A half century ago, the residents of Liglig and surrounding villages and hamlets were first introduced to modern agriculture, education and health development. In the late 1950s, several Western missionaries showed on the eastern flanks of Liglig mountain at a tiny ridge-top village called
Amppipal (named for two trees: "Amp" or mango and "pipal", a type of fig). They came to see what they could do to help the locals improve their lives. In one of his books, Dr Thomas Hale describes how the first missionaries asked the people of Amppipal what they needed. They said “health, education and better agriculture”. So the missionaries started a community development project to help meet those felt needs. First, a demonstration farm was established to introduce the locals to new crops and farming methods, and improved and more productive breeds of livestock. Over time, village water systems were upgraded, reforestation projects were begun and agricultural extension works were taken up in the villages. Two schools were opened, one on the ridge at Amppipal and another nearby at Luitel on the south slopes of Liglig mountain. And a small health dispensary was set up near the mission farm. Soon, however, the demand for health services had so outgrown the tiny health post that the missionaries began building a real hospital about 15 minutes’ walk down the north side of Liglig mountain. It opened in late 1969 AD and ran for many years under the leadership of Dr Helen Huston, a dedicated and greatly admired Canadian medical missionary. For half a century, missionary doctors, nurses, teachers and agriculture workers came from Europe, North America, India and Australia to work at Amppipal, Luitel and the vicinity. They were highly committed and hard-working folk who provided great services to the local people. They learned to speak Nepali, and their dedication and skills led to many changes and improvements in the lives of the villagers amongst whom they lived. During the 1990s, however, political unrest across Nepal created difficulties at Aanppipal, and the missionaries opted to leave. In 2001, Amppipal Hospital was handed over to the Nepal government. Today, eight years on, it functions as a community hospital with some government help, along with Gorkha Foundation assistance. Dr Wolfhard Starke, a retired surgeon from
Germany, serves as a volunteer doctor. He is assisted by a dozen Nepali nurses, an administrative officer and other staff. Similarly, the former mission schools, and many new ones around the mountain, fall under the auspices of the government's District Education Office. They, too, receive assistance from the Nepal government, the Gorkha Foundation and a few other private organizations. While the schools and hospital have continued to function, the original demonstration farm at Amppipal is gone. And where mountain trails used to connect the villages of Gorkha, fair-weather roads now criss-cross the hills and valleys. The roads are bumpy at best and are quagmires during the rainy season, but they are well-used by tractors and trucks to move people and haul supplies, and to send fresh farm produce to market. There is now a road to the hospital, and on over Amppipal bhanjhyang (where the trail crosses the ridge), and another leads to the villages of Luitel, Liglig and the vicinity. == References ==