Hope you've had a good week. It has been a bit stressful with work here, trying to catch up from meetings the week before and get ahead before being out of the office this coming week. I think the important stuff is covered...

Elle and Evie are off to KTM tomorrow morning to get some jabs for Evie and do some work
in the office there. I am going west to visit a couple of INF's programmes and try to do some
training. I'm also hoping to pick a motorbike so should be fun.



It will be the first time we
have been apart since Evie came along so will be tough.

Evie is on great form, walking confidently and almost running sometimes. She is developing a strong character and it is hard to dissuade her from playing with doors and eating shoes...

These are a few shots from our trek the other week, as we've not got round to organising them properly. You'll just have to come and visit!

The general mood here in Pokhara seems to have changed while we were away. A combination of the weather and a spate of strikes seem to have withdrawn people into their shells and quietened the city down – even the dogs have stopped barking (alright, reduced their barking!)

The monsoon arrived on cue and for the last week the weather has been dominated by low clouds, grey skies and some incredible storms. In one night we had 60mm of rain, but most of the time, the low light and drizzle just reminds us of home! This is Elle and Evie sheltering fom the rain.

Several recent strikes have closed businesses and disrupted travel – as well as delaying our holiday, another strike meant that we had to come back a day early to avoid a long walk home along the road. During a secrutiy briefing yesterday a list of 25 different organisations was published who all plan to hold strikes in the coming months. They included political parties, trade unions, special interest groups representing specfic caste groups, ethnic groups and people living in different parts of the country.The list was long, varied and just showed how frustrated people are with their current situations, how little faith they have in the authorities to get things done and how powerless those authorities are to control law and order.

This week is busy, with one of INF's quarterly management meetings taking place when the leaders of each of INF's programmes meet with technical advisors and representatives from the board to review work and discuss plans for the future. I am taking the minutes. It is very interesting to hear the discussions as I still have a lot of learn about the organisation, but it is tiring work – plenty of coffee required!

We had a superb time trekking last week and will share more details as soon as we sort through the 600 odd pictures we took. This is a sneak preview - Fishtail mountain showing how it got its name.

All is well here in the Morris household at the end of another week. Time is flying by, and it is sometimes difficult to remember what we do each day, but we're keeping busy. As ever, Evie is on great form, and gets more confident with her walking each day, although she came back from school with a big shiner after taking a tumble – first of many I'm guessing!

Life in the office is hectic as budgets are prepared for the new financial year, which starts mid July here in Nepal. Overall, INF looks in good shape, with most of its' projects fully funded, and with donors showing an interest in supporting new work which is planned in several of INF's programmes. A lot of INF's work is with treating and rehabilitating people who have suffered from leprosy and TB. These still cause huge suffering here in Nepal, but are beginning to fall off the radar of many donors, as these diseases have been all but eradicated in most parts of the world and it is a challenge to keep people interested. This picture shows INF Nepals head office in Pokhara.

We are taking the coming week as holiday, and plan to trek up to Annapurna base camp. This will be our first trip into the mountains and we're really looking forward to it. We were supposed to have left today, but a strike was called and the roads were all closed. Todays 'bandh' was a relaxed, good natured affair, with people playing football and cricket on what are usually busy roads (this causes new dangers on the roads, as I was hit by a cricket ball as I cycled in to work this morning!) but hides the frustration that people feel at not being able to get on with their lives.


This chap had a good way of keeping cool as he cycled on the deserted roads in Pokhara this morning.


Apparently they can predict the arrival of the monsoon with some accuracy, and it is arriving a week early this year – June 6th. We should still be walking then, so it could be fun...