I am 3400m above sea level and still my neck is craned to gaze and love the mountains towering above.... I found the journey here very tough, and my body took some time to adjust. This was quite a shock, being a young, fit and healthy woman I had not really expected to have trouble but the high altitude is very tough, and after 20 days I still find myself fighting for breath at times, the air is so thin!
So now I am volunteering with a hostel that enables children with disabilities, who are form rural areas in Ladakh to access education. I arrived and then went on holiday with the children, to beautiful Nubra Valley. I fell in love with them all, (in particular with their noses) 25 kids from 6- 17, various disabilities from physical to dyslexia.
The kids are not like kids in the UK, they are much less spoilt and self centred, they are bright and generous and loving.
But they have NOTHING.
Still they smile through.
Wow, again I am humbled.....
So I return to the hostel tomorrow, as do the kids after their summer holidays, and a friend I met on the road will also join me there which I am very happy about as it is much easier to keep the energy levels high if I have a comrade!!
I am reading 'Ancient Futures' by Helena Norberg-Hodge, this book is about the effect of globalisation on ancient cultures like the traditional society in Ladakh too quote a passage ' {R}eweaving the local, the small scale, the intimate, the natural, the human, show that, one way or another, nature willprevail, that it is this deeper heart-power, and not money, that truely makes the world go round. The question for all of us, as natural life support systems collapse all around us, before our very eyes, is a simple one: how soon will sufficient numbers of us learn to listen to our hearts?' (2000 Rider). I can reccommend this book to anyone interested in the affects of globalisation on traditional societies (infact everyone should read it).
No comments:
Post a Comment