Story-telling to rebuild the other Thame!

Thame lower school, after the earthquake in Nepal, in April 2015

A group of storytellers from the Thame area in Nepal, are using their skills to help local people gain engagement and support for rebuilding their earthquake-stricken communities, through telling their own stories.

Saurav Dhakal, the Founder of Storycycle, explained: “Building communities in affected areas will require not just funds and materials but also the proactive support and engagement of local people. Stories inspire people. Effective storytelling will transform people’s behavior and activities.”

In a unique collaboration, Storycycle has been working with Google and the Apa Sherpa Foundation to improve the digital map of the Everest region, collecting 360-panoramic images and overlaying them with the stories of the Sherpa people as part of a cultural mapping project.

They used Google’s Street View facility as a storytelling device to create an immersive experience that includes voice-over interviews, to show people places of local importance. (See LINK)

Saurav Dhakal, the Founder of Storycycle

Saurav Dhakal continued: “When we prepared the stories of the region last year, before the earthquake, and disseminated them to the world, we did not think that the audio/visual material we collected would one day become archive material. We thought the living heritage and the structure of the area would survive for long time. But nature had other plans.

“On April 25, 2015, the land shook violently and, not only brought down man-made structures, but also weakened fragile mountains and hills. Subsequent landslides changed landscapes in many areas and many of the places we mapped are now completely destroyed. As we now brace up to rebuild the Khumbu area, we have realized the importance of the archived audio/visual material.

“It has now become an inportant reference for rebuilding our region. The local community organised a series of workshops in Khumbu region after the earthquake, partnering with international and local agencies at the village of Thame, the home town of Apa Sherpa, the record-holding mountaineer. The local community organised a series of workshops in Khumbu region after the earthquake, partnering with international and local agencies at the village of Thame, the home town of Apa Sherpa, the record-holding mountaineer. He has reached the summit of Mount Everest 21 times, and collected funds to help the rebuilding work.

“At the Camp, locals and experts in areas such as engineering came together for a thorough discussion on rebuilding. As a result, the local people raised their dreams, their aspirations their ideas and their local knowledge of the land, and the engineers and other experts were able to give technical input and the benefit of their past experiences from other places similarly affected.

“We now have a list of priorities and together we will come up with a plan to build earthquake-resistant houses and structures while keeping the cultural and aesthetic beauty of the land alive.”

There are still many challenges ahead for the people of Thame and the rest of the khumbu region, but Saurav Dhakal and Appa Sherpa himself, have confidence in the rebuilding process.

The fund-raising group here in Thame, Oxfordshire, Thame to Thame, has been raising funds to help the people of Thame, in Solukhumbu District, money which it intends to donate to Edmund Hilary’s Himalayan Trust UK,  which is helping to rebuild the area damaged by the earthquake. The children in our primary schools have heard about the plight of the children of Thame, Nepal, and one of Thame to Thame’s members, Charlie Tyson Taylor, who runs a trekking tour business and has visited Nepal many times, gave a talk about the plight of the district to the children of Barley Hill school.

You can see in this video, Thame school, being visited by Appa Sherpa before April 2015, and how it looked just after the earthquake. (See LINK) Also, follow this LINK to read a Brief History of Thame School.

Saurav Dhakal and Thame to Thame, are hoping that stories about their own lives can be exchanged between the children of the two Thame communities.