World Map (Anton)

What do you do when you travel to another country? Hike??Trek??? Eat at the western restaurant??? Meet other travelers??? Drink whiskey or beer from the west??? Are you a different traveler? Have you been the unique one??? The crazy one??? The weird one??? The honest one??? The party person??? The entertainer??? The coolest one??? The most playful one??? Have you been???

Today we met for the second time. But he leaves on 13th February to Sweden. The last time it was 2015. We rubbled together and partied together. We ate and drank in the fancy western restaurants….We danced to the western songs…But most of all we enjoyed the gifts of the community. We drank the local alcohol (Rakshi, Tongba - Tibetan alcohol) and ate the local food (Thali - Nepali Khana Set). We danced like the locals and worked like the locals. And this is the story of Anthon Lindholm (One of the coolest and best buddy I have met in All Hands Volunteers).

Anton is from Sweden. Professionally, he is a painter. Moreover, he is a great carpenter, too. The carpentering skill was passed on to him from his dad. He paints everything little corner of the house that needs to be painted. His painting career begin from his high school. During his second year, he was involved 2 days in a week in the field work and 3 days in the third year. He practiced and put into action all the basics he had learnt in the school. Today, he enjoys the painting profession to the maximum and is very popular in his community.

¨So Anton, how did you come to know about All Hands?¨

¨Well, my friend also name Anton is a great traveler. He traveled Asia. He was in All Hands in the Philippines. At the time, I was at home and making plans to travel as a back-packer. I did a short back-packing in Australia. In fact, it is hard to call it a back-packing. He asked me to join All Hands. At first, I thought of just going on with my original plan. But later, I thought it would be a fun thing to do and so I was in the Philippines. A month passed, I did not leave. Second month passed, I did not leave and so the third fourth and the final month. I extended my visa to the maximum until the country said I must leave. I went home and continued my job.¨

¨What about your involvement in All Hands Project Nepal?¨

¨It is a very funny thing. My friend Carlo invited me to come to Nepal as a team leader; 50 Homes. I check on my Philippines friends (Grace, Mark, Mike and many more). They were all in Nepal. I felt really happy and got on my flight. However, when I arrived here the project was completed. I landed Kathmandu on the hand-over day. It was a sad thing. But the celebration is unexceptional. I was surprised and taken away. So much community involvement and warm appreciation from the community. I like the Nepali hat (Dhaka Topi) and the Tika. And no comments on Dhal Bhat (Nepali Khana set/Nepali Lunch/Thali)¨

¨So what did you do since the building project was already concluded?¨

¨I like building more than rubbling. I do not like to tear something a part and build something on it. Maybe because my dad has passed a lot of building skills on me (laughing). For few weeks, I joined other teams on rubbling sites. It was really good. I expected something and it turned out to be something else. We cleaned the debris within 3 or 4 days. And in this time, the beneficiary would come and work with us, bring us cookies, and best lunch we could expect. The beneficiaries were always welcoming. Every time, we moved to a new site, it was always emotional…..Then I joined the Mobile Rubble Team. This was an amazing assignment. We were taken completely away from the city. We had no contacts to the city. We were stationed on the top of the hill with the locals. This was real

work I have come through. Our schedule was completely different from the main base. We worked until we got tired. Sometime, Aama (Mother from the village) was angry with us because we worked too hard too long. She is a very funny and awesome lady. We all called her mother.¨

¨What is your best moment in Nepal or in the project?¨

¨Wow…I had never been asked this, Thank you for it mate. Well, definitely Mobile Rubble Team. No question on it. I really enjoyed being there. Every day was a completely different day. We (Raffi, Deiradore, Steph, Sam, Ben and others) all lived like locals with the locals. We worked, ate and lodged next to the work station. We got involved in the community events from dinner invitation to big festivals. It was such an awesome moment. The most emotional part was we were all taken as children by Aama. Plus they gave us huge party with good foods, music and traditional hats on our last day. The villagers also followed us to the bus and carried all the working instruments. Some of us cried lots of tears. I had tears in me, too. ¨

¨And, it was very difficult to say goodbye to hundreds of locals at the same time…..and more than 50 good friends at the same time…¨

At this point, we were both emotional. But Anton was more emotional. His voice weaken and soften. His eyes turned a little red, too. And so I brought a little twist in our conversation….

¨You said you do not visit the same country twice, right? But you came here for the second time. Why?¨

¨Well, in Nuwakot base I was chosen as the Project Co-ordinator for Prithivi Secondary School. I was involved in the starting stage. However, I could not stay long enough. It took more than 10 months to complete. My Visa had expired and I could not extend any more. So, I left in the middle of the project that I had leaded. I came here to see the final work of the school. It looks magnificent. The team had done an amazing job. The principal who was with us throughout the construction is too happy. He cried when we handed the keys of the class room to him.¨

¨What is the difference you found between the Philippines and Nepal?¨

¨Firstly, all the workstation was about 30 minutes away from the base in Philippines. Here in Nepal, you have to travel more than an hour to reach the sites and especially in the mobile rubble team and school construction we were completely in a different location; from the city, beers, party, city life, nightlife and so on. In the Philippines, everyday there was some fiesta going on. It was like back home; work and party. But here in Nepal, everything is so different. As soon as the day was wrapped up, we wanted to drink and party. Secondly, most of the volunteers are so much interested to learn Nepali. In Philippines, hardly few people tried to learn the language. Here, everyone wants to learn it. This is really interesting and fascinating. Here, there is more community involvement and engagement than in the Philippines. Thirdly, in Philippines we could build more than 6–7 houses in a month but in Nepal, it took us more than 10 months to complete just one school. So in Philippines you can build things fast and every next house was a better one (Laughing).¨

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¨Well..…..so where did you ink your first tattoo?¨

¨I got inked in Sweden; in Good Guy´s Tattoo by artist Bobby. I trust him. He has an amazing work. He is very open-minded artist and really cool, too. Some artist rejected my idea of adding modern design on traditional designs but he loves my idea and have never said ¨No¨ to my concepts.¨

¨Where did you get the idea to ink the world map?¨

¨I love traveling. I save money and when I have enough I am on my tour. I used to like back-packing but now I do not like I used. This is a funny thing (laughing). I want to see the country as a whole not just the touristy areas and this is another reason why I joined All Hands, also. And, my passion to travel around the world gave me an idea to ink the world map. It was a two session work. First, I got the lining. And, I get the coloring done once I have visited the country. At one time, I had planned to color in the same country but then some countries are so small it is very difficult to do it there. So I go home and get the map colored.¨

Beside the world map, Anton also has a tattoo that represents his love for music. He said that he listens to music for more than 14 hours a day. He always need music. Some of his friends seems to find this a stupid idea and behavior but he enjoys it because it makes me feel strong and happy. He shared that he needs music on the background where ever he is. He enjoys the rock metal genre the most. And, to him Nepal has his taste of music. There are few notes of his favorite songs around the grammar phone attached to his heart.

None-the-less, he also has the Japanese Koi fish and the Buddha tree. The Buddha/Vishnu tree represents his love for Nepal and the memories from Nepal. It represents all the laughter, sweat, good time with global and local friends with whom he had spent months and months working and travelling together.

My friend Anton likes his day scheduled. He finds a scheduled day interesting and pleasantful. He enjoys working in a planned manner. Today is our last night as brother. I hope to get him drunk; massive drunk I meant (laughing at myself).