I attended the main Memorial service for the 24 people that died in the helicopter crash. The service was organised by WWF since the reason they were in a helicopter was that they were coming back from a ceremony where they had handed over a nature reserve back to the Nepali people.

The service was beautiful. They had photographs of all 24 people at the front of the room. People went up and paid tribute. In Nepali tradition, they had placed light yellow and white scarfs and strings of marigolds around the photos. I spoke to a couple of people that I knew.

They asked us to take our seats and they called up one person at a time was asked to come up and speak about a person who died. The tributes were very moving. It is difficult in Nepali culture because crying is cutomarily done in private, but there were a couple of times where people were choked up. Many of the foreign family members had flown in for the occassion or prepared statements that others read on their behalf.

I am pleased that I attended the ceremony both for me and the other people who were left behind.