thoughts of nepal

Its been ages since i've sat down to do a blog post. To be honest, im not even sure if anyone still checks this.

I sat down tonight in part to rehash some of the emotions and sentiments i had during the Himalayan River Girls trip in Nepal. One of the Kiwi girls recently sent around a constructive criticism form with the hope of strengthening the program for subsequent years, and the feedback form got me thinking about the trip from a different point of view.

I haven't thought much about the Nepal trip in the past two months- my computer is old, and it has been a struggle to edit and upload most of my photos. More than that, the kiwi ladies returned to New Zealand, the Swedish ladies to Sweden, and Whitney to California. With everyone who was a part of the trip so spread out, its been difficult to relive the experience of 14+ days in close contact with all these girls.

I think its no secret that many of us involved with Inka's program were dissatisfied with how a lot of things played out. A large part of the trip was taken up with hours of our discussion- over what was going on, how we felt about it, and why we felt that way. Im disapointed to admit that the majority of our feelings and discussions had negative tones.

One of the biggest overall problems with program, we felt, was a general lack of communication. On pretty much everything. From the very beginning, the information put out about the trip was spotty and inconsistent. We had several groups of people from all over the world, with different skills and expectations, both for their role on the trip, and what the trip was designed to accomplish.

I went into the trip having had limited contact with Inka herself. Most of my information had come from Sophie- the organizer on the kiwi team. My understanding of the trip- and my role in it, was that i was coming along on a 10 day river trip, (if not a 5 week long program) to help train and coach these girls in kayak and raft guide skills, helping to prepare them for jobs in the whitewater industry of Nepal.

At one point, it even sounded as though I would be guiding one of the rafts down the river. While I never expected monetary compensation, I was shocked when I arrived in Nepal, met Inka, and discovered that to be a part of the trip would cost me $500 US. That is equivalent to $50 USD a day. For a river trip- that felt ridiculous. Will, Anton and I had just run missions where we paid around $5 USD a day, at the most, including food and transportation. The cost was upsetting, not because of the amount of money, but because the majority of the cost of the trip was going as profit to equator rafting- not benefiting the girls or the program in any way.

This discovery, and Inka's refusal to discuss it, or acknowledge or our dissatisfaction with the setup contributed in a large part (at least for me personally) to the negative tone I felt throughout the trip.

To be fair- I was the only participant who didn't know about the cost ahead of time. Due to a late sign up, the email detailing the costs of the program was never sent to me. However, the other girls were under the impression that the money covered the cost of the 5 week training program, which it did not.

The other big mis-communication was with regard to our roles on the river. I, and the majority of the Kiwis were under the impression that we were coming along on the trip to coach these girls. I was therefor expecting a training program (loose, albeit ) to be in place, or something outlining sets of skills we wanted the girls to learn. In reality, our role on the Sun Kosi trip ended up being one of moral support- we were there to support and encourage the girls as they embarked on the first stage of their five week training program. Instead of going along as coaches, we were paying a full (over) cost of a commercial, 10 day rafting trip, and going as commercial customers.

However- we were not given safety boaters, or adequate equipment. We were to act as our own safety boaters, and serve as safety for the rafts. Despite this, we never sat down as a group to discuss our own skill levels- who was comfortable in a kayak in grade 3 moving water, who could preform rescues, and who was likely to swim. We never even got a chance to sit down and meet everyone on the trip until day 4 or 5. The entire trip became a time crunch-changing the focus from teaching Nepali women to running a commercial trip down a river as fast as possible.

This general miscommuntication and lack of communication continued throughout the trip- resulting in more than one issue of compromised safety.

In the end, there was a lot about the trip that i think the majority of us felt could have been improved upon. However- at the end of the day, it was all about what did the girls take out of it? And they absolutely each took something away from the experience. It might not have been the river skills we wanted them to, but they all gained confidence and experience and a new perspective on what their future could be, as well as a new understanding of what they are capable of. To introduce 10 young women to a water sport and have them come away from it so unanimously positive is wonderful.

IT is important to remember that this was the first year for this program, and while it was more than a little rough around the edges, ther eis a huge amount of potential within the program. It will ulitmatley be up to the girls themselves, as well as Inka to continue the project, and to continue to improve upon it so ensure that the girls take away as much as possible.