leaving for five weeks

Sobha the nurse at Simikot hospital where we are going to be staying for a while and delivering the caps. She is amazing!



Yup the time has come to depart the Canada and venture over to the other side of the world again for some fun and excitement in Nepal. I am heading back to the Humla region again in far western nepal and cant wait to visit some of the amazing friends I made there last year. Unfortunately I have to travel for almost two solid days to get there with a full day in Hong Kong but thems the breaks.





My bags are bursting with caps and new gear for the trek. Its going to be fun to try and work out the kiwi accent again esp as the bulk of the group going to Limi with me are from NZ. They are a great bunch of people with several of them having trekked with me before.





Its time to give back Molly the dog who has been keeping me company and sane over the last little while. I think I have everything ..... I am going to be spending some time checking out the route for the trip in the fall to Mt Api and I am hopeful of finding someone who is the inner sanctum of information about the barely trekked region.





So the time has come to depart......chat soon

Time to Leave again

I am off up and away to the Himalayas again tomorrow and not a moment to soon as the basement is threatening to burst with all the caps in it. Thankfully there are also a bunch in Kathmandu that will form the back bone of the Caps Against Cataracts Campaign.

I am just going for five weeks this time and heading to the limi valley in far Western Nepal. It will be the second visit for me and the first time for the group of kiwis and one canuck coming along with me.

Also coming along is a documenrary maker who is doing a doco about the caps project. Here is a short promo about his film:

http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=jWwPcnKvxWA

The project would have not been successful without the support and help of many people so thanks everyone. I will keep you posted when I get to Nepal with the caps...wish me luck.

Cant wait to hit the chaos of Kathmandu again and seek out the new apartment I am going to sharing with Deana.

Thats all for now

Caps in Hand

Hi there...yesterday was crazy but in a really good way. I was interviewed on CBC by Shelagh Rogers about the caps against cataracts story and then the in box of the email was flooded with offers of help and support. Thats what I love about Canada...how easily people step up to the plate which is a perfect line for a project in which I am collecting baseball caps.

I should have been writing a story that has a deadline next week but thought while this horse was galloping (the ball cap project) I should be on it and riding it. Yesterday evening the people from track and trail, one of the stores that has been collecting caps for me, dropped of about 800 caps.

I have shown you a picture of Molly the dog (who is not a yak) with some of the caps. Now I am looking for sponsorship of the yaks to carry the loads. So far one yak is sponsored (thanks Joanne!)

I was also working yesterday on more research for my trip in the fall to Api Saipal which is going to be a trip in which we walk off the map literally. I am not sure how many groups have ever trekked in this far western region but I think no more than a dozen.

Once I find out more about this place I will post on the website.

well then time to write!

see you tomorrow

Caps for Nepal

Hi there, Namaste.

Its been a long while since I last posted anything on the blog which is an indication of how busy I have been with trips to Nepal, fundraising for projects, working at MEC and writing.

I have been back from Nepal for just over a month and have hit the ground running with projects and fundraising. I had a wonderful 24-day trek in eastern Nepal in October 07 with a great group of people followed by a cultural trip that included the opening of the school library at Sundaridanda near Pokhara. A summer of fundraising for the library was so successful and the community put on a wonderful celebration to say thanks for our help in supplying books and constructing the building.

Of course I am never one to sit still so I have embarked on an ambitious project to collect ball caps to distribute to kids in remote north western Nepal (Humla). I visited Humla with a small group of trekkers in May 2007 and pondered what I could do to help these poorest of people.

Cataracts are a serious condition affecting many Nepalese living in remote high altitude regions. Ball caps are a way of helping to prevent this condition from occuring in the next generation by shielding young eyes.

In less than a week with the help of friends and supporters we have collected over 1000 ball caps which I will distribute during my next trek to Humla in May 2008.

It would be great to get people or companies on board to help fund the distribution of the caps like sponsoring a yak or cargo costs to fly them into the region which has no roads or road access. The caps will be distributed with a cartoon strip accompanied by Nepalese writing that explains the connection between sun and cataracts and how the caps can help.

Here is a link to a short UTube video that shows a little bit of the region of Humla and the work of Dr Yeshe Lama that I am supporting.

http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=-imNuUHKKOo

If you want to contact me, donate towards getting the caps to Nepal, you can by emailing wanda@hihimalayas.com or phone 780 989 6025

I look forward to hearing from you!

Namaste Wanda

Back from Nepal

Hello there and finally time to add some words to the blog. I have been back from Nepal for about three weeks now and have to say that this was without a doubt THE most amazing time I have ever had in the country.

I think this is the case for a bunch of reasons, one of the main ones being the fact that the country and its amazing people really feels like it is moving forward to a more positive place. The other reason is that I was able to share the country with another incredible bunch of neat people.

I always tell people coming to Nepal that the experience is likely to change them forever. ......and it usually does. The incredible resilience of the Nepali people has shone through, coming through 10 years of civil unrest culminating in the signing of the peace deal just a short week after I left on November 17th. What a contrast to April when I really felt a little bit depressed about what was happening.

However like I said to my Nepali family, I have never given up on their country for I know that inside the people beat peaceful hearts and its good to know that this heartbeat will be able to continue into the future.

So a story about the ladies culture tour (pictured above) and the trip to Nar Phu (my third in a year) are posted on the tours page of my website if you are interested. They were amazing trips. Of course no sooner am I back than I am plotting a return to Nepal in April! I am organising another ladies culture tour followed by a trip to Limi which is something I have been dreaming about for a long time.

Being back in Alberta and dealing with the economic freight train that is roaring through the province care of the oil industry has been interesting. The contrast with Nepal where so many people are without work and the fact almost every store and service industry has a help wanted sign in the window is hard to come to terms with.

yet according to the news, in spite of being one of the wealthiest people in the world, we continue to live our lives in debt. Seems strange. I hate being in debt because then you feel out of control.

Anyway I have had a lovely day today skiing for an hour or so in the morning and then working on trying to get all the christmas presents packaged and sent to New Zealand and Europe in time....whew.

more later
w

Up off and away