Volunteering: attempt 1

28 April – 6 May 2019

Contrary to my expectations, and somewhat to my disappointment, when I spoke to the two volunteers already at Nama-Stay, they mentioned that there was not much volunteering to be done.  There was a roof that needed to be painted, but there was no paint at the moment.

Sunrise over the Himalayas, Kanatal

My first volunteering gig, from a volunteering perspective, was therefore not as inspiring or 'make the world a better place', as I had hoped.  This however did not detract too much from my experience there, and had a great week living in as rural a North Indian mountain village as I think you can get (India is rapidly developing – with all the good and bad that goes with it – I think these villages will disappear quite soon, to be replaced by towns or touristy spots).

Turning the mountain into farmland,
Kanatal

I did do some volunteering though, and tried to help where I could.  Paint did eventually arrive, and one full afternoon was spent touching up the roof.  Having never painted, I learnt that thinners (turpentine) makes painting a whole lot easier, and makes the paint last far longer.  However, once the can of paint was finished, no more was forthcoming, so the roof remained only partly touched.  I also cleared out a room that had come to be used as a storeroom.  Last year it was used as a kitchen, and eating area, but was recently used as a kennel when the pet dog had puppies, and then gradually just became a room where stuff was stored (transforming it into a storeroom).  This took a day too, and was probably the most meaningful contribution to the homestay – although, we did not really use it after.

Cleaning out the storeroom, Nama-stay, Kanatal

Cleaned out storeroom, good hey?
Nama-stay, Kanatal

Roof that needed touching up,
Kanatal

We collected some wood, to make fires at night, but after the second night, the mountain winds and rains prevented much firing making, as it was far more comfortable to sit inside.  Otherwise, which made us feel quite guilty, we were taken care of by the hosts, with traditional Indian hospitality, which consisted of being made countless cups of tea, and really, amazing food. 

The real attraction of the place though was the village life.  This however does present some minor inconveniences.  Being on a mountain, water is scarce, and infrastructure is poor.  When it rains, blows, or the man controlling the switch feels like it, the electricity cuts out.  This can last a few hours, or days.  So much, that when the electricity is mercifully supplied by the man controlling the ON switch, even for 10 minutes, their is much wild celebration and dancing, amongst the frantic rush to plug in as many devices as possible.  

The homestay’s primary struggle though was water.  The main water tank is filled by the government every few days.  However, this sits on the main road, about 1,5km away.  They have built a pipeline to a main tank on the homestay property, which in turn fills two tanks: one to the main house, and the other to the outside, western toilet.  The water moves to these tanks via electric motor.  All sounds good – in theory.  However, almost every day the hosts battled to get this system working.  Between electricity cuts, and motors malfunctioning, and many trips back and forth between the main road and the house, water flow, at best, was transient.  I wonder what happened to the next round of volunteers as when we let the main tank on the property had not been filled for three days, and getting a 5L bucket manually filled to fill up the two smaller tanks took 12 minutes of dripping water (as our main tank was dangerously low).  Someone should really go check up on them.

Besides for fleeting electricity, and scarce water, the place was magnificent.  The homestay is perched on top of hill, where nights were spent watching the sunset over distant mountains.  On the road, you can get an unobstructed view of the Himalayas, which look even better at sunsrise, and a short climb up to the watchtower gives you even better views of the whole area.

The crew, on top of the watchtower, Kanatal

Sunset from the watchtower, Kanatal

The one day we hiked up to the top of a hill where the Surkanda Devi temple sits at 2,700m.  The temple is famous for .... (can't remember), but is a nice hike up dense forest, with amazing 360 degree, unobstructed mountain views at the summit.

Forest hike to Surkanda Devi temple

Scoping the route, Surkanda Devi temple hike

Viewing the Surkanda Devi temple from the end of the hike

Surkanda devi temple close up

The locals are friendly, and despite the language barrier, if you walk past their house, they will invite you into their modest home for a cup of tea.  Life for the villagers is spent turning the mountain sides into farming area, cooking, and collecting water (there is a stream nearby).  We had one local lady cook us lunch and dinner at the homestay, and her food was outstanding.  She would arrive, say hello, and go into the kitchen, where one heard gushes of water, clanging, cutting, and chopping.  She would then emerge, about two hours later, with a feast. 

Want to be taken seriously as a villager,
got to get some goats,
Kanatal

 A cup of tea at our local cook's house,
Kanatal

Walking through the village, Kanatal

However, lounging around can only last so long, so my two week stay was cut to just over one, and with the volunteers and one of the hosts, we organised a hike further south.  

Nama-stay guest house,
Kanatal

Why not have another sunrise over the Himalayas, Kanatal