Processing a week in the field

I’m back in Katmandu after a week unlike any other I have ever experienced. I can feel my body aching - physically my calves are sore from the demanding walks between villages and mentally my mind is slowly relaxing after seven days of sensory overload. Despite this, I’m totally and utterly pumped to heading back into the field in just a few short days to visit women’s group and ADWON’s cooperative bank in Gorkha!!!

The night before we left I was up late packing and wondering what the week would be like. As my thoughts wandered, I grew increasingly aware that this trip is really happening. I’ve been dreaming of doing something like this since I was little and here I am living in Nepal with an great organization that works with women. I’m flying solo, building relationships with those I meet in transit, but I am also independent financially thanks to support from two great grants. I've made a few of my dreams come true, and that feels pretty unreal. I went to bed that night energized and in awe of everything.

ADWON Staff (Bindu & Subhakala) and I on tea break!

And then last night, driving back to Katmandu, I felt the same way, times a hundred. I am so grateful as it brought more experiences than I could have imagined. We met with about ten women's groups and almost a dozen scholarship recipients. The conversations repeatedly returned to common themes like domestic violence, Dalit discrimination, education, entrepreneurship and community. I was struck by the issues universal nature, and inspired by the many women heroes I met. 

Community leader and hero 

The last week had some incredible highs and some incredible lows. I would be hearing a success story that left me filled with hope and encouragement, and then I would turn around and hear a story that left me struggling to grasp the horrible unfairness of life. The week had me swinging between the extremes (and occasionally dangling in the middle).

Despite traveling with Bindu (an ADWON board member) as my partner, interpreter and guide, I felt pretty isolated. There was no (native English speaking/foreigner) person to turn to and discuss everything I was seeing and hearing, and so I relied on journaling to empty my mind and re-energize.  I'm still working on pulling together coherent and logical thoughts, but I promise that I'll be sharing them (and accompanying stories) soon! 

Bindu and I