“On a Mish” #150 Adventures in Nepal (Part Three). Gogane to Kahule. 4.11.2018. So far, our adventure had taken us around the remote parts of the country where the Active Hearts Foundation is actively helping out. Whether it is a library in a school or a pipeline for a village, whatever we can help out with we do. After some rather bumpy roads we had arrived at our Head Guides home village, and from there is will be foot-power only. However, before we headed deeper into the Himalayan Foothills, we had a very special event to attend…
There was already a lot going on in Gogane by the time we got back from the pipeline, as there was going to be a Nepali wedding with a catch. Two of the Active Hearts Whanau, Mark and Jenna had recently been married and decided to really seal the deal with a Nepali wedding while on the charity trek. When it comes to weddings, we are doing it all wrong in the western world, and I can now say that after experiencing the incredible celebration that goes on during a Nepali ceremony.
From the amount of people gathering in Gogane you could tell this was a big deal, and word had spread far. The wedding itself was a celebration of love, colour, dance and songs, all taking place at a small shrine located just above our campsite. The whole village and surrounding villages were invited, and the wedding did the rounds on social media, with one comment stating the “Prince Harry had just had a Nepali Wedding”.
During the ceremony the fellas in the crowd would suddenly burst into life with a song, dance and lots of clapping, followed by mass group laughter, and then the giggles of anticipation knowing the same thing was about to happen repeatedly. After the very entertaining wedding ceremony the party continued into the evening, and at dinner time the bride and groom were surprised with an epic cake, topped with candles and sparklers. We all staggered our way back to our tents, full of food and fun-times, and ready to get some sleep for our hike begins early the next morning.
An early-ish start was needed so we could cover the ground to our first mobile campsite, and, we had two Active Hearts Libraries to visit as well. After our standard 15 plate Nepali breakfast we were introduced to the huge team of Nepali Legends, whose help and sometimes encouragement is so vitally important to the success of the Active Hearts Charity Treks. We were also introduced to our very experienced, peaceful and powerfully wise mountain navigation guide, Ba. After the big intro we got ourselves sorted, with some of the Whanau looking a little worse for wear from the wedding after party the night before.
The first section we walked was over the ground we had driven in on a few days before, and the skills of our drivers had to be commended as we hiked the extremely rough road which crossed over several large earthquake slips. Stop one was at a historical site for Active Hearts Foundation, as it is the site of the first Active Hearts Library in Satdabato Village. The Kiwi flavour to the library is so cool to see all the way over Nepal, and after seeing the library Dan Bus Keys and the rest of the Whanau were treated to an awesome ‘Welcoming Ceremony’.
We bid the teachers, students and other assorted locals farewell, and then continued our journey towards the next library, Shree Aiselu Bhume Secondary School in Kahule, the home of my parents’ library and a location that has become very important to the area…
