We started the journey from Kathmandu to the Yarsha and Parchang Naukunda villages in rural Rasuwa yesterday, Thursday April 10th, picking up our team of 15 along the way in an electric bus for the journey out of the bustling city of Kathmandu to the rural countryside. The trip that would normally take 3 hours took our team 5 due to the previous day of rain that had made the road conditions slippery and scattered with deep puddles. Around hour 3 of our ride, we rounded a corner and up ahead was a road with deep mud and steep turns. Given it was the only way up we attempted it. We got stuck quickly and locals who were working on a road construction project helped put thick bags under our wheels in an attempt to get the bus moving. After multiple attempts and the bus sliding down the steep road multiple times we were on our way again.
Right as we were on the move again, around the next corner were two large vehicles nearly blocking the entirety of what was already a small road. Members of our team got out and gave the trucks instructions on the slight turns back and forth they had to make so they could pass each other. It was a slow manoeuvring process but the vehicles managed to pass each other by mere inches. We continued up the steep dirt road and yet again ran into more deep mud. We piled out and team members ran ahead to see if the conditions would allow us to pass, but as they seemingly wouldn’t the bus rolled to a halt. We passed our bags and medical equipment to the front of the bus building a pile on the side of the road. We put our bags on, balanced the boxes we had to carry, grabbed the bags of toothbrushes and began our way up the steep hill towards the camp venue on foot.
It was getting dark quickly and we reached a village just as the sun began to set. We were greeted with hot milk tea and an open room where we could store our equipment needed for the morning. The team was scattered as we got in so late and spread out with multiple host families in neighbouring villages. We were welcomed with warm dinner and a good night’s sleep in the quiet countryside, providing the rest needed to take on the first day of the Eye and Dental camp first thing in the morning. We can but dream that one year perhaps, we will arrive in daylight after a smooth trouble free journey!