LEI Projects - Bara Region and Janakpur

The last two days have been very busy starting with our elephant ride on Saturday morning. All three Pangea members climbed into a basket on the elephant's back and headed into the forest. We saw Rhinoceros relaxing in a pond and crocodiles in the river. It was a nice time to be in the woods reflecting on the previous few days.

Following Chitwan we traveled East into the Terai and drove several hours to the Bara Region to meet the women's group in the LEI proposed latrine project. The first stage of an LEI project is forming a savings group and working on an economic development project. This day was graduation day for 27 women that had completed the first stage of training to make incense. We had a great exchange between the women and their families then toured the "Village Development Center" (VDC). The VDC is made up of 7 villages in 9 wards with 9 women's groups (I think I got that right). The last village was a dalit (untouchables) and indigenous community. We met the teacher of a small run down school. She is the only teacher for 170 children. Currently there is no drinking water or latrines at the school. When we left the villages it was getting late. We were surprised to learn we'd be driving through a jungle and have an armed escort. Hmm....

Yesterday we drove five hours from Bara Region to Janakpur. After checking into our hotel we met with women from the Women's Development Service Center (WDSC). This is the local NGO LEI has been working with for the past 5-6 years. Their offices include a training center for Mittale art and sewing. There is an 11 member board and 65 members. They are all volunteers with the exception of 4 staff. Today we visited two schools and a community center where LEI has built latrines and tube wells. The second school has a new latrine that includes latrines for girls and boys and a tank on the roof that provides water for the latrines and even a sink. It was "pheri raamro"!

Linda and Walt headed back to Kathmandu this afternoon but Sydney stayed in Janakpur and will fly to Namje tomorrow.

Nameste!