Sisters youths adventure in Nepal

Four Sisters students set off on an adventure this summer that took them to the other side of the world. Now they're back and have some amazing stories to tell.

Sisters teachers Rand Runco and Mark LaMont helped them get acclimated to their new environment and then set them on a path of discovery that led them through the crowded streets of Kathmandu and then into the jagged jungle that makes up most of Nepal.

Hayden Wester, Claire Seibold, Amy Yoder and Drew Harrison from Sisters were a great team, determined to assist Runco and LaMont with their work as they trekked through the vast countryside. Other participants on the month-long trip included Jeff Smith, Kathy Powell, Kevin Metzger, Summit High School graduate Harlan Porterfield and Josh Brody, a Southern California principal who has become a celebrity in his adopted second home of Nepal.

This was Ten Friends 10th year going to Nepal. Runco and LaMont took the students to check up and refuel previous projects that ranged from orphanage sponsorships to creating libraries in the far reaches of the mountainous country.

The group facilitated the transportation of over 3,000 books into remote areas in need of better educational tools. Claire Seibold and Amy Yoder accompanied Kathy Powell, a Sisters Elementary School teacher, through Kathmandu to choose and buy the books for the trek.

Meandering through the labyrinth of narrow, congested city streets was a real eye-opener for the students. They had to learn fast how to dodge passing cars, motorcycles, and buses as well as goats, cattle and rickshaws. The noise, pollution and chaos were a lot to get used to for five teenagers coming from Sisters.

With their tasks of checking up on orphanages that Ten Friends assists and buying the books for the new and existing libraries completed, the group was ready to leave the city behind. Complications because of the monsoon season forced them to make alternate travel plans that required more travel by bus and hired jeeps.

"We were between two Himalayan stretches; it's a jungle similar to what would have been found 300 hundred years ago," said Yoder. "It felt like we were in medieval times and then we'd see a can of Pepsi, imported from Tibet."

Trekking was a lot of up and down. There was rarely ever any walking on flat ground. After miles of uneven footing the trekkers' knees really started to hurt. According to Yoder, there were no similarities to home whatsoever. The environment and material things were totally different.

One of the people who left a lasting positive impression on the students was a Nepali woman named Sunita, who is working on a master's degree in education at the Himalayan Education Center (HEC), founded by Josh Brody.

Her drive, discipline and compassion were all channeled into her desire to help her people. She had the vision to see how things could be improved.

"She's levelheaded and knows her stuff, and she's funny," said Yoder. Some of her antics included cheating at cards and pulling Runco's chair out when he tried to sit.

The students got a lot from being around her. She taught them just how much harder it is for someone to be successful in Nepal and how she found ways to make it possible. Ten Friends has helped her to achieve her goals more quickly and without quite so much hardship.

For his part, Brody is famous in Nepal for his music. The locals think he's famous all over the world. Brody was always singing and teaching the students songs. He comes every year to check up on the HEC and see all of his friends in Nepal.

There were a few situations that left a lasting impression on the students. One of the most grueling experiences was a hike from Hatiya to Hungung. Although rain was a welcome relief from the heat, it also brought an unwelcome byproduct: leeches. Black, slimy and worm-like, the leeches attached themselves to the students and were almost impossible to get rid of.

"There came a point where I stopped caring about the ones on my shoes and let them fill up to fall off of their own accord," said Seibold. "However, the ones crawling up my trekking poles never lived to see the light of another day. Shortly before it became too dark to see, we could see the village, and I sped up with the promise of hot tea - only to walk past it. The next 10 minutes to the home we stayed at was worse than four hours of leeches, simply because we walked past Hungung, where I had mentally set my destination (and that hot tea). That hike was severely unpleasant, but looking back, it might just have been my favorite hike of all."

Drew Harrison will never forget the visit he and Hayden Wester made to a tent village named Siddhartha in Khatmandu. The refugees from India were some of the poorest people his group saw, yet they didn't seem defeated.

"Their quality of life was so bad, but they still seemed happy living in the tents," he said.

Harrison was proud to be part of Ten Friends, which had built wash basins and toilets for the refugees. He came back with a new perspective on what the necessities of life really are.

"I got home and looked around at what I thought was necessary, and realized it isn't." He looked at places like Best Buy and possessions like laptops and realized their real importance. "I looked differently at all the crap we have that our culture makes us think are so important when they're really not necessary at all."

The group braved bouts of carsickness that especially affected Hayden and Claire. One of the funniest moments came when they arrived at a checkpoint manned by an imposing police officer who looked like he might give the group trouble. But Hayden's stomach finally revolted and he retched out the window, causing the officer to almost throw up himself. He immediately hurried the car through with a frantic wave of his arm.

Although, surely not funny to Hayden at the time, the memory of that day brings laughter to everyone who was there.

During the trip, there were times when it seemed too hard to go on but then the hard parts ended and it was all worth it. One of the most rewarding parts of the trip was seeing the Lingham library and how much the villagers were using it. Seeing how much it was enriching their village made the difficult treks to the remote villages worth the struggle.

All of the students would like to return to Nepal... some sooner than others.

"It's hard to believe that both places exist in the same world. Nepal is in a different realm," said Yoder.