Stories from the Road – Tumbuk, Nepal
The woman places the kata, a stiff ceremonial scarf, over Kai’s head. He knows to bow his head and put his hands together in a prayer position to receive the blessing of the kata. Then we shuffle together for the photo, our family in the center, flanked by Tumbuk community members.
Twenty-five years earlier, my husband spent time at the Tumbuk monastery and made lifelong friends. One year earlier, Kai and his siblings sold chai at various events around Colorado to raise funds to help rebuild the community center after the devastating 2015 earthquake.
After the photo, we walk around the dormitories surrounding the monastery. We stand and look inside at wooden scaffolds that appear to be holding up the roof. Deep cracks run sideways through sienna and mustard-colored stucco, cross diagonally over intricate, hand-painted Buddhas inside; lines in the exterior walls branching like spiderwebs make me think twice about the safety of entering to look at statues or to sit quietly in the prayer room.
We walk past the foundation of the old community center, the one that was reduced to rubble and repurposed, as much as possible, into the new structure we’re here to welcome. The destruction makes us quiet.
A young woman, rosy-cheeked and wearing a bright headscarf, beckons us inside the new building for a cup of chai. She points to the new stove in the kitchen area and gives us a thumbs-up with a big smile. Wooden planks, stones, and lintels have been removed from the old structure and reconfigured to make the new one. Like pieces in a puzzle, planks painted with images of conch shells or the Buddhist deity Green Tara lie next to a brand-new one from the mill. A rebuild, but not a clean slate.
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