Dare we say it: "We are now on holidays!"

Hello.

Talitha and Tyson are now back on the road. We finished up our 4.5 months working in India and have headed north into Nepal.

Our time in Raxaul, India, was very rewarding. Our work with the Community Rehab team in the Duncan Hospital gave us a unique look at life in Northern India. We met many interesting people from India and abroad.  Our favourite memories will be the time we spent in the villages doing therapy with the children in their homes.

After finishing up in Raxaul we spent a few days in the beautiful city of Pokhara. When the skies were clear we saw 8000m mountains. We will never tire of seeing mountains with eternal snow.

On the way to Pokhara we rode elephants in the Chitwan National Park. The highlight was seeing two rhinos.

We are now in Kathmandu spending a week helping out in a school for disabled children. We are staying with a friendly local family and eating delicious home cooked Nepali food.

We are on our way home now, but will pop into Tibet and a few North Indian sites on the way.

Love Tyson and Talitha. 

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Ramblings of the confused….

Indians sure do love to protest and cause public disturbance. They strike, they throw rocks, they shut down roads, they light fires, they bomb train lines. Effigies of Australian Prime Ministers and cricket heroes light up public spaces.

So why does the “World’s biggest democracy” need to behave like this? It is about being heard in a country where control, power, and a voice are so utterly unattainable they are not even dreamt of by most people.

In Australia, we (through force) vote Governments into power. We usually vote along party lines for “Right” or “Centre Right” wing Governments, whinging for the proceeding years our party is not in power. On the whole we stay silent.

Voting should only be the initial step in democracy. No matter which government is in power it is important to maintain a voice and keep the powers that be accountable. This involves speaking to local councils, local members of parliament, State and Federal Governments, letting people know how we want to be represented.

At times this will mean protesting, writing letters, meeting people in power, and demonstrating solidarity with others. Democracy is not about sitting on your hands and being forced to visit a primary school, on a Saturday morning, once every few years.