SOUTHWEST SEMINARS | Down to Earth and Into the Heavens: Five Decades In and Out of Nepal

Presented by: John Vavruska

Photographer of the Mountain Landscapes and People of Nepal; A personal perspective on the changes, both cultural and environmental, observed in Nepal having spent more than three years in the country over the past five decades. Himalaya mountains drew him on a 50-day trek in 1977.  Then as a Peace Corps Volunteer designing/building gravity flow water systems in remote foothills while learning Nepali language. After earthquakes in 2015 he raised funds for a devastated village which lost its houses and school. With close friend Uttam Rai of Santa Fe they oversaw building a new school replacing the one destroyed and we continue installing water systems in remote hill villages also leading cultural treks together. All along the way photographing Nepal, its people and landscapes, from the foothills to the high Himalaya.