Project finished

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We saw a rhino in the wild, munching a bush by the side of the river. There are sometimes marsh muggers and garials by the river. The former are standard man-eating crocodiles and the latter are narrow-nosed bird-eating crocs. Toni and I saw both on our (short) jungle walk; those on the longer walk did not. We also saw monkeys, spotted deer and peacocks and other birds. We saw holes dug by bears to find termites, tiger claw marks on trees, fur-filled tiger dung, and tiger and rhino footprints.

The morning of the election we went for an elephant ride and because of the curfew imposed from th night before, could not ride in the truck. Only bullock cats were allowed, so at 5.30 am we rode in three carts to reach the elephant place by 6.30 am. Four of us in a howdah (a square wooden frame) on the elephant's back, with the mahout sitting on the elephant's neck, his bare feet behind the ears, we set off through the mist into the forest, paddling through rivers and scraping by branches. Some of the group saw a rhino by a watering hole, I only saw deer, but they, less frightened of the elephant than of human's allowed us to get reasonably close. Later the same day we went down to the river to help scrub the elephants. I scrubbed the one I'd ridden on, and the mahout showed me how to scrub the leathery hide with a stone. Dave and Toni came to join me too. The elephant clearly loved it, and when I gave her three bananas, she took the first with her trunk, but opened her mouth for the next two, for me to put on her tongue.

We stayed by the river for a drink and Dave, Toni and I and decided to eat there. A man came out of what appeared to be the kitchen, and blew his nose on his fingers. 'Charmin,' said Toni, 'Let's hope he' not the chef.' He proceeded to wipe his hands on a cloth that was lying on the bar. 'He'll be wiping his ars on it next,' said Toni. He didn't, but he did scrub round inside both ears...and then put the cloth back on the bar, and walked away. Hmm, we thought, th bartender may come back and wipe the glasses with that cloth. We decided to eat elsewhere.

Wednesday was back to finish the project with an orgy of painting - another coat of bright pink on the outside, the metal grilles for the windows, the window frames, and starting to do the murals. The head teacher wanted an alphabet frieze which Julie (our artistic member) designed in pencil and we started to colour in enamel paints.

In the afternoon most of us went to visit an orphanage - a previous Aidcamps project. Again, we had our foreheads tikka'ed and were each presented with a bouquet/ We took some things for the children which they loved - punch balloons, balls and balsa wood planes. Toni had brought additional materials, and I gave them some money.

Thursday - the last day - finishing the window frames and the murals, tidying the front, and Dave and Phil tidied the gap between the new classrooms and the old, using large stones, smaller, then gravel and sand. I marked a hopscotch court on the flat area where we'd mixed concrete. Julie painted a peacock on the outside and put our names in the tail feathers. The rest of them went off in the truck and Pat and I stayed behind to finish off painting the balls for the number chart, before getting the back of Prakash and Leela's motorbikes for the ride back for lunch. Back to the site for the opening ceremony. Garlands, tikka on the forehaed (in my case - all down the nose as well), speeches, dancing with the children. We spread out the activities and equipment we have provided for everyone to see and the villagers crowd round to look.

It's been so lovely getting to know all the children. Little Krishna - about 3 years old who 3 weeks ago would be crying or bashing other children i now a differnt child. Smiling, affectionate and bright as a button, he accepts when he can't have something, and what's particularly heartwarming is to see some of the older children being kinder to him and leading him away, rather than pushing him away. I found out today that another boy I'd noticed was his older brother. I'd noticed him because he was a reliable, diligent worker in the chain gang, often looking sad, never pushy, and always with a snotty nose. We gave sweets and pens out often, and I always made sure he got one be cause he didn't clamour for rewards, and always deserved it.

Apparently many of the houses round the school are lower caste people; the higher castes go to the private schools. We are viewed with wonder because we don't differentiate; to us children are children and we'll play and sing with all of them, involve them as much as we can, and hope that what we've given them will make a difference.

That evening we gave Rog, the co-ordinator a present and 21 year old Zoe gave a speech. She started by saying that as she had just spent the best four weeks of her like with us, she wanted to say somethig nice about each of us. By the time she had finished we were red with pleasure or damp eyed.

Yesterday after a 7 hour traffic-jammed and dust-laden journey we arrived in Kathmandu. Tomorrow we fly home, and the 17 of us that have worked as a team will go our separate ways. But we'll have the shared memories.

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