Corn fields

Yesterday I spent the day at the orphanage, getting to know some more names, and playing with the younger girls. We watched a movie in the afternoon, then Lachu showed me the river where they bathe in winter when they run out of water. Because the monsoon season is in summer, and they rely on rainwater to drink, wash and bathe in, by winter time they run out. Eli said they buy 1600 litres a week in winter, and the children go down to the river to wash.

    

In clockwise circle, walking through the rice paddy toward the river; maize stacks where the ground has been cleared for new crops; the river, rice fields and brickery in the valley; looking back at the hills behind the village; and Lachu leading the way home.

This is taken from the upstairs kitchen porch, over looking the cow shed on the right, the vegetable plot, and the maize/rice field behind. It turns out they can’t grow much in their garden because every year the monsoon floods the ground and the vegetables die.

Saying that, they still produce rice, corn, potatoes, soybeans, squash and a few other vegetables. Soybeans are dried in the sun. The sun bursts open the pods so the beans come out. Alternatively they can be jumped on like this:

There was another power cut last night so I didn’t get to write this post. Now you’ll just get two for the price of one!