The road through the mountains that the locals call "The Hill Country" is unbelievable: Astounding beauty at every corner. And there are a LOT of corners. The road follows the river valleys. It is carved out of the side of the mountain. It is raining hard here these days and there were several land slides. It is fascinating how there will be several spillways for rain run-off that are empty and then round a corner and the water will be pounding down the slope and under the road (hopefully). Road crews cluster along the narrow, shoulder-less road working to shore up washed out sections below the road surface. Even with that and the many missing blocks of concrete that were once placed on all outside corners that have been knocked away by past accidents, the danger seems to phase no one ... except maybe me!
We moved south from the city of Pokhara today and onto the Terai Plain that runs along the south of the country. It stretches out flat below the Himalaya Mountains and the "hills" and stretches to the Indian border. The plain ranges from about 30 meters (1,000 feet) to about 10 meters (300 feet) above sea level, sloping down gently across India to the Bay of Bengal near Bangladesh. Kathmandu lies in a valley only about 50 kilometers to the north yet it is about 100 meters higher (3,000 feet) and thus quite cold this time of year with temperatures rising into the 2 digit range of 10 or 11 degrees Celsius on a good day. Nights are cold. The Terai is a bit warmer but only by a few degrees. Sweater and scarf weather for certain.
I wanted to visit some former partners and projects supported by World Accord from the late '80's up to the mid 90's. I visited here a few times in the days of the projects but not for several years now and I am interested to know what has happened to the projects: the Youth Club organizations we helped and the people that were part of the various projects. We talk about sustainability and long term development as a desirable approach to transformative change for communities. There is a time for AID immediately after a disaster but our style of development is supposed to last longer, be more sustainable, more cost effective, better for the family and community, offer greater hope for the people and promote the concept we call "well being for all".
World Accord's first few projects in Nepal were in an "aid" model. Small local Youth Clubs would apply for funding from World Accord through our partner organization South Asia Partnership (SAP) Nepal. SAP is a network of local autonomous development agencies of various countries throughout Asia. In the early days, every project was signed by the Queen before it was legal to proceed. That is the same Queen that was murdered along with the entire Royal Family just a few years ago after the King handed power over to an elected Parliament that soon proved quite dysfunctional.
In that environment, SAP asked World Accord to help them in a new Long Term Partnership Program (LTPP) to replace the short term AID related projects with something more meaningful and the LTPP was born. It was 1992.
The Narayangarh Youth Club was formed in 1978. It acted like a social welfare agency helping disadvantaged families with short term aid. When they met SAP Nepal, they were also introduced first to Canadian Lutheran World Relief (CLWR) who funded a chicken project and then to World Accord. CLWR and World Accord have worked together in projects in Asia for years. (Today, a consortium of Canadian NGO's including CLWR are working together and sharing resources for greater impact in the devastated earthquake zone in northern Pakistan.) I digress! Back to Nepal. In 1992, the Narayangarh Youth Club joined as a partner with World Accord under the direction of SAP Nepal in the LTPP Program.
Training and workshops characterized the early months of the project. Then the club began to implement its own projects with direct funding support from World Accord. In their own words, using a Power Point presentation on a laptop computer projected with a video projector, the youth club traced their success and sustainability as a moving force in their community. The training made them strong and effective. They helped members lower poverty and improve quality of life. Some of their members have used their training to get employment with other international development agencies and the United Nations.
World Accord's support to this club ended nine years ago. As I sat in this three story concrete building that house the Club offices, training centre, youth drop in centre, the community cooperative, and a restaurant and shop to help the club remain sustainable, I thought, "This is good! VERY good! This is what we hoped for back in 1992. How could it be better than this?" WOW! Was I ever wrong that time! The next blog posting will tell you what just happened to me.
From the Terai Plain in south central Nepal, on the bank of a big silt-laden river, in the rapidly growing town of Narayangarh, Nepal
Terry Fielder
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