The Earthquake and the aftermath: A reflection

link to a video about how you can help
link to the official donation page
(please specify in the bank transfer narrative that you would like to donate to the "Dashinkali earthquake rebuilding project")

It was just another regular day. I was sitting in class wondering what to eat for lunch when suddenly the room started shuddering. At first I didn't know what was happening but then one of my classmates shouted “earthquake” and we all scrambled outside. The ground was swaying and all the buildings were shaking. I was too shocked to be afraid. A piece of the temple fell off and the wall toppled over. I could hear people screaming from the village. The first earthquake lasted for about two minutes. Once the ground was relatively steady again, we all went up to the football field. The entire village was all standing there; the buildings looked relatively unscathed and the people unharmed. As Pharping sits on a large rock face, the tremor wasn't so severe, nobody was killed. While we were sitting there, I checked my twitter feed and saw that the 7.9 magnitude earthquake had gone viral, every news station was talking about it and shocking pictures of the damage were all over the internet. As the hours passed more tremors occurred at regular intervals and the death toll went from a few hundred to thousands with many still stuck under the rubble with nothing to do but die slowly of their injures with no one to help them.

We slept in the library that first night. I woke up to a bang and people screaming all around me. I've never been afraid for my life before but in that moment this panic came over me and I had ran halfway across the yard before I realized I was screaming. One of the women who I was studying with had tripped over someone while trying to get out and cut her lip and gave herself a huge black eye. We all eventually fell asleep but were woken several times to more tremors and I woke up the next morning feeling exhausted and afraid. We spent the morning cleaning up and buying provisions for the upcoming days. There were several other lesser tremors during the morning, each one making my heart race but now the feeling of the earth moving beneath our feel had become a regular thing. The radio was predicting another earthquake so many of us were too afraid to go inside even to go to the bathroom and to grab a few things.

The thing people never usually talk about is the waiting. The waiting and hearing about all the horrific things happening around you with nothing you can do. All transport to kathmandu had been closed off so we had no way of helping them to move the rubble and even if we could, most of the people were already dead anyway. About 1 o'clock another earthquake struck this time with a magnitude of 6.9 meaning that many more houses collapsed and there was even less shelter for people and more and more families were out on the street with no clothes, food or water not knowing if their loved ones were alive or dead. The phone lines kept cutting out meaning that people couldn't contact their loved ones and even if they could, there are many parts of Nepal with no roads and no phone reception so they are unreachable. We have gathered as much clothes, blankets and medicinal supplies as we can spare and have been distributing them to people in need in the surrounding area. This brings me to the most important part of this post, how you can help the people recover from this monstrous disaster. As Kathmandu is the capital of Nepal and also the most severely affected, most of the foreign aid and donations are going there. This is very good of course however it means that many of the smaller towns are neglected and left to rebuild their lives for themselves. Fortunately there is a strong sense of community in these towns and this means that they are very willing to help each other. Even though Pharping was not so badly affected, the neighboring village of Jultiki, Dakshinkali-9 was badly damaged.

Out of the 95 houses, over 82 have completely collapsed leaving the inhabitants with nowhere to stay. This is a problem for several reasons; not only does it mean that they are homeless but also they have nowhere to go during the monsoon which leaves them even more danger of falling sick from the many infectious diseases that will spread through the water such as cholera, diphtheria and typhus. You can help them by donating to the “Dolpu Tulku Charitable Foundation” who have set up a trust fund in order for the community to be able to build temporary houses in the next few weeks and then to create new buildings that are completely earthquake proof after the monsoon. I can assure you in all honesty that this is a legitimate project where all the money will go to those in need as I personally know the people organising this project. Not only that, but several people who I have been studying with these past months will be staying on to aid in the reconstruction process.

here is a video where you can see how you can help

here is is a Link where you can donate. Please donate what you can every cent makes a difference. Please make sure you specify in the bank transfer narrative you would like the money to go to the "Dashingkali earthquake rebuilding project" Thank you

one of the many make-shift shelters

Tips for healthy skin and hair while traveling the natural way

I used waste a lot of money on expensive products that claim to give you the perfect skin/hair but none of them seemed to work at least not in the long run. My skin would go back to being dry, spotty and sensitive and my spit ends would come back just a few weeks after going to the hairdressers. Over the past year or so I have diminished my collection significantly and have adopted a few key natural ingredients that are both kinder on my body and my pocket. Here some basic ingredients that you can bring with you or buy wherever you are that will help you stay fabulous throughout your travels. 

1. Coconut oil 

One of the most magical ingredients that mother nature has to offer! It can be brought in pretty much every supermarket, even here in nepal and can be used for a whole variety of things including:

- as a moisturizer: ok, you do look kind of greasy after putting it on so you need to give it a few minutes to soak in. You can also just wipe any excess off with a cotton pad. I have dry/combination skin so I need to add moisturizer to my foundation. I tested this with the coconut oil and it works fine. 

- As a makeup remover: especially good for removing eye makeup. Melt in in your hand, put in on a cotton pad and wipe off your makeup like you would do normally. 

- For treating (dry) eczema: I've suffered from eczema since I was a small baby. It usually pops up whenever I travel because the air-conditioning in the airplanes sets it off. It really sucks because it means that I get ugly itchy peeling red patches all over my face which means no cool selfies for the first week or so of my travels. I've found that keeping my face moisturized with coconut oil throughout my flight keeps the eczema from appearing in the first place. 

- As shaving oil: just rub on your legs/armpits before shaving. No need to moisturize afterwards. 

- As a hair mask: melt in your hand and rub it into your hair. Leave it over night and wash it out the next day. I usually do it about once every few weeks in nepal because the water is so bad here and gets dry and damaged really quickly.

- As an anti stinky armpit device: So we've all been in the situation while traveling where we smell bed and don't have access to a shower. I dunno about you guys, but I would usually roll on some anti perspirant which usually contained aluminium and a whole variety of nasties that could be used to poison someone. Now, I just rub on some coconut oil and wipe it off with a tissue. Not only does this leave my soft and smelling of coconut but it actually removes most of the bacteria that was causing the smell in the first place!

2. Rose water: 

Rose water can be used to both cleanse and tone the face. Good if you don't have access to clean water. You can buy it everywhere and it's super cheap! 

3. Essential oils: 

There are loads of different essential oils and all of them have their own special qualities. Here are my favorites:

Tea tree oil: A natural anti-septic. Its perfect for zapping spots and blackheads. after cleansing your face, just put a few drops on a cotton bud and dab it on your imperfections. Alternatively you can add some to some hot water and wash your face with it. 

Lavender: is great for burns and is also a natural antiseptic. I prefer washing my face with lavender water because it smells better in my opinion and I find tea tree can be a little to aggressive on my super sensitive skin. If you have any burns you can soak them in cold water with a few drops of lavender in it. Lavender also helps with preventing scarring.

4. Proper sustenance 

I've put this last because most of you already know this but you are what you eat meaning that the outside of your body reflects whats going on inside. If you only eat unhealthy food and never drink any water, then obviously your skin will look like crap (unless you're one of those irritating people who always has perfect skin no matter what they do). So give your body a break and take care of it. Drink at least 8 glasses of water a day and cut down on the alcohol, coffee and fizzy drinks. Give the Big Macs a rest and opt for something a little more digestible. I don't mean you have to live off salad but try eating it a little more often. Try switching all the pasta and grains for some veggies once in a while. If you're traveling, maybe there are some exotic new things try. 

Good luck lads. I hope at least some of this was helpful. If you have any more natural travel tips for skin and hair, please add them in the comments below. 

An outing to Namobuddha

the story of Namobuddha

Namobuddha has been a place of pilgrimage for buddhists and non buddhists alike. It's a reasonably bumpy ride so if you have back problems, I would strongly disadvise it! It takes about 3 hours to travel from Pharping to Namobuddha. You can go by public bus, tourist bus or by taxi. As we were a large group, we rented a bus for the day which cost 1450 per person. Depending on how much you manage to fill the bus, the price will increase or decrease. We left Pharping at six in the morning in order to avoid traffic and while going down the hill we got a beautiful view of the sunrise

the view of the sunrise from the bus

There are many variations on the story on the story of Namobuddha but they all lead to the same conclusion. I will tell you the one I heard while studying the Bodhicharyavatara by Shantideva (http://www.rigpawiki.org/index.php?title=Bodhicharyavatara ). 

the rock where buddha offered his body

In one of Buddha's previous incarnations, he was the son of a king who was traveling through Namobuddha with his retinue when they came across a tigress and her cubs. She looked so emaciated and starving that she couldn't even lift her head up to acknowledge their passing. The buddha stopped and stared at the Tigress and asked his brother what was wrong with her. The brother told him that she was starving and that if she did not eat something soon, she would surly die of hunger. The buddha stared at the tigress with compassion and told his family to go on and that he would meet up with them later on. Once they had left, he made a cut in his arm and offered it to the tigress. He saw that this was not enough to feed both her and her cubs. He then offered his arms, then his legs and finally his whole body. At the end all that was left of him was a small heap of bones. When the king and his family found out about this, they were devastated and they erected a stupa in which they placed his bones. The stupa still stands today. One can also see the very rock where the buddha offered his body 

The stupa containing buddhas bones