UC Davis Blum Center for Developing Economies

Bharatpur is a small city within the Chitwan Valley in southern Nepal.   The bus ride here was a harrowing one through narrow, muddy streets winding up and through the mountains. As frightening as it was at points, the scenery was amazing. The mountains here are incredibly green from all of the warmth and rain, and the way people have managed to live within them are impressive.   We passed many little stores and villages on the way, some poorer than others, but all established. I made a friend with an elderly Nepali gentleman who was sitting next to me on the bus. We hardly spoke until I couldn't resist but take out my iphone to take a picture, at which point he asked me where I was from. He helped me through the rest stops and guided me when I couldn't understand the man directing everyone in Nepali.   I was picked up at my stop by the father and mother of the home where I am staying, Bishnu and Tabita. They seem nice, but I haven't been able to interact wit...

With Ovidio at Lake Atitlan in the Guatemala highlands " Ish kam ", says Ovidio (our driver), as we pass some road kill leaving Canilla, our last interview site. Ovidio is not ethnically Maya, but he proudly shares tidbits and phrases that he has picked up from living in Quiche-Maya territory for most of his life. " Ish kam " or "It is dead" is certainly a phrase that he has heard more than once. In Guatemala, perhaps as in other developing countries, life and death seem more immediate than at home where beginnings and endings generally take place behind closed doors. In Guatemala the proximity of life and death is inseparably tied to faith. Where the common U.S. citizen might perceive danger (i.e. when six year old boys nonchalantly hurl machetes into trees or when a relaxed passenger hangs half his body off a clunky pickup as it swerves around the curves on an uneven road), Guatemalans leave the possibility of deadly accidents up to what Dios quier...

37 Hours Later I'm finally in Nepal! I arrived yesterday at the Tribhuvan airport in Kathmandu. The airport was my first introduction to Nepal, and a striking initial comparison between this country and the others I was traveling from and through. The airport is a comparatively tiny, three-story brick building with no air conditioning and only a few people working to check and supply visas. Whereas the Chinese airports try their best to look as modern and contemporary as possible, the décor of the Kathmandu airport reminded me of my grandparents' home. After navigating through huge, cold, metal and glass structures in Los Angeles and China, the Kathmandu airport really threw me off. I met Sunju, a young-ish Nepali girl who works with the NGO, outside and, after some minor car troubles that required us to switch vehicles, we made it to the hotel. The hotel, or “guest house”, caters to tourists and is surprisingly Americanized. My breakfast this morning was a grilled cheese...

Today was the first day I got to go out into the field and did some outreach for STRIVE! On Mondays and Tuesdays, Riverside Church offers Barber Training Courses, which are led by the Master Barber, Dennis Thomas. The church offers a free six-week barber training program that includes free haircuts to the community to allow the students to practice alongside licensed barbers. Since 1997, Thomas has trained nearly 2,000 people in the basics of barbering which helps job seekers find employment through these skills. STRIVE always refers clients to this program, and today, we attempted to reach out to the program to have them refer their clients to our Fatherhood program at STRIVE. We handed out fliers, spoke to the Master Barber himself, and I took some pictures while my co-worker got his hair cut. It was pretty awesome watching this take place and being part of this experience. It is similar to the concept of teaching people how to fish and seeing how the mentors teach the students h...

Bring a book...because the Kunming airport in China does not have wifi for travelers without a Chinese cell phone carrier. I'm sitting in the Kunming airport, on hour 6 of my 14-hour layover, waiting for the international check-in counter to open. I made the mistake of going to the domestic check-in counter, which opened at 5am. After letting the woman at the counter know that I don't speak Chinese, she directed me to Area H: International check-ins. This process has become all to familiar to me...letting the man or woman know that I cannot understand them because I do not speak Chinese, them taking a look at whatever paperwork or documentation I give them, and then letting me know that I'm not in the right place. For all of the English translated signage, arrows, and directions, navigating foreign airports is very frustrating and difficult. I was confused as to why it was so difficult at first, since I've been to many different airports before and not gotten so l...

Last Thursday we strarted working on the distribution line. Due to current road construction, we had to alter our design so that the pipeline wouldn´t follow the roads as much.  Photo courtesy Kevin Dumler When we were mapping out the new pipeline most of the community members were walking with us, telling us where their land was, where we could cross their land and where they wanted us to start the pipe that would run to their houses. Overall most of the community members are involved in the project and have paid the 150 Bolivianos (about U$21) and are willing to work their required 30 days of work. What has been the most interesting for me is the culture of the Aymarian people (which is an indigenous group here in Bolivia). From what I was told by a couple members in the community, the Aymarians in Quincucirca still speak Aymarian, they uphold communial values such as doing favors for their neighbors, and using the barter system. They also still wear more trad...

Baby Lynne The last few days have been pretty good here in Bwindi. Eve and Denis are still gone so work for R4W is slow right now. I have finished all of the brochures and am halfway done with the new website. Friday was somewhat of a lazy day as I just did a half day of work and then helped Brian do his laundry and watched a movie. On Friday evening Barnabas and I made some noodles and played with the little boys next door before heading to bed. Saturday was another lazy day. Barnabas left early in the morning to see his mother and attend his cousin’s give-a-way party. I spent the day hanging out with Hubert and Brian. We watched another movie, played a few hours of volleyball, and then went to a party that evening at the guest house where I stayed last year. A few volunteers that have been here from the Mayo Clinic were leaving so of course we had to have a dance party. Sunday morning Barnabas returned to Bwindi from home early in the morning and we spent the day doing laund...