Trips

Tues., 10/30/12 – Birethanti Area – Trek to Tomejung Village

This morning after 7 AM hot chocolate and 7:30 breakfast we went trekking across a swinging bridge over the Modi River and then up a steep stone path to the Laxmi Primary School (grades 1, 2, and 3) and on to the village of Tomejung.

Typical swinging bridge - actually quite stable

Carrying fodder for the livestock

We trekked past a farm and climbed up the rice terraces to see oxen stomping down the rice stalks to be used for fodder.

Farmhouse

Oxen threshing rice stalks for fodder

Water-powered grain grinder

Annapurna South

Laxmi Primary School (grades 1, 2, and 3) near the village of Tomejung. OAT helps support this school of 25 kids, two teachers, and a principal. Teachers take a 13-month training course after grade 12 and that is all the help they get. OAT put a roof over the three small classrooms, added a toilet and water tap, and painted the school. Next year they plan to add a solar panel for some electricity, and a swing set. We spoke with a teacher (whose salary is paid by OAT and not the government) and some of the kids. The classrooms are bare bones.

Laxmi Primary School entrance

Laxmi Primary School

Spider and web

Gale trying out the carrying baskets

Roots of an orchid on the branch of a tree

Sanctuary Lodge (foreground) from above

We continued our trek up the stone path toward the village of Tomejung. We ascended over 800 feet. As we neared the village the women came out to greet us and to present us with marigold necklaces (more like a lei). Seventy Gorka people live in the village, which has 12 houses. The house we went into has one room for all to sleep in and a kitchen with a wood-cooking stove made of packed mud in the corner. They grow all their own food and only need salt from town. We sat in a sleeping room of the house and Padam told us about how the people live here. Then we had lunch under a tarp on a "patio." The "women's group" was our hostesses. Lunch was not memorable. Then they danced and had some of our group join them