Transcribed correspondence written by Mary Ann McDonald Edelen from her Peace Corps service in Nepal, 1969-1970. Mary Ann volunteered after she retired from teaching 1969-1970. She wrote a letter to her family every week on an airmail letter.
This report documents the experiences of Peace Corps Volunteers in Nepal 17 and the impact of the Peace Corps in the volunteers’ lives after the Peace Corps. The report includes photographs and stories contributed by Peace Corps staff and volunteers who served in Nepal 17.
Nepal 22 Chronicles is a companion book to another effort by the Nepal 22 group, Peace Corps/Nepal 22 – A Retrospective on the Post-Peace Corps Careers of Trainees, Trainers, Staff & RPCVs (March 2010). That book is available online in the Peace Corps Community Archives that is curated by the American University Library.
From start until about 12:15, the tape is of singing, music, and street sounds (musical instruments including horns, drums, bells and faint voices). Thomas Hassett then describes this as puja music recorded at a famous temple about 5 hrs walk from Gurkha. There then followed a ceremony where they sacrificed a goat. He describes a celebration of some kind, with dancing, skits, etc. And he explains how in general, the King is symbol of national unity; there are lots of different groups and many languages spoken in the country, information is slow, and transportation by foot in most places.