On the go

Saturday 6th October. The date had been marked on the calendar for weeks. 5.30am, outside Dashrath Stadium, Kathmandu, about 5000 people of all ages - school children to 52 year-olds (when you filled in the entry form you had to show your date of birth, but it only went back to 1955!)- were gathering for the marathon,half-marathon, 5km or in my case the 10km race. Most of us weren't racing, just taking part - to say we'd been there and literally 'got the t-shirt'. The marathon runners set off at 7am (in true Nepali style,only an hour late, but what a difference that was going to make later in the day when the temperature was over 30 degrees). They were followed by the biggest group - the 5km runners, then the half marathoners and then us!

After the first 100 yards a group of us slowed to a fast walk and were soon mis-directed by a policeman and ended up going round the wrong two sides of the large grass area in central Kathmandu. No real problem, as we were soon back on track, having passed the 5km runners going the other way. For us it didn't matter, but there were very few directions and stewarding was at a mnimum. The winner of the women's marathon, who finished over half an hour ahead of the second placed girl, was disqualified because it was discovered she had been misdirected on the route and had missed 500metres. She was so far ahead, she had time to go out of the stadium and re-run the bit she had accidentally missed and still be back before the second girl. After a lot of discussion it was agreed to give her a consolation prize! The men's marathon was a lot closer - two runners from the army came in almost together and the second man overtook the first on his lap round the stadium.

Having walked at a cracking pace, most of the way with our administrator Gopal, I reached the stadium in exactly 2 hours -my target time- and sprinted to the finishing line with Peter standing by the track with his phone saying 'You're on TV, Rosemary's watching you!'

Some special mentions - Simon completed the full marathon in 41/2 hours, Peter's son Michael completed a different marathon - half marathon in the Great North Run the previous weekend and half marathon in Kathmandu, our country director and several volunteers did the half marathon and most of the office staff covered 5km.
Forgetting the lack of organisation, the lack of water on the route or at the stadium (it didn't get the same publicity as Chicago) and the bad timing, it was an experience I would repeat. Perhaps next time they will show pictures of the London marathon so that Kathmanduites know to go out and cheer on the competitors. The guy at our paper shop near PGH didn't even know it was happening!

Saturday afternoon was spent at a VSO picnic (daal bhaat of course)to celebrate Prem's 25 years at VSO (he's officially an admin assistant but really Mr Fixit- if it needs doing, Prem's the man) and to say farewell to Elena who was a volunteer but who has been working as Programme Support Officer for the last year - a thankless task sorting out all our problems - but with the understanding only a former volunteer could have.

On Saturday evening I went for what may be the last time, to the British Embassy. The excuse was the rugby match and I did watch the last few minutes but spent most of the time chatting.

On Sunday I came back to Hetauda with six education volunteers who were here for a fact-finding visit - either experiencing education in a different district or out of the Valley. The first shock for them was the journey - the shortest, but bumpiest route! At a stop on the way we met this interesting form of transport.

Monday morning was spent visiting schools to the east of Hetauda. We saw surprisingly good computer provision; an agricultural training centre; ECD (nursery) provision which ranged from a bare room with an enthusiastic and understanding, but barely trained teacher (sorry, facilitator) to a room filled with home-made materials by an experienced woman who is passing on her skills (the same woman who served me freshly picked fruit and gave me goats to hold a few months ago;a grade 1 English lesson - lots of oral repetitionof these words, then copying them.

After daal bhaat and a quick visit to the DEO we went round the corner to a local school where we were treated to the singing of the new Nepali national anthem - a lively Nepali sounding tune.
This was followed by a display of kabadi and a chasing game they call squirrel (which Val said she had seen children playing in Sussex).
The next day there was an early start as we went to Padhampokhari to join the housewives' school. We were welcomed with kadaa scarves and flowers by the armful (there was even a girl ready to take them from us,just like a lady-in-waiting from the Queen). The women were keen to tell us how much they had learnt and out on the field the female SMC member (in grade 8) gave a rousing speech on women's rights and the importance of educating women.

Our final school was the Mayurdhap resource centre where we observed lessons and had a wide ranging discussion with teachers and SMC members.
There was further time for discussion in the afternoon with another RP.
The whole visit caused a lot of comment - particularly from volunteers who were amazed at the resources in some of the schools, but I tried to point out that had we had time to go to the hills, the jungle areas in the west of the district or out in the far east, we would have seen the expected deprivation, but why shouldn't the RPs be proud of what's good and surely the differences point to a great need for improvement in the system as a whole and at district level, where we are working.
The week was not only a busy one workwise, but also socially, as our HIV and AIDS colleagues were also on tour. The Avocado was so packed one night that one of the waiters apologised he didn't have time to take me home on his bike.
Then it was time for the Dashain holiday. Sorry for the delay in finishing this, but the next blog will show what I've been doing in the meantime.