A day in the life
I don’t take for granted that I can regularly head over here to Nepal. I am lucky that my darling patient family handle the prolonged absences and put up with the distractibility when I’m back at home. I am happy that I currently have the health and resources and time to do this. I’m lucky that I have a place to stay and dear Kopila and all the Samunnat Nepal crew to stay with. It’s hard to believe that it has been nearly 20 years since I first got involved.
What I do here varies, but here is a glimpse into an average day!
After an early morning walk, often with Kopila, I drink several cups of black tea and then some sweet, spicy masala chiya. This is Nepali breakfast. Then, at around 9, I eat dal bhat, Nepali lunch. Dal bhat is a truly fabulous meal and generally consists of rice, lentil sauce (various kinds) veggies, achar (pickles), egg, sometimes yoghurt and salad. And the glorious pink drink you see in the photo is beetroot and carrot juice.
Traditionally, Nepalis eat with their hand and over the years this has become automatic and easy but is not what I do at home. Much. At the office, I’ll have some fruit and nuts and then I’ll have some spicy soup or beans in the evening. Many Nepalis would have dal bhat twice in the day.
I used to always walk to the Samunnat office but crossing the East-West highway has become increasingly life threatening so now I often get an auto-rickshaw or sometimes ride on the back of Kopila’s scooter.
Here’s Kathleen and me being farewelled by lovely Paiyal. You will note thatI am carrying some organisational aids. Those who know me know that I do love a good organise.
Sometimes I’m teaching techniques or helping the women refine existing skills. We might work on new designs or do some problem solving. A lot of time is spent working out creative ways to get around multiple challenges! There’s stocktaking, stock management, and setting up and reviewing processes which are designed to make me increasingly redundant.
There’s no local craft supply shop. We rely on the wonderful Karen Rhodes of Clay Alley who, for many years, has supplied our clay and a million and one other things that we get delivered to her place for her to send to us. It’s not always straightforward and deliveries can take from 4-6 weeks so we need to plan ahead!
The fabulous Kathleen Dustin is here with me this time which is so special. Kathleen visited two years ago and meets regularly with the women via Zoom. They’re thrilled to see her IN REAL LIFE again and love showing her what they have learned. It’s not just about learning techniques…Kathleen and I try to model an open, curious, exploratory and problem solving approach. And to explore ways that playing can lead to designs.
Creative risk-taking, learning from mistakes and having the confidence to deviate from rules are not encouraged in Nepal so it has been exciting to see the women learning about all these things!! And to feel confident to critique what we do!!
To be honest, I feel quite emotional typing this. To be able to do this…and for so long. I have known some of these women since they arrived at Samunnat feeling scared, overwhelmed, lost and defeated. To see them now…vibrant and strong; mentors to other women, advocates and encouragers and artists…this is something I feel so fortunate to be witnessing. There’s a lot of S*&t going down in the world right now and life can be hard and confronting and challenging here but seeing the determination and exuberance of these women is a joy.