Here is my “office” for the day. Despite the opportunity to be in such an idyllic environment, the job is not without its challenges. Our first field visit is to Sigana. Our Save the Children minivan is no match for the roads. Those in charge of logistics have hired a driver and 4-wheel drive machine. Good thing because these are among the roughest roads I’ve ever been on. When we climb over a particularly hard section of the road—rocks, rivers, mud—my Nepali colleagues cheer particularly loudly. I find it nice to drive in the country…no blaring horns when we round each corner. Just the low, constant growl of our Indian-made Mahindra.

Here the children are impeccably dressed in their school uniforms. This surprises me given the poverty we see all around us. Every time we step down from the car, we hear children’s voices filling what I thought would be a quiet void. The Shree Sigana school is impressive. There are 300 students here and they are well-behaved and bright. Likewise, their headmaster is well-spoken in both Nepali and English. While we wait, children form neat rows and sing the national anthem.

Shree Sigana must have one of the most beautiful settings for a school yard anywhere. I ask which mountains these are but most children and adults don’t know. Later, several well-educated gentlemen indicate that the peaks are Annapurna South and Annapurna I. At 26,545 feet, Annapurna is more than a mile higher than Mt. McKinley (the highest peak in North America at 20,320) and is more than one-half mile higher than Aconcagua (22,841 feet), the highest peak in the Western Hemisphere. 

Here we are meeting with women who belong to women’s groups and are learning about optimal infant feeding practices and other ways to make families healthy, including proper hygiene.

Rather than taking the 4-wheel drive two hours home, we cut straight down a path that leads to our starting point. But the walk is time consuming nonetheless. No matter, we enjoy it. Our journey is nothing short of a traverse through life: we meet a midwife who tells us about the babies she delivers; a school where children learn reading, writing, arithmetic and what it means to be Nepali; a health post that restores health to children and parents alike; a wedding; a politician; and talk of death.

We also meet a renaissance man of sorts. He teaches at the local school, is the head of the Village Development Committee (an administrative unit composed of several villages/wards), a doctor and a farmer! He walks with us a from the school to his house (about 45 minutes). He wants to know whether I’d like an orange from his tree. “Sure” I say, expecting he’ll give us one each. Instead, he invites us to his courtyard where we chat for 45 minutes. A friend climbs his tree and fills a bag with sweet mandarin oranges. We eat a few then save the rest for later. His wife offers us a large bag of spice that she’s been drying.