Doshain festival is now fully underway with families getting together and feasting, we saw several goats and pigs getting slaughtered and butchered at the side of the roads and Parshu, Carrie and I decided to eat vegetarian for a couple of days! We go to learn Nepali folk songs with Parshu and Ganja.

We headed to Chainpur and did a concept design for the new proposed coffee production facility then visited a very successful coffee farm…. Transport involved 6 of us stuffed like sardines in a tuk tuk! Coffee is a major source of income for the people of this region of Nepal. This area has historically been almost entirely subsistence farming.

Mahendra school photos from yesterday, before everyone broke for Dashain festival…
Grade beams all poured now.

This morning was a special one, we stayed last night at Parshu’s brothers in rural Chainpur, met Parshu’s father, what a lovely man and a fit 84 year old…… I awoke to his gentle chanting this morning that promptly put me back in a deep sleep!!
Parshu introduced us to a very hard working and displaced farmer who lost his housing after the landslides. SODEC got him a parcel of land that he has been farming, a few times he has not had food to feed his family and the locals have been helping him out, he has done an amazing job on his farm but needed a lucky break, so Carrie and I decided to buy him a buffalo….. way way easier than buying a car! The farmer Barun and his family were very appreciative as this is going to be a life changer for them providing them with milk for themselves and to sell, plus the buffalo we bought is a young female who will be able to breed in a year, this triples her value.

We visited the interlocking brick factory today, our bricks are all made and sitting there ready for delivery.