The original idea was that the October group would work on the floor and walls and maybe even make a start on the roof and a second group would come in April 2012 and work on plastering the walls, painting and repairing furniture. However the timing of the visit was poor as it coincided with the major Hindu festival of Diwali and the villagers were occupied with family visits and celebrations. Bir Singh told us that poor Nepalis might only eat meat one or twice a year but Diwali would be one of those times and as well it is an occasion for buying new clothes and a few other modest treats. As a result we saw little of the villagers and only a little stone-laying. But we did a lot of site preparation so that it was readied for the locals to commence construction.

We are so used to road or rail deliveries that it is hard to relate to a setting where all building materials have to be carried in by hand. And not just carried in but carried up .. a myriad of steps. There is a book at Gandruk listing the family members who carried in stone blocks and how many. The locals had assembled two huge piles of stone blocks, many lengths of timber, the sheets of slate for the roof, bags of cement and of the small stones to form the concrete, and the reinforcing rods for the second storey floor - rolled up of course so they could be carried but it meant that they had to be unrolled and straightened by the four Sherpa guides using just their hands and body weight (it was deemed as too dangerous for we visitors to attempt).

We walked into Gandruk around 11.00 am on day 4 pretty hot and bothered after a steep climb up from our overnight camp at Landruk - just across the valley as the crow flies but down a lot of steps and up even more! But our spirits were raised by a very warm welcome from representatives from the village - not too many because of the Festival but a band, a number of local dignitaries and welcoming women who provided a guard of honour, gave us flowers, hung floral garlands round our necks and dabbed us with tika, the red powder which Hindus wear on their foreheads and which is meant to secure blessing and safety from the gods.

After lunch we made our first foray to the actual site which made us more aware of just what a big task lay ahead. (And also how uphill the walk to the site was from our camp - yours truly decided there and then that she would not be walking back for lunch each day ?..).

Each day of the volunteer work period followed a similar pattern. We were woken with a cup of tea delivered to our tents at 6.30 am. A basin of hot water for washing arrived shortly after, and we would assemble for breakfast at around 7.00 am. We were well fed - choice of porridge, muesli or cornflakes followed by bread (local and usually fried - not your standard toast! - but tasty ?) and eggs with tea, coffee or hot chocolate. We would then leave for the building site about 7.30 am and await our instructions. Cordial and biscuits were delivered to the building site around 10.30 - hot lemon cordial sounds bizarre but it was really very nice. Everyone except yours truly went back to the camp site for lunch at about 12.30. They re-appeared about an hour later and worked until no-one could suggest more for us to do - normally around 4.00 pm. Then back to the camp for a very welcome hot shower, a cup of tea at 5.00 pm and dinner at 6.30 - soup, vegetables with fish or chicken and pasta followed by a simple dessert. The cook and his three off-siders were wonderful caterers particularly when you remember that everything - equipment, ingredients, kerosene stove - had to be carried all the way. And that not only did he have to feed the tour party but all the porters and other support staff (there were thirty porters for the fifteen of us plus five guides ). He even produced a birthday cake for a group member one night, and a decorated Farewell cake on the last night. The tour brochure talked about evenings spent with travelling companions as one of the highlights of the tour but most of us were tucked up in our tents by 9.00 pm?

Day 1 of the project work began with a stint of carrying timber planks out from the forest. The strong carried a plank single-handed (the Sherpas could carry two!) but most of us grabbed an end each and shared the job. If that doesn’t sound too difficult consider - it was a 2 km walk into the forest to get the timber and so a 2 km walk out with it, the first part was over wet, slippery and uneven earth and the second though on stone trails involved plenty of steps (level ground is in short supply in Nepal ?), the timber was green and so heavy, and there were plenty of leeches around.

We then set up a stone block passing line to move a pile of the blocks to another area. By the time the end of the pile was reached I couldn’t lift my arms above my waist. Then it was back to the forest for another length of timber ?. Then home to camp but at least we had a hot shower available!

Day 2 I was officially sacked from the timber carrying business - a depressing but realistic assessment of my talents ?.. So with the rest of the ‘timber dropouts’ we moved yet more stone blocks but about half the group returned to the forest and some made two and three trips. After that we cleared the stones and mud out of the building left after the roof had been removed, stacking the stone blocks for future use and sliding the mud safely out-of-the-way down a hillside down an ingenious chute made from four wooden planks. But of course the stones had to be picked up and passed hand-to-hand and then the mud loosened with a pick, dug out with a shovel and dumped in shallow basins which were passed hand-to-hand to the top of the afore-mentioned chute.

Day 3 was a change of pace with me becoming a “creosote Picasso” painting planks of wood with creosote. Gloves but no masks of course - OH&S would not be happy ?. After that a group of us began carrying baskets of sand up from the river for the mortar. A Nepali would carry 25 kg plus of sand in a basket strapped to his forehead. Yours truly carried three shovelful’s at a time clutched to her middle but did make five trips. Three members of the group experimented with the head strap though and reported that it worked quite well (but with less than 25 kgs in the baskets!!). There were still courageous people who returned to the forest to bring more timber.

Day 4 was the final effort. One member of the group who had building expertise spent most of the day leading a small group in constructing the wooden ‘boxing’ to take the concrete for the second-storey floor and ‘shuttering’ the windows (I hope I‘ve got the terminology right?). Others of us sorted out square stone blocks from the pile and passed them up from trail level to building level - a couple of metres. Some mixed cement and carried it in shallow basins to where the local builder was placing stone blocks. And we combined to dig a trench along the front of the building maybe half a metre deep and lay stone in it to create a foundation for the new front pillars and stairs.

That night we enjoyed a special thank you and farewell from the village with speeches, an opportunity to try the local alcohol, music and singing for our entertainment and then dancing in which we joined. The most robust of us lasted until around 10 pm but the locals were still going strong an hour later! The next morning we were farewelled again with more flower garlands and tika. We could be sure that our efforts had been noted and appreciated by the villagers.

All too often people complain about what they haven’t got and demand that the government “do something”. That isn’t realistic in Nepal and it is great to see individuals doing things for their communities and those far away supporting them financially and with encouragement. And it was a real privilege to have the opportunity to make a difference in the lives of others.

Don’t forget, stage 2 of the Sanjiwani Medical Centre Project will take place in April 2012. If you have some spare time and spare cash and like a challenge may I recommend you consider taking part? Bonuses are visiting a very different country and seeing some wonderful mountain scenery. And then the rhododendron trees will be in flower and the forest will be full of colour.

Bir Singh had just two days after leading the Sanjiwani tour before he commenced the 22-day Manasalu circuit trek so he hasn’t sent his formal thank you letter as yet but he did email a note to say his half of your donations had been received.