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NORTH SHORE NEWS

January 20, 1982

page C-1

TREKKING. THROUGH NEPAL

A distant campus for Cap College
'

By KARIN LIND am PAUL TAYLOR

Capilano College has had campuses operating
as far away as Squamish before, but never so far
away as Nepal. But now, thre e instructo� and 30
students flew to this ancient kingdom Jan. 18 for
three months of study. The college students are
not on a holiday or tourist program, but will be
studying anthropology, biology and geography
literally in the field.

THROUGH THE MAGICAL AND MYSTERIOUS land of Nepal, Cap CoUege will
I Karin Lind photol
lie aaldq their mark over the aen three months.

Ter ry
Brown,
a
geographer, and Karin Lind,
anth r o p o l o g i s t ,
began
p reparations f o r this
complex program two years
ago and have since been
joined by biologist Carole
Stanley. The students began
their final orientations four
months ago with research
projects and intensive
lectures and seminars. They
are a diverse group with
backgrounds in childhood
education, law, first aid, and
even some who are "just
interested in everything."
But they will become a
c l o se-k n it c o m m unity,
sharing what promises to be
some difficult times, par­
ticularly · the J<klay trek
around the Annapurna
Massis, which will take them
to elevations of 18,000 feet.
The various topics of
study are equaUy diverse.
Research proposals cover
herbal medicine, water and
sewer lines, deforestation,
village and national law, and
more. One student will be
s t u d y i n g t h e s o c ia l
behaviour of the monkeys
that scramble around the

gilded
temples,
unin­
terrupted by passers-by or
pilgrims. Another, with a
background of Pacific
Northwest Coast Indians,
will explore story-telling and
the elders of Nepalese ethnic
groups.
Many, Westerners have
pre-conceived notions of the
Nepalese people, fed by the
images of Shangri-La in Lost
Horizon or the bar room
brawl in Raiders of the Lost
Ark. This remote Himalayan
land, home of Mo unt
E v e r e s t,
Mount
Cbomolungma, or "Mother
of the Earth" to the people of
the country, was closed to
the outside world until 1951.
It bad, therefore, retained its
unique cultural identity, and
bas much to fascinate and
instruct the open-minded
student. The deep, ever­
present religious influences

of Hinduism and Bbuddism,
and the old traditions of
shamanism are felt in­
timately in everyday life.
The "sacred cow" which
wanders the streets of
Kathmandu is greeted as a
deity and loved as a religious
presence. The ancient layout
of valley cities follows the
measured, sacred discipline
of age-old p ra ctices .
Students will find themselves
in Kag Beni, an ancient
medieval fortress town, and
at Muktinath, the sacred
high mountin site where
flames spring from water and
all the elements, according
to the Nepalese, are com­
bined as one.
There is much to be
learned in Nepal, so far
away. The instructors will be
stretching the edges of their
disciplines to study not only
monkeys and yaks, but
markets, farming and even
diseases. Stephen Bezrucbka
sums it best:
"Nepal is there to change
you, not for you to change it.
Make your foot prints with
care and awareness of the
precarious balance around
you."