VSO --- all about bringing people together.

One question that everyone seems to ask is 'what are you going to teach the people of Nepal?' Having had a few weeks to think of the appropriate answer, here it is at the point of making our final preparations. We are going to facilitate change by finding out what people need, then help them to find the answers, always leaving the ownership of solutions and development with them. The short answer is we are going to 'teach' people nothing!!

However, knowledge and it's use is vital to success and sustainability, and so over recent days we have built links with people who are experts in different areas. Some of the people we have visited:

Paul Taylor, seed production, Pearce Seeds

                                       


Mark Rogers, Melplash, apple trees and bee products

We have been told that the farmers of Jumla grow rice and cash crops of apples, coriander, mustard and radish seeds. Small numbers of goats and poultry are kept and honey production is established.
One of the many challenges is helping find solutions that fit with subsistence farming in an organic area, at 2700m, where the main mode of transport is goat, buffalo or human.

The other mantra of VSO is 'expect the unexpected', so that's what we are doing!!!!!