Day One

This past week as been incredibly successful for WN. It's hard to know exactly where to start in explaining it. I suppose first of all, thanks are due for the Friends of Nepal (www.friendsofnepal.com/) for funding the project. The grant came through this morning and will allow us to buy a full shop set of branded tools, something that only a few places in this country have. This is what will really give our 'interns,' as I've taken to calling them, the advantage, I hope. The grant will also allow us not to worry about rent for more than long enough to become self-sustaining, as we set up shop here:



I'm the tall(er) white guy. The short ones are my new best friends. The smiley one rode around on the back of my bike for about an hour as we looked for paint and a place that built work benches. There will be two built-like-a-tank work benches and two stools there on Tuesday at 5 pm. I think I'll have to put off painting until then, because I need something to stand on to paint. The woodworkers are also delivering plywood for the tool boards, which will be mounted on the walls.


It's 123 Bhat Batini Marga, Bhat Batini, on the little street with the temple, for those of you who want to stop in.

Thanks to Jess as well for our new logo (below) which will end up on tee shirts and cycling caps once I figure out how to do that. It will be on the new, less-compuserv website as well, once we get that up (thanks again to Jess for volunteering to do that.)

I got tools, too. It was actually really easy finding good, cheap tools here in KTM, down in Bhotibal, near Patan. It's motorcycle city, so things like box wrenches are easy to come by. We now have:

- Combination (Box/Open) Wrenches, 6mm-22mm, 2 sets
- Allen Keys, 2 sets
- Hack Saw
- Needle Nose pliers, 2
- Cutting Pliers, 2
- Vice grip
- Channel Lock
- 12" Adjustable
- Mechanic's Hammer
- Rubber Mallet
- Measuring Tape
- Oil Can
- Pipe cutter
- Caliper
- Screw Drivers, 4 pc, 2 sets
- 4" Table Vice

That's 2 mechanic's benches full of non-specific tools. The specific tools will be harder to get, they come from Bangkok.

I visited a town called Seku where PA Nepal (google it, they're really cool) houses their older kids. These kids have been removed from prisons where they lived with their parents and put in a foster home. I asked if anyone wanted to come be a cycle mechanic, and everyone's hand shot up. In another week, I hope the shop will be in good enough shape to start work.

APC Nepal has promised to show me around their vocational training motorbike shop, which I'm psyched on. I'll take photos.

Anyhow, stay tuned, there's a lot more to come.