As a committed Board member of the Unitarian Service Committee of Canada (USC Canada) we have ongoing invitations to experience the true “field work” that USC does by accompany-ing USC Program and Field Staff on visits to their many projects around the world. However, contrary to what I eventually discovered is a common misconception, USC’s modest budget cannot fund these consciousness-raising trips for Board members, many of whom can also not afford time away from farming or professional work. They are by necessity self-funded and accommodations, provisions and transportation are certainly not luxurious or often even comfortable, although they can sometimes still be a sight better than the average Nepali experiences in their own home. Often we stayed with farmers who gave us their own or their children’s beds and, as is their custom, fed us first at a place of honour while they and their family ate on the floor in the kitchen (Nepali style). Hot water and sometimes bathing were non-existent as was heating beyond the kitchen fire - even in the Himalayan mountain cold (chimneys are rare in rural Nepali homes and so smoke is thick inside dwellings) and you slept in the clothes you wore the previous day. When I realized that my sabbatical would coincide with a planned USC Field Trip into two distinct areas of Nepal, one to Sindhuli in the sub-tropical Terai, close to the border with India and mostly Hindu and the other in Rasuwa close to the border with Tibet, much colder, mountainous and mostly Buddhist) I jumped at the opportunity to participate hands on in this work to which I am so committed. It is difficult to get across in mere words what it is like to travel to a place like Nepal with USC. Our work there ranges from riverbank conservation and reforestation, to building schools, irrigation and clean water facilities, to supporting farmers in trusting their indigenous knowledge, promoting sustainable agriculture and ecological and organic farming, to gender and equity training among women, men and youth as well as support in countering domestic violence and abuse, to seed saving and promoting genetic diversity and food sovereignty, supporting domestic industry, literacy, organizing savings, loan and micro-credit programs and strengthening civil society. Simply traveling to the villages and farms that are served by USC’s programs is a very daunting prospect, and I have incredible respect both for the Canadian Program staff and the Nepali Field staff who undertake it on a regular basis. Absolutely treacherous roads one lane wide that consist of giant uneven rocks and no guard rail winding for miles along the tops of cliffs which are a sheer drop a few meters away; villages that are a 5 hour climb straight up to almost 8,000 feet (the same altitude as Machu Picchu or Mount St. Helens) with no stopping (I thought I was going to have a heart attack until an ancient Nepali couple with a bad cough carrying about 50 lbs of firewood each, sprinted past me and shamed me into going on) narrow footpaths that crumble away to rockslides during the spring runoff from the Himalayas, and are sometimes only a foot wide with about a 200 storey fall 3 feet to your right… it’s not work for the faint of heart. In fact, I joked with USC staff and Board members at the latest meeting that both their selection and orientation process should feature a grueling fitness and stress tests, driving (and passenger) tests, use “fear factor” tests to rule out fear of heights, insects, spiders, drowning, claustrophobia, vertigo and anyone without a cast iron stomach – as well as offer kidnapping insurance (we were held up for many hours on the last day because of a Maoist kidnapping and hostage taking and told initially that no-one could leave until it was resolved, which typically takes several weeks!) Nepal is a wondrous, complex and beautiful country that is emerging from a time of civil war and is not yet entirely stable (nor was it when I was there). Yet I have never in my life been greeted with such hospitality, such generosity and such kindness, most often by people who had almost nothing themselves, let alone anything to share. It makes a big impression on you to be offered all the food that a village has; to be spiritually inspired by the generosity of spirit of the poorest people you will ever meet and then to come home to your own land where we have so much and are so often not happy or are discontented with our lot in life. It changes who you are in your soul. I was also incredibly impressed with the respectful blend of Hinduism and Buddhism evident in Nepali society as well as an amazing ethnic diversity that seems to coexist harmoniously. (No doubt there is racism and of course, the caste system in Hindu Nepal, but there seems to be an absence of the ethnic or religious strife that plagues so many of her neighbours.) Most Hindus and Buddhists I met had shrines in their homes with symbols from both religions and expressed both knowledge of and respect for others’ faiths. I was asked about my religion with genuine interest more than has usually been the case in other countries. And I and my traveling companions, USC’s agronomist and geneticist Awegechew Teshome and Courtney Clark, USC Program Director for Nepal, Bangladesh and East Timor were invited to celebrate Tihar (the Nepali version of the Hindu holy day of Divali) while we were there. I am so committed to the work of the USC that I was asked and agreed to become a member of the Executive of the Board and to use my skills to do some writing for them. An short article about a woman farmer I met in Sindhuli was published in the January “Jottings” - formerly Dr. Lotta Hitschmanova’s travel notes and now the official newsletter of USC Canada. Click Here to see this Issue More creative writing for USC will be forthcoming in the months to come. India USC plans sometime change and the staff person originally chosen to accompany me to India was unable to go after all, so my visit to USC programs in Bangalore will have to be postponed. However, I was able to fit in a trip to Mumbai in January where I was able to visit a well-known slum that is next to IIT. Literally only a wall away from this bastion of intellectual privilege over 40,000 people live without the basics of food, water, sanitation or education. Under the auspices of a friend who works very closely with women leaders within that slum, I was permitted to visit and meet with many of the community leaders there and to learn about their own efforts to improve the lives of the people living there. This work parallels work to which I have been committed for a long time with both USC and Child Haven International. It is impossible to go and see the contrast between the haves and the have-nots (which I have witnessed before many times but never seen so starkly illuminated as by the wall built around the enclave that is IIT!) and not be moved to become more involved in trying to equalize the gross imbalance of fairness, fortune and misfortune in the world. As I said in my Sabbatical Plan “With the passage of time and personal growth, there is a natural radiation outward from self to other to community to world, and a mature ministry often follows that path as well. I need to be vigilant and hear the call to service beyond the church in the wider world, and explore and encourage my passion for world community and justice ministry.” My work at NCMDC identified this area of ministry as a natural outgrowth of the stage of life and awareness in which I find myself, and there is no question that I want to give it more thought, more reflection, more time and more of my passion over the next 20 years or so. William Blake wrote: Can I see another's woe, and not be in sorrow too? Can I see another's grief, and not seek for kind relief? This seems to me to be the essential human, religious and spiritual question. Deep Learning and Insights From my experiences in Nepal and India I realize that I feel myself to be as much a world citizen as a Canadian, as much a universal religionist as a Unitarian Universalist, and as much a lay servant of the world as an Ordained Minister. My challenge will be to shape this knowledge into a form that can “be of use” both in the congregational setting in which I serve and in the other places in the world that could benefit from this approach, and to find a place of balance among it all. UU Values In truth, all seven UU Principles felt very connected to my work in Nepal and India as they apply to world community as well as congregational life: • The inherent worth and dignity of every person; • Justice, equity and compassion in human relations; • Acceptance of one another and encouragement to spiritual growth • A free and responsible search for truth and meaning; • The right of conscience and the use of the democratic process within society at large; • The goal of world community with peace, liberty and justice for all; • Respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part. And especially our third Source • Wisdom from the world's religions which inspires us in our ethical and spiritual life; Next Page