The Village

The vil­la­ge of Yulchung
Youlch­ung is a scat­te­red sett­le­ment at 4,000 met­res abo­ve sea level in the north Indi­an Hima­la­yas. Geo­gra­phi­cal­ly, it is situa­ted bet­ween the Indus Val­ley and Zanskar.

Twel­ve fami­lies with an avera­ge of three child­ren each live in this moun­tain vil­la­ge. During six months a year the vil­la­ge is cut off from the out­side world. This small moun­tain vil­la­ge is only acces­si­ble during the sum­mer over the recent­ly built road. Even with a pick-up, dri­ving is hard howe­ver, as a gre­at deal of the rou­te con­sists of a dirt track sown with potholes.

Yulch­ung village

About ever­y­day life in Youlch­ung and in the Sen­ge La area
Most peo­p­le in the Sen­ge La area are far­mers and live in vil­la­ges in val­leys that lie at a con­sidera­ble distance from each other. Cul­ti­va­ti­on of the fields is only pos­si­ble in the time bet­ween May and Sep­tem­ber. Abo­ve all, the far­mers grow wheat and bar­ley. In their vege­ta­ble gar­dens they har­ve­st peas, cab­ba­ge, car­rots, chard and leek and store the pro­du­ce for the long and hard winter.

A well thought out irri­ga­ti­on sys­tem sup­pli­es the gar­dens with water.

Elec­tri­ci­ty
Up to now, the elec­tri­ci­ty sup­p­ly in the area of Sin­ge La has eit­her been non-exis­tent or very poor. Sin­ce the buil­ding of the new solar plant abo­ve the vil­la­ge of Yulch­ung which was finis­hed in Octo­ber 2015, the sur­roun­ding vil­la­ges have been sup­pli­ed with elec­tri­ci­ty in the evening for appro­xi­m­ate­ly three hours. Every house taps power direct­ly from the over­head line. In the hou­ses, the­re are at the moment still no swit­ches and swit­ching on and off is con­trol­led centrally.

Com­mu­ni­ca­ti­on
In the vil­la­ge its­elf, the­re are neither fixed tele­pho­ne con­nec­tions nor a net­work for mobi­le pho­nes. Dis­ket Dol­ma was cho­sen to be the spea­k­er for the Women’s Coope­ra­ti­ve. She gives any news to the taxi dri­ver who shut­tles bet­ween Leh and Yulch­ung who then pas­ses on the infor­ma­ti­on to Lob­zang. He is my direct cont­act part­ner. This is how we com­mu­ni­ca­te with each other during the sum­mer months.