Every time she goes to Nepal, she takes a piece of the South Coast with her. Actually, make that many pieces of the South Coast. In reality, it is more like eleven body-sized duffle bags filled with hundreds of donated fleece jackets and caps from South Coast residents.

So naturally, when Sally Hunsdorfer returns home to Marion, she brings with her a piece of Nepal. Within Sally is a passion for a strange, surreal land that lies hidden, high up in the clouds, halfway around the world. Also within Sally is a commitment to the joyful, peaceful Sherpa people who welcomed Sally into their culture, resulting in many changed lives.

Sally shared her passion for Nepal with the community on the evening of January 16 during an educational and inspirational presentation, with tremendous tales of adventure and beauty, accompanied by breathtaking photos that had the audience mesmerized, inspired, broken-hearted at times, and every so often wondering, is this woman crazy?

Fifteen years ago, Sally and her husband, Peter, did what many people usually only dream about doing. They pulled their two teenaged sons out of high school and went backpacking for a year around the world. During that journey, Sally came to recognize Nepal as a special place for her; specifically, the village of Chaurikharka, which she affectionately called “the village where I hang my hat.”

Nepal is a country of 26 million people, land-locked between China and India, and known for the world’s highest mountain, Everest. The ancient salt trading routes that cut through the Himalayan Mountains make up the network of trekking trails outside and away from the nation’s capital, Kathmandu.

Beneath the large screen in the darkened theater of the Marion Music Hall, Sally stood dressed in the traditional clothing of a married Sherpa woman and, without having to say much, captivated the audience with a photography slideshow set to the rhythmic drumming and deep chanting voices of the tribal music of Nepal.

The audience gasped at the beauty of white, jagged, uninhabited glacial passes and peaks from airplane windows; the brown earth of mountains against a stark unimaginably blue sky; primitive dwellings forged out of the scarce resources of the Himalayan landscape.

Children’s smiles, and intimate close-ups of happy, peaceful faces; Sherpa people making impossible treks up mountains beneath the crushing weight of crates and wood; young and old, spiritual men praying, people dressed in colorful cloths; rampant poverty and absolutely none of the comforts of the western world.

“I can assure you,” Sally spoke, “that these people are as beautiful on the inside as they are on the outside.”

Sally began with the principle of “Namaste,” giving the definition of the word one hears hundreds of times a day in Nepal, and how it breaks down barriers between people.

“It is a way of saying, ‘the spirit in me greets the spirit in you,’” said Sally. “If I say ‘I honor everything that is unique and wonderful about you’ (Namaste), it might not be as easy to point a gun at somebody.”

After the Hunsdorfers’ two-month stay in Nepal during their year backpacking, Sally wanted to go back, but the next time with a purpose.

“I had this visceral pull to get back there,” said Sally. “And that’s when the Himalayan Project was born.”

She described the project’s mission as a dedication to enhancing education, enriching community development, and providing social outreach.

“And I wanted to form a way to connect American children with their peers from across the world.”

Sally collected about 900 fleece jackets from students in local schools and from within the community. Her documentation of the journey of the jackets starts from when they are first sorted into tall, colorful piles according to size in the middle of Sally’s kitchen, to laying out the gigantic, black duffle bags completely stuffed with fleece in her back yard, to being loaded onto a bus she rented to bring them to Logan Airport.

From there, Sally and the fleece would arrive in Kathmandu. The duffle bags are then piled into a small propeller plane to fly them over the Himalayas to land at the same very basic airstrip used by Mt. Everest trekkers. They are then loaded onto the backs of yaks and Sherpa men who carry the loads through the treacherous Himalayan trails to the village of Chaurikharka, which means “yak pastures” – about a week-long trek, with no roads beyond 50 miles of the capital.

“Everything has to be carried out on somebody’s back or a beast of burden,” said Sally.

No heat, no electricity, and no running water – but there is joy. “Utter joy,” says Sally. “There is always time for joy and merriment.”

After the long trek, they finally arrive at the village, at which time Sally says she just steps aside and allows the Sherpas who carried the loads to open the duffle bags and unpack the fleece jackets for the people, content to watch the scene unfold. Sally is, after all, a sight some people living in the highest peaks of the Himalayas might never see during their lives.

“A lot of times the babies burst out crying when they see my face,” said Sally. She has, though, been fully embraced by the Sherpa people of Chaurikharka, and Sally has dedicated her time not only bringing fleece to the village but also coordinating efforts at home to collect donations for other projects, like the school house improvement project when they fixed up the existing school and added a gathering house, cafeteria, and greenhouse.

Since Sally’s involvement, the school has been able to add grades 11 and 12, and has provided school supplies and furnishings for the school.

Sally has also undertaken other projects, like the 100-Day project, in which she collected 100 pencils, 100 notebooks, and 100 of other items from South Coast students, and the students at Keith Middle School in New Bedford sewed fleece hats from donated fleece material.

When she returns, she gives students a presentation and shows her the photos of the items’ journey into the hands of the Sherpa children.

“Look at the difference it made halfway around the world,” Sally said she told the students. “There wasn’t a dry eye.”

Sally also acts as liaison for a pen pal initiative she started between the Sherpa students and the students at Sippican School. She said the kids love the exchange, sharing photos and learning about what each of them does “when they hang out.”

“It’s just to give [the Sherpa students] an idea that the outside world knows they exist and is interested in their lives,” said Sally.

Watching Sally’s presentation about the lives of the people of Nepal evoked in many a sense of some ambiguous dichotomy of envy and gratitude, at the same time. Envy for the simplicity, the free-flowing joy of the Sherpas, and innocence of simple Sherpa life; yet, grateful for the comforts we enjoy, aware that, as beautiful as life might appear to outsiders looking in, any one of those people might change places with you in a heartbeat, if they could.

For more information about the Himalaya Project or to make donations, visit www.himalayanproject.org, or contact the Marion Institute and indicate that you would like to make a donation to the Himalayan Project. The Himalayan Project can also be found on Facebook.

By Jean Perry

Spaghetti suppers are a South Coast fundraiser staple, but the Marion Firefighter’s Association’s spaghetti supper fundraiser is the only one where you’ll find Assistant Fire Chief Allen Denham’s special sauce – a recipe some people would love to get their hands on.

Assistant Chief Denham, who cooked up 28 pounds of meat sauce for the event held at Fire Station One on Spring Street, said he wouldn’t give it out to anyone and the evening of January 18 was no exception. He wasn’t revealing his secret ingredient to anyone.

“I started cooking it at noon,” said Denham. “It’s my secret recipe. Everybody is dying to get it.”

You could find Fire Chief Thomas Joyce behind the counter in the kitchen, putting heaps of steaming spaghetti onto paper plates and covering it with Denham’s secret savory sauce, the entire night as a steady stream of people arrived and stayed long enough to eat up a plate of spaghetti and salad, followed by vanilla ice cream with chocolate sauce.

President of the Marion Firefighter’s Association, Ron Auld, said the proceeds from the fundraiser go toward local scholarships, as well as equipment for the department and assistance to firefighters and their families during times of injury and crisis.

Guests also bought tickets for a raffle and Chinese auction, winning items that were donated by local residents and a few local businesses.

The association hosts the event every year, and its next event will be a clam boil coming up in March.

By Jean Perry

In a room, on a Sunday, three Mattapoisett women used their words to save lives and instill hope in the hearts of political prisoners and victims of human rights abuses around the world.

Inside the Mattapoisett Friends Meeting House on January 19, the three activists spent the afternoon hand-writing letters to Congress, ambassadors, prosecutors, and foreign governments, calling on them to release prisoners of conscience and take action to stop violence.  “They say that hand-written letters are more productive because if they are mass produced, it doesn’t have the same impact,” said Deena Kinsky.

The tables were lined with Amnesty International information sheets on specific prisoners from different countries, explaining their stories in their own words. After the activists wrote their letters to the government entities, they made copies of their letters to send to the prisoners themselves – to show them that they are not alone, that the world has not forgotten about them, and that others are acting in solidarity on their behalf.

“It helps [the prisoners] get through their time in prison, knowing that people are fighting for [them] and thinking of [them],” said Kinsky.

Kinsky chose to write on behalf of Guantanamo prisoner Shaker Aamer, who has been held prisoner for years and still remains imprisoned, despite his name being on a list of detainees who are cleared for transfer.

“I am dying here every day, mentally and physically, “stated Aamer to Amnesty International in 2005. “We have been ignored, locked up in the middle of the ocean for four years.”

Ellen Flynn wrote on behalf of a Russian prisoner because her daughter’s partner is from Russia, so the issue hits her close to home.

“I’m writing for … people who are fleeing their country because they aren’t able to exercise their rights,” said Flynn.

Charlotte Purrington chose a female prisoner from Cambodia because she said it made her feel angry to read about her struggle to retain her home after the government seized her land.

“Women don’t always have the possibility of having a voice,” said Purrington, feeling compelled to write on behalf of this particular prisoner. “She’s not just thinking of the land … but for the future.”

Others joined the women before the day’s end, and together, they wrote 14 letters.

This is the second time the Friends of the Mattapoisett Friends Meeting House have hosted the Amnesty International “Write for Rights” campaign. According to Amnesty International, over the past 50 years its global letter-writing campaigns have contributed to the release of over 40,000 prisoners of conscience.

The Friends invite the community to join them at their next quarterly event in April, on a date later to be announced. For more information, contact Deena Kinsky at tomanddeena@gmail.com.

By Jean Perry

Rochester’s Jillian Jensen is moving on to Hollywood.

The twenty-one year old singer/songwriter, who’s also been featured on the TV show “X-Factor,” auditioned before J-Lo, Harry Connick Jr., and Keith Urban on last week’s premier of this season’s American Idol, and received a “golden ticket,” or her pass to Los Angeles, California, where she’ll compete with others for a shot at the title.

“Auditioning in front of the three judges was nerve-wracking, but not because of the music aspect,” said Jensen in an interview for the show.  “For some reason when you get into those situations, you’re not thinking about what you’re going to say, but you want to get things out.  And you’re like; ‘Did I get what I want to say out?’  It was more like nerves in that aspect, but it was a great overall experience.”

As for the audition itself, Jensen performed Gavin DeGraw’s “Not Over You,” singing and playing the acoustic guitar, which is where she says she feels most like herself.

“When it comes to music, the moment I have a guitar in my hand or the moment I’ve been on stage or there’s music playing, that’s when I feel complete—that’s when I feel myself.”

During the audition, Jensen, who named Johnny Cash as a major influence, was almost fooled Connick, who at first said he was saying “no” to sending Jensen on, but eventually, he told her “he freaking loved” her performance and awarded her with the ticket.

Jensen, who prior to “Idol” has been playing shows locally as of late, said that she’d always told her mom she’d one day be on the show.

“I auditioned for American Idol because I always told my mom I would be the next American idol, and what a better start than to get a golden ticket?”

Jensen, who wowed America with a tear-jerking appearance on “X-Factor,” said that she likes to perform songs that she feels emotionally invested in.

“What makes me unique as an artist I think is the fact that everything I do musically…I won’t sing a song unless I have a personal attachment to it.  The most important thing to me—if I’m performing it—I want to convey that emotion or that feeling that way the other people watching me do it get it, or feel it too.”

When asked why she deserves to be an American Idol, Jensen said: “I’ve really worked hard for it—talent-wise, I know that there’s something there—if anything I think that it’s the mixture of my talent, personality and my drive and motivation—(that’s why) I deserve it.”

After her audition, Jensen, a graduate of Bishop Stang, asked Connick for a hug, saying that Will and Grace, which he acted on, was a personal favorite.

“’Will and Grace’ was one of my favorite shows ever,” she said.

By Nick Walecka