
Oh, and I forgot to mention that we set a new record for Habitat - we are the first team to complete a house from scratch in Nepal in the alloted days, normally the footings have already been started and even better than that WE DID IT WITH TWO HOUSES !!!!
Go Team WCA Nepal !!
Dot :-)
