Last week, I shared a video about life in the Nepali village where I lived for 6 out of my 18 months in Nepal. I received many questions regarding life in the village, so I decided to do a Question & Answer post! I will happily do another if you have more questions (instructions for how to submit your Q's at the end of this post).
Read on to learn about life in the village!
Reading time: 5 minutes
Q: What is the elevation of the village?
A: The village - near a small town called Lamahi in the province of Dang - is 269 meters / 884 feet above sea level.
For context, the highest elevation in Nepal (Mount Everest) is 8,848 meters / 29,000 feet, and the lowest elevation in Nepal is 59 meters / 194 feet. Our village is in the flat region of Nepal, called Terai. The flat nature of Terai makes it ideal for growing crops like rice, and keeping animals like goats and buffalo. Dang is actually the second largest valley in Asia!
Q: Average winter/summer temperatures?
A: Unfortunately, they don't keep a record of temperature anywhere near where I lived. I will answer this one based on experience.
Winter (December to February): most days hovered between 50 and 60 degree (F) highs, and nights would get close to freezing. This doesn't sound very cold, but it is COLD when there is no access to heating. Just sit by a fire and wear three layers at all times! And at night, at LEAST two thick comforters. No heaters here, honey!
Summer (March to May): every day is well over 100 (F) highs, nights get to a cool 86. And high humidity. Oof.
Monsoon (May to September): highs hover in 90s and 100s. Lows at night around 80. Rains almost daily.
NICEST MONTHS (February, October, and November): excellent weather. Clear skies, not too hot, not too cold, not humid. Highs in the 70s-80s, lows in the 60s. November in Dang is my favorite climate I've ever experienced anywhere.
Q: They keep buffalo for milk and dung? Other uses?
A: Yes indeed! Milk and dung are the top 2 most useful products generated by the buffalo. Most buffalo farmers in the area sell and use the milk, dung, and the buffalo themselves. We had a male buffalo recently that was used as a stud - he had lots of lady suitors visiting, where their owners would pay a fee for getting the buffalo pregnant. Males are also sometimes used for plowing.
Fun fact: buffalo are some of the best assets to have in this society! A female buffalo who is close to giving birth is worth up to $1,500 in the village, loosely equated to $15,000 in the US.
Q: Do the toilets in the outhouses connect to flushing water or go straight into the ground?
A: The outhouses are built with a septic tank underneath. The toilet empties into that, and every year or so a service comes to the village to vacuum out the septic tanks (I've never actually seen this, though I would be fascinated to). We have a bucket of water in there that we use to "flush" the toilet. There is no mechanism to flush other than that.
An interesting note: outhouses or bathrooms became a mandatory feature of every family's home in the last 10 or 15 years. The government mandated this because they were having problems with pollution in the soil and water supplies. Before outhouses, everyone relieved themselves outside in public, under trees or in designated nature areas. My boyfriend remembers this from his childhood.
Q: Do they sell farm produce/buffalo milk at market?
A: Yep! Sanam's dad (buffalo-herd) sells milk at the market twice daily when he has nursing buffalo. Sanam's uncles/aunts who live next door (farmers) sell massive amounts of produce to the market as well. Depending on the season: tomatoes, cucumbers, rice, corn, potatoes, herbs, and many more.
Q: Was that a dog at the end?
A: Yes!! That is the village dog that lives around our house. I adore him. We feed him our leftovers every meal!
That's all for Village Life Q&A part 1! Email me at roxanngiuliano@gmail.com with any further questions you have, to be included in part 2.
XO
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