Lally - The Trekking Shop Owner

Actually it is Lale but I've always spelt it the way it sounds. He was our neighbour from the very beginning and always the life and soul of the street. I will be going up to his village when I've got rid of a stinking cold as I don't want to give it to his widowed elderly mother. Aama had 8 children, 4 boys and 4 girls. The two elder boys were destined to run the farm, learned to plough but sadly died as teenagers from measles. Lally had already been dispatched to the city to be a sherpa for tourists and he later became a guide and opened a shop to rent out trekking clothing and equipment as well. He had never learned to plough so it was thought he could support the family better from the city. Durga became a wide boy - had lots of foreign girl friends and a motorbike to take them around and married Milla from Holland. The Dutch refused him a visa so he divorced her and married an American with whom he has a child. His wife works and he is a house-husband in America. The eldest daughter now looks after her mother, the buffalo and what she can on the farm. After having two children she was abandoned by her husband so she has raised them with the help of Aama. The next was Niauli whom I met very soon after I arrived. When I asked why she didn't walk I was told 'her life is over.' Poor Niauli slipped down the mountain when she was cutting fodder for the buffalo and hurt her back. Although she was taken to hospital they said there was nothing they could do and she was sent home. Because she was over 18 the NGO system didn't kick in and I found her two years into her incapacity. There was nothing in the house for her to pull herself upright on, no bed, chair or table. She had a massive ulcer on the bottom of her spine for sitting on it and dragging herself around and the muscles in her legs were almost non existent. Friends came in to visit her as she had always been the most popular girl in the village and she was able to help cook and do the washing up and nurse her sister's baby. The two younger sisters were still at school at this time and they had to cut the grass and help with everything before and after their long walks to and from school. Unfortunately it was nearly my time to go home but got a heavy foam cushion with a hole cut in it and lots of dressing for her bottom and had a bamboo zimmer made and showed her how to use it and threatened her with dire consequences if she didn't practice many times a day and told her I wanted to see her walking by the time I returned. When I did so in 6 months time Niauli had made some progress and Lally put her in a doko and carried her down the mountain to live next door to us so we could massage some life back into her legs. Early in the morning she would walk her zimmer down to the lake and wash herself but she was shy of tourist seeing her so that was the end of her outings for the day. Later we got her enrolled in a sewing class and she was able to earn some money. But the latest news is that she is married to a German and is learning the language so she can visit Germany.