 Lamas at Beding Gompa taking tea break during renovation work |
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Lamas at Beding Gompa taking tea break during renovation work |
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Feb. 21, 2002We have been overhauling and updating this Web site. Most of the key pages are now functional, except the payment page. Application fees may be sent by personal check (if drawn on a US bank) or by credit card, using email or telephone. The online payment facility should be functional... soon.
New postings:Bridges-PRTD: Background Report, by Pepper Etters Final Project Report, by Pepper Etters Etters, a paying member of the Bridges 2001 team and now field manager for Summiters, submitted these papers in partial fulfillment of requirements for one semester's academic credit at Colorado State University. Bridges 2001
The Bridges 2001 expedition was our most successful so far. A partial laundry list of our project results:
- We expanded significantly our academic research, collecting a huge amount of anthropological data, much of it in response to questionnaires furnished by Jan Sacherer; we also took hundreds of photos and several hours of video film. In late December, Jan returned to Kathmandu, and together we met with members of the Rolwaling community living in Kathmandu. We have been able to update the research that went into Jan's thesis, The Sherpas of Rolwaling, and are collaborating on a CD-ROM and updated monograph.
- We carried out a feasibility study for a hydroelectric plant which will be installed during our next expedition.
- We helped residents of Beding set up four lodges, the first in Rolwaling proper.
- We donated materials and labor to give the Beding gompa (monastery) a partial facelift: new gates, prayer flags, and paint.
- We collected garbage from the western side of Beding (the cluster that includes the gompa), and posted signs indicating the location of a garbage pit designated by the lamas.
- We set up a visitors' kiosk at Beding, with informational maps of Rolwaling Valley and Beding village.
- We produced a poster promoting tourism in Rolwaling; it is now on display at the Kathmandu office of KEEP.
- We established a cairn at a promontory on the western lip of Tsho Rolpa which we are calling "Dutch Rock" in recognition of the early and persistent efforts of Summit Trekking agency, the Netherlands-Nepal Friendship Association, and Wavin (the company that manufactured the siphon pipes). We intend to try to position Dutch Rock as a sort of terminus (a la Kala Pattar) for the Rolwaling trek.
- We donated a trunk full of emergency medical supplies, which will be maintained at the office of urgyen Nawang Chokling, just above Nyimare (about ten minutes from Beding). This site, which is the local office of HMG's Dept. of Hydrology and Meteorology, will also have an emergency telephone as of next March. We posted two signs to call the attention of trekkers to these facilities. In addition, Amish gave two workshops for villagers on first aid and hygiene
Gompa gate: Before
Gompa gate: AfterBridges 2003
Due in part to the current state of emergency in Nepal, which makes it difficult to plan events outside Kathmandu, we are rescheduling the Namche Conference and also our next Bridges program. The conference will be held on May 24-26, 2003, coinciding with the finale of the current Sagarmatha Jubilee Year which commemorates the 50th anniversary of the first ascent of Mt. Everest. The next Bridges volunteer/study program will run from February 17 to May 26. In addition, we are introducing Summiters: Rolwaling Mountaineering School from February 17 to March 31. In recruiting the A/V team for 2002, we will change an important part of our previous strategy: instead of asking each member to design a "personal project", we will be proposing a set of projects and looking for candidates to carry them out. Of course, we will also consider projects proposed by candidates themselves. Here are the projects we have in mind: The following projects are proposed for the Spring 2003 expedition to Rolwaling: For details of these and other projects, see the [partially] updated projects page.
- Rolwaling Hydropower Project
- Dried Foods cottage industry
- Trekking equipment manufacture
- Schoolhouse improvements
- English and tourism service skills course for Rolwaling entrepreneurs
- Waste Disposal
- Water distribution
- Shower Facility
- Lodge and Restaurant Development
- menu diversification
- Study of Rolwaling dialect
- Study and recording of Rolwaling songs and dances
- Museum and Visitors' Center
- Medical aid
- Herbal medicine
- Continued Gompa restoration
- Ecological Survey
- Promotion
Jack D. Ives (President of the International Mountain Society from 1980 to 2000, founding editor of the journals Arctic and Alpine Research and Mountain Research and Development, co-author of The Himalayan Dilemma as well as of Chapter 13 of the UN's Agenda 21 adopted at Rio de Janeiro in 1995, Professor at Carleton University Ottawa, etc. etc.), offers this testimonial:
Having worked for years in the Himalayas and in other mountainous regions of the world, and having worked with Seth Sicroff for ten years -- including two expeditions to the Jade Dragon Mountains of Yunnan, China -- I can say that Bridges-PRTD is a program well-designed to meet the needs of remote mountain communities and a magnificent personal and professional opportunity for those who are privileged to participate in it."United Nations University senior advisor and mountain expert Dr. Jack Ives is available for interviews in connection with the United Nations' International Year of Mountains. Please call 416-538-8712 or 703-820-2244 to schedule a time. High-resolution photographs are available for download and media use at http://www.unu.edu/mountains2002/hrphotos.html.
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Bhutanese Refugees in Nepal For those of us who have a crush on Tibetan culture, Bhutan is the cuddly panda of the Third World, a stubbornly traditional culture led by an enlightened king intent on making all the right decisions at a very prudent pace. If only we could afford the visa! Yet the monarchy does not seem so cuddly to the tens of thousands of political refugees. Read the letter from Prof. Jack D. Ives, President of the International Mountain Society.
Rolwaling Valley, looking down from the morainal dam that holds back Tsho Rolpa
- Here's Jan!!!
- For several years we've been looking for Janice Sacherer, author of the most intensive study on Rolwaling back in the 70's. Suddenly she has appeared out of the e-ether! See our letter from Jan Turner
- ENN EcoBytes: it's a whole world out there!
- That little gizmo at the top of the page is a gateway to an infinite regress of useful resources.
- The Competition...
- It's worth checking out some of the more traditional study abroad programs currently operating in Nepal. We list them in order of increasing cost ($11,000 - $15,000 per semester), but cost isn't the point. If these programs are closer to what you're looking for than ours, you should find out now rather than later. And they do have some useful information and links.
- Useful links and contacts:
- Altitude 4000. GeoCities Homesteader Busnelli offers a "Guide to Trekking" with advice on everything from packing the right first aid kit to reading a compass and maps.
- Eko-himal, the organization that has lead the way in development assistance in Rolwaling.
- Anybody who has waded this far into the Bridges website ought to consider joining Mountain Forum (www.mtnforum.org). This is the best way for anyone with a serious interest in mountain environments to get in touch with colleagues around the world.
- The Nepal division of the World Wildlife Fund has an informative new website. (Thanks to Tshering T. Lama for posting this news through Mountain Forum.)
- Looking for news about Nepal's recent election? Or anything else about Nepal, for that matter. Check out www.south-asia.com. How about some photos of the Everest region? Thanks to Binayak Sharma for drawing these pages to our attention.
