Imagine if you will, the sound of a speedway race in full swing, the noisiest bikes you've ever heard hurtling round an oval track. Add to that the sound of a military brass band, all warming up at the same time. Now imagine the smell that a blocked drain and a decaying dead rat might give off…
You are somewhere close to the sounds and smells of my ride to work in Kathmandu. The traffic seems to be a lot heavier than it was 9 months ago when I left, and the smell of the Bagmati River just gets worse and worse every day as it gets hotter here, but it didn't take long for it to feel like I was back where I belong. Home. I've been back for just over two months now and I'm getting ready to start work full time in the communications department at UMN. These first two months have seen me doing a slightly different LOP (Language and Orientation Programme) than most people would. As I was here last year and have already been working at UMN, they thought it would be better for me if I worked a little too. They also understood that with language learning being pretty low down on my skill set, full days for five days a week for two months would probably see my head explode. I have been grateful to them for allowing me to work for three hours every morning in the comms department, and then to have two hours of language after lunch, followed by going home to study on my own. This has been a really good balance and I've picked up quite a lot of Nepali by doing this, and I've also been able to feel like I was doing something for UMN too.
The first job that I was given by Lyn (Communications Director) was to design a logo for Okhaldhunga Community Hospital. You might remember that last year my main job was to re-design the UMN logo, and after two months of battling with designs I was ready to never do a logo again! This time things went a lot smoother. Okhaldhunga Community Hospital had four things that they wanted to appear in the logo: 1, their name (always a good idea); 2, they are located within sight of Mount Everest and are very proud of 'their' mountain, so they wanted this to be shown; 3, they have a strange platform with steps going in and out and wanted to see this; and 4, some figures of people: 1 person on a crutch, a woman with a baby, and somebody caring for them all. With all this information it didn't leave much scope for design, and I quickly put something together. We sent it off to them and I hoped that they would come back with a clear guide of what they'd like changed. They came back very quickly and said that they loved it! No need to change anything. Job done.
My second job was a little more interesting than that, and would also require me to work very hard on it in the little time I had each morning. Again, it was for Okhaldhunga Community Hospital who are celebrating their golden jubilee this year, and in March were putting on a party for past and present workers to attend. They wanted a commemorative booklet for the event, and as with a lot of things in Nepal, didn't give us much warning of wanting it. The project took a lot of time and effort to put together, but we managed to get it printed and delivered by the Friday, with Lyn leaving for Okhaldhunga on the Sunday. I was very pleased with the results and we hope that it will help to raise some much needed funds for building works that are currently planned for the hospital.
In June I will be taking a trip to see some tree planting at a school in Dhading. This is a project that is partly funded by BMS, so it will be interesting to see how BMS money is being invested. I will also be working with Ramesh (the Nepali graphic designer at UMN) to overhaul the layout of UMNews, the quarterly magazine that shows what UMN are doing throughout the year. We're planning to bring out the new look magazine either at Christmas this year, or for the first issue of next year in March.
Please continue to pray for me as I finish up my intensive language learning and slip into just a few hours a week that I will be motivated to want to continue to learn, and then as I come back to the office full time. Also please pray for patience. Patience in my personal life, working life and my spiritual life.
Namaste.
