Resilience as a State of Being

Several month after two major earthquakes rattled Nepal, the rebuilding has only just begun. Piles of rubble where temples used to be and skeleton-like frames of houses with the walls blown out, reveal how powerful the quakes must have been, from Kathmandu all the way up into the higher elevations. Those living in the hardest hit areas remark how for a month there were numerous aftershocks each day rating up to 5.0 or more. As the process of clearing rubble and trying to start over begins, buildings with cracks in the walls are still braced with long 2 x 4's, a desperate measure to help them hold together. Local Nepali's aren't out complaining or asking for a hand out. They smile and greet every passerby, earnestly recounting tales of those lost in the rubble when prompted, then persuasively returning to the task at hand. First and foremost they need to restore access routes for supplies, goods, and tourists(business). Young and old chip in and help clear trails to remote mountain villages which were cutoff by the many landslides that wiped out access to this steep volatile region. Resilience at it's finest. Women use head straps to carry 20-30lb rocks from the field to a road where groups of men smash the stones into form fitting shapes which they piece into the new cobblestone road. Their strength inspires me.

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