TWO DONORS VISIT OUR SOLUKHUMBU PROJECT

By Richard Allen (Volunteer Project Liaison Lead)

How many of you have wondered what your generous donations to our work in Nepal are actually spent on?

TGT has had an average of about 500 donors since we began work in Nepal in 2010 – and Becca and Ben Treadaway from Sheffield, have been amongst them. They recently took a trip to Nepal and decided to include a visit to EcoHimal’s project in Solukhumbu in their itinerary.

Becca and Ben arrived in Nepal on 22 January 2023 for a quick 10 day winter break from the short gloomy days of the UK. Their trip was short, no time for hanging around, so on the afternoon of the 23rd, they, and Richard (TGT’s liaison man in Kathmandu, and Becca’s uncle) jumped in a 4 wheeler, expertly driven by driver Ram and headed out of dusty Kathmandu for the fresher air of the hills.

Ben and Becca taking the first leg of the long journey to Solukhumbu

After an overnight stop in Mulkot, we headed for Deusa, home to Nepal’s first Agro-Forestry Resource Centre, established by TGT’s founder Robin Garton in March 2013 and managed with great focus and energy since then by Narayan of our local implementing partner, Eco-Himal.

We arrived in Deusa on the evening of 24th January, and were greeted by the four permanent staff there – Keshab (the boss), Dan Kumari (the finance manager and chef extraordinaire), Bandana (the young agriculture graduate), and Prakas (the ever smiling and busy Mr fix-it). We first looked around the AFRC, the nursery and the production area, all of which have grown, expanded and developed since my last visit several years ago.

On the 25th, we spent the day visiting the small villages of Mashep and Phurke downslope of the AFRC in the coffee growing area, where we met some seriously engaged and impressive farmers. As usual Nepali hospitality was on full show with fruit and teas and coffees offered by every household – platefuls of a wide variety of bananas, sweet oranges, and kiwi fruit were always presented. All farmers welcomed us warmly which says much about the support that has been provided by the AFRC to these farming households over the years.

The next day, we visited Amber’s farm, who is one of the most skilful and innovative farmers in the area. He is super knowledgeable, always experimenting, and highly imaginative and organized. His latest trial on his steep terraced farm involves grafting three different types of peach to one rootstock plant in one of his several poly-houses. Four generations of his family live in their well kept home compound, and here again we were offered fruit and refreshment, including a beautiful bowl of noodles, spiced and herbed with a range of farm produce. Amber’s farm is an example to all farmers of Nepal in that he, his wife and brother, and his grandparents and parents before him, have developed the relatively inhospitable terrain into an economically successful farming concern., They practice agroforestry and layer farming, maintaining a good tree cover, and soil fertility – through proper management of their 40 goats and numerous bovines. The efforts by Amber and his family have been fully supported by the AFRC over the last 10 years, with training in modern farming technologies and ideas being shared.

In the afternoon, we visited the hazelnut plot in Katike, where the hazelnut saplings, donated by the Mountain Hazelnuts venture in Bhutan some 5 years ago, were planted. 400 saplings were planted but only 180 have survived, due to wild animal damage, insect and pest attacks (eg. stem borer), lack of irrigation on this steep south-facing slope, and lack of management. The area is somewhat isolated, and we will be developing a new management plan in the near future to ensure that the majority of the remaining trees survive and flourish.

On the way home from the hazelnuts plot, we visited a beautiful temple area in the forests at over 2,000 masl – temples had been established here to commemorate the death of several young women who had been mauled to death by a tiger in ancient times, and whose bones had been found in a nearby cave. Not at all sure that I fully understood the story properly, or why the lake at the top of the hill never dried up despite not having a natural in-flow of water. Oh, the wonderful mysteries of rural Nepal!

On the 27th, we travelled all the way from Deusa to Kathmandu, a journey of about 12 hours.

On the 28th, Becca and Ben had a well-deserved day’s rest, before embarking on a two and a half day trek in the hills around the Kathmandu valley. A whistle stop tour of a few sites and shops in Kathmandu followed on their penultimate day, and then on February 2nd it was the long flights home to the chills of Sheffield.

They are now preparing a movie blog of their trip to Solukhumbu, from their perspective - watch this space!