A little bit of doubt starts to creep in ........ are we up to it?

7.00 am and I'm walking with Meg, our pet collie, (photo in earlier blog) on a favourite stroll around our lovely Somerset village. Normally I would have a few other collies with me and controlling the canine pack would occupy my thoughts. But not today, the spare dogs are away with my daughter, as an indispensable part of the shearing team. Meg requires no such control and as we plod along together, my thoughts settle on the challenges that lie ahead.

Just a couple more days now in our beautiful family home, that we only moved into 10 months ago. Why on earth would we want to give up what has been a life goal of living in our own house, having spent 40 years in agricultural tied houses, only to travel half way round the world and may be end up in a wooden shack with no flush toilet let alone running water or heating. What drove us to this?

I guess it goes right back to my time spent in Ulster in the late 60's. I was at Uni. and a West African famine was raging, mainly caused by civil war. India was not the dynamic sub-continent that it is now but instead a newly independent country, politically divided and riven by malnutrition. Looking back, all this may have been sensationalised and the humanitarian aid possibly done more harm than good by prolonging conflict and dependence, but still it made a lasting impression.  Now Jude and I will finally get a chance to be a part of developmental change ----- but there is the catch. Have we, having arrived at this point, got anything to offer or the skills to help make change and give people greater choice in their lives..

Over recent weeks, through our friendships, our farming and community contacts, VSO and even the blog, we have gathered a throng of people who for whatever reason, cannot go themselves but want to be a part of our team by offering support. In so doing they will all travel with us to Nepal, and share in what lies ahead. That old walnut of a question--'what are you going to teach them?' keeps being asked and each time as I frame the response, 'we hope to facilitate, long lasting change', a nag of doubt goes through my mind. Have I the listening, communication, technical skills that will be needed to even respond to a need should it arise. Having spoken to several returned volunteers the same bit of advice was common from all, 'spend time listening, looking and understanding the context'. I have also decided to reduce my expectations of what can be achieved and be prepared to rise to any challenge that is presented, coupled with taking a very large can of 'determination' from which we will drink from time to time. Too late now for those doubts, onwards and upwards, and expect the unexpected.

 

 



Householders in Jumla, Nepal

 

Drying crops

Some years ago I read a report on the current findings from a huge research project looking at 824 people from teens to old age. One of the findings from the study, carried out at Harvard University by Prof. George Vaillant and others, was that aging well and happiness in later years comes from helping people and having an outward looking approach to life. We will be testing this finding and I guess we will find it to be true.