One more time

One of Sanji’s relatives, a young boy needs to have an eye surgery in the bigger city hours away. Being the one who can speak Mandarin the best in his village, Sanji has to go help out. It was a good time to take a break for me too, to go over the footage and see what to film next.

I found a nice and quiet little family style hostel to stay in Langmusi, next to the creek that runs down the canyon on the Sichuan side of the monastery. My translator came to work the next day. Interviews are easier, the vérité parts are more difficult and time consuming. But, once we got into a rhythm, it was a very enjoyable process. It became obvious through the process that I needed to make another trip back to the summer pasture to have a few more interviews, with Danku, the old herder, and Yeedan.

The eye operation turned out very successful. So, I made arrangement to return to the village.

The old herder had returned to their winter camp, handing the herding duty to his son. Our interview happened at their home in the village. The old herder’s wife and their very pregnant daughter were there sorting the newly cut yak hair. One of his grandsons kept making noise so the interview was interrupted a few times but otherwise it came out just fine.

After we finished all the questions with the old herder, Sanji rode me to the summer pasture while the driver waited at his home. They go to the same monastery and pray the same living Buddha who now lives in India.

The path going there had a new herders’s camp. Sanji told me they won’t be able to use this path in a couple of days when that group of herders’ animals got moved here. Good grassland has become a competing commodity among the herders.

Danku and her mom were waiting for us to start cooking lunch. The little girl seemed sleepy and shy this time. It was a gorgeous day. Hard to imagine all that activities going around in the morning when everything became so quiet in mid day.

Yeedan still prefer to be left alone when she answered questions, but much at east this time. And Danku this time volunteered a lot more information when I asked about her mom. It’s amazing how she has gotten comfortable with talking on camera. Later, she told me, she fought her shyness to say what she felt in her heart, so there would be a better chance their grassland could be saved. It was almost too much for me to bear. For that alone, this project has to continue.

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