Swagatam (Welcome)

Our entry into Duradanda was something like out of a movie. I had ideas of what it might be like, but as many of the experiences in Nepal, the actual experience surpassed anything I had previously imagined.

Our bus ride to the village was supposed to be only take a few hours and we were to arrive mid-day. Well as many times on the trip, things changed. With the transmission falling out of the bus and our unexpected hike it placed us to Duradanda right at sunset. It didn’t help that the Annapurna mountain range and the Himalaya mountains were standing at attention off to our right. The sun looked as if it would never leave the peaks. Normally when the sun goes down, it will stay on peaks for a few moments then disappears. The Himalayas on the other hand, seem to absorb the sun. Gather it as if they will never see the light again. So we obviously were a little pre-occupied. Also, as we found, a Nepali version of “short hike” does not equal an American version of a “short hike”.

The elders of the village had gathered together to outside of the village to welcome us in. The fact that their village was selected to host a Choice expedition was a huge honor, and they knew this.  They had been planning for months for our arrival, and now we were finally here. It was as if in a dream. We were met with horns, drums, singers and dancers.

A Choice expedition coming to a village meant many things. On the surface, it meant that many volunteers would be coming to the village for over a week. It meant extra hands to help with manual labor projects. It meant new faces to greet and interact with. It meant learning new things about people from far away. But it meant so much more than that to the leaders of this village. Having an expedition come to their village meant hope and life. The hope that things can change. The hope for a better future. The hope that not only poverty can be changed, but the hope that life may be enriched....better.

As we made our way to the village, the women were waiting for us to arrive. We were greeted with many enthusiastic “Namaste”, handshakes, and of course smiles. We were introduced to the first of many  marigold necklaces (have forgotten what they are called). We were given a tika of red powder on our forehead. The tika represented a blessing to each of us. We learned quickly that we would be given many tikas during our visit.



Of course, after our greeting, there was more dancing. There was always dancing. The villagers were so excited to have us, they wanted to share their music, dance, and culture with us. Love it! These villagers knew how to dance....and dance...and dance...and dance. We learned many new dance moves from them, along with a few versions of traditional Nepali folk songs. As our trip progressed we learned one of the common songs “Resham Firi”, which became our SHe mantra. It didn’t matter the venue, the people, what was happening, where it was, what time of day, or any other variable. We would randomly burst out into “Resham Firi” and the villagers would laugh at our extremely bad Nepali accents, then join in to fix our mispronunciations.

It was only the first night and I already felt like family. What an excellent way to begin our expedition.

Namaste