Ode to the camera

I'm sitting in the Community Resource Center in Rivan, north of Pokhora. It's quite a story of how I've come to be here. I'm working with an NGO called USSHA Foundation, somehow I've become one of the two people working here in the village. This is a great chance to learn about how NGO's work, and don't work. Because as I'm learning, the NGO sector in Nepal is hugely overblown in comparison to the work that it's actually doing in places that need it. I'm waiting for a meeting to start which will help us define what work is needed and how we can go about doing it. The meeting was supposed to start at 10:00 AM, it's now 12. The Community Resource Center, or CRC has a small library and a computer room. It's connected to solar panels on the roof, but those don't work. The internet is patchy, sometimes working, like now, and other times not. The computers were donated from Germany.

While I was in Jiri visiting Subodh my camera died. Here's what I wrote:

With a click and whir
You come to life
Emerging from your shell
A chrome dinosaur
Of a forgotten digital age
Defiant
Against planned obsolescence
You have traveled the world
Four continents and many countries
In eight well run years.
Outliving your brethren
You are tenacious
Leaping from backpacks
To tumble down Himalayan ravines
You have spent the night on a mountain top
Never complaining
Only uttering “Canon”
With manufacturers pride
My amiable companion
Helping me tell my stories
Capturing the moment
With only 3.2 megapixels
While others boast into the teens
I will miss your unbreakable, clunky frame
And the recklessness that we explored together.

My week in Jiri was wonderful, somehow subodh's mother appointed me as a cook. I helped or cooked almost all the meals while I was there. I always watch how people cook here so I can bring back the wonderful recipies when I return. Cooking at Subodh's house I got to test out some of the recipies I've seen before with the help of Subodh's mother or brother. I'm now confident that I can replicate the Nepali meal back in the U.S. even without the varied spices that can only be found here. I'm staying in another Nepali families home in the Village, I'm again watching and helping with the cooking in the morning and evenings. There is tons of work here to do, sadly, so much of it is organizational, and my language skills hinder me. This is a wonderful opportunity to learn about NGO's and how to make a larger change.
It looks like this meeting is about to get going. See you :D
As always I've got so much to write,