Aunt and her niece, cooking a meal

Aunt and her niece, cooking a meal
Janakpur, Nepal, October 21st, 2015

Urmila (in orange) and her niece Ram Kala work to prepare a meal.
Urmila is one of my friend’s maternal aunts, and Ram Kala is a cousin.

With the punitive months-long Indian blockade of fuel and supplies, cooking gas is almost impossible to come by and so meals are cooked over wood fires. Because of the smoke inherent with wood fires, families try to cook outside if possible. Cooking times are lengthened, and with only one stove “burner”, each part of the meal (lentils, rice, tea, et cetera) must wait it’s turn to be cooked.

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Though the small rectangular stool in the lower-left is only a couple of inches tall, it can make all the difference comfort-wise when one is squatting by the fire for an hour or more.

If you would like to donate to Mercy Corps’ Nepal Earthquake fund please click here.

If you would like to donate to UNICEF’s Nepal Earthquake fund please click here.

Parvati, now and then

Parvati, now and then
Betrawati, 2011 and 2000

Parvati, who lives next door. Coincidentally, the two photos—taken 11 years apart—were taken in the same exact place.

If you would like to donate to Mercy Corps’ Nepal Earthquake fund please click here.

If you would like to donate to UNICEF’s Nepal Earthquake fund please click here.

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Apsara and a friend

Apsara and a friend
Kathmandu, 2011

In one of the two school-rooms of a school that my friend Mana started for rural children—about a 6km walk west of Manamaiju Marg—Apsara (in the turquoise sari), a teacher there, shares a laugh with a friend.

If you would like to donate to Mercy Corps’ Nepal Earthquake fund please click here.

If you would like to donate to UNICEF’s Nepal Earthquake fund please click here.

Bonus: a 16-second video from 2011 of Leena, one of Mana’s students (who you can see in the background of the above photo), doing a chicken impression.