A Rare Blog Entry From Dave

It has been a while since I (Dave) have done a blog entry.  I want to do so this time mainly with pictures and limited commentary.  You will “hear” two stories through these pictures:  First, our family’s visit to the Chepang village of Odare on April 01-03, 2011 and second, my one-day HIV training trip to the western edge of Palpa District on May 03, 2011.    I hope this gives you a better idea of the kinds of things we are doing here in Nepal and provides you a better idea how to pray for us. 

Beine Family Adventure to Odare (A Chepang Village) April 01-03 (no fooling!)  (Chepang Trip photos courtesy of Anastasia Carlson)

The boys ride up top

The trip began with a winding 4 hour jeep ride to the town of Pokhara where we over-nighted. Then on the second day another one-hour drive east along the national highway followed by a final one-hour drive north (and to the top of the ridge) along a "jeep road" that now reaches the village.  The boys were able to ride on top once we got off the main road.  The "jeepable" road is a big change from our first visit to this village nearly ten years ago when you had to walk all the way from the highway.  They also now have electricity and water taps, another big development.

According to some sources upward of 1/2 of all Chepang are now Christians.  There were no reported Christians in the group when our New Zealander teammate Ross Caughley and his family first began to live among the Chepang in 1968.  Here is a door of a local house in Odare, announcing the occupants' Christian faith.  What a HUGE change for the Chepang over the past few decades!

 
We arrive at the church and begin meeting people

Inside the church.  Notice the Beines interspersed in the crowd.  Also notice Ross in the chair at the back right and the sick man in the bed at the back left.

 Ross preaching in Chepang.  Ross has been working as a linguist on the Chepang language for42 years.  He completed the New Testament in 1993 and Old Testament translation is ongoing.

 Dwarika introducing the Chepang literacy materials

The newly completed Chepang Song Book

Dave presents a set of literacy materials to the church

Ro

 Ross presents a copy of the Chepang New Testament (completed in 1993) along with a Chepang language dictionary "hot of the press."

The newly delivered literacy materials in use!

shy to have her photo taken

Beautiful Chepang Young Lady

Chepang Mother and her Children

Great Smile!

 Kimberly examines the leg of the man in the bed.

 Kimberly examines the Xray while Jake looks on.  Amazing where you end up doing medicine in Nepal!

 Prayer for the sick man

 another young man is prayed over

Kimberly examines another young man.

Josh discovers a "treasure" (goat teeth) nearby

    Ross does some after-church visiting

Lunchtime!

 Kimberly exiting "the facilities"

Saying our goodbyes

Until we meet again

One-Day HIV Training in Western Palpa District (May 03, 2011)

I currently serve as an advisor on a HIV and AIDS prevention project in rural Palpa District of Western Nepal.   Here are a few photos of our team’s recent field visit to do a one-day HIV training for a mother’s group at the western edge of the district.  The day began at 6AM with sunshine, a 3 hour drive followed by an hour-long hike to the village, and ended with a downpour. Based on this visit (and other such visits to other project areas) I am now meeting with the team to evaluate the materials and presentation.

Along the way (about 25 miles from Tansen) we stopped at a random hotel (an eating place) for breakfast and I noticed a Dwarf couple with baby running a hotel across the street.   I was told that the baby was 1 year old.   About a year ago I remembered Kimberly telling me of a pre-natal case she was caring for, a dwarf  lady (it is rare here for Dwarfs to have children).  I decided to cross the street and ask if she had delivered at the mission hospital. She had and Kimberly had been her doctor!  The baby is named Smirti (which means statue) and is healthy.  Amazing who you can meet in the strangest places!

Over the Ridi River…

Following the trail upstream for a way…

And then up to the ridge…

A simple village house is “borrowed,” emptied out and swept, and the women begin to arrive (two hours late!)…

And the teaching begins…

The village women listen intently…

Games are played to illustrate the impact of HIV upon the body.  Here candy wrappers (representing germs, virus, bacteria, etc.) are thrown at the victim while her hands are tied to represent the body’s compromised immune system.

Information about AIDS is shared in one corner of the room…

While a gun rests comfortably in the other corner (amongst all of our other training materials).

 

A little dancing is done in honor of our coming…

We are “encouraged” to “hurry it up” when the boys of the home return home from school and begin to play video games near the end of our presentation and so we pack up and depart...

We run the hour down the mountain as fast and as safely as our legs will carry us given the slippery and muddy conditions of the trail and arrive to the jeep drenched in the midst of a pitch-black thunderstorm.