Bindu Maya and Gun Gahadur look worried and don't want to say what they are thinking. Grandmother’s cough simply won’t get better and she hardly has the strength to walk up to the village. Yesterday Gun Bahadur called the paramedic from the health pots because he was so worried.

The medicine from the paramedic helps a little but not enough and Grandma is having difficulty breathing. “Her face is dark blue and she hasn't eaten a grain of rice all day!“ Bindu Maya says to her brother. “I'm afraid that Grandma will leave us forever; then what will we do? “ Bindu Maya says as she places wood on the fire to keep Grandma warm.

The children were raised by their Grandmother as their mother left with another man shortly after Gun Bahadur's birth and their father started drinking shortly thereafter.

The grandparents worked hard in the terraced fields; so the family had an income. They cultivated corn and potatoes and kept a cow for milk. Grandfather died aged 46 but no-one knew why.

Bindu Maya and Gun Bahadur had to help on the farm as small children. Gun Bahadur is proud to lead the water buffalo as they plowed the field. Bindu Maya was responsible for all the household chores from an early age. She prepares the fire in the morning and makes tea. She looks after the goats and cooks the rice. But Grandmother is always there to help when the children have doubts, though she has been having such difficulty breathing of late.

The paramedic said that Grandmother has a chronic inflammation of the bronchia.  That comes from smoking. But Grandmother hasn't smoked a single cigarette in her entire life. He says that the medicine will only help a little but that there is nothing else that he can do for the sick woman.

Bindu Maya works diligently as a caring nurse. She keeps the fire well stoked, makes sure that there is always warm tea and places straw under Grandma's back to help her sit as she can breathe better when she is sitting.

Gun Bahadur suggests time-and-again that they should take Gradma to hospital but Gradma simply refuses to go. So there is little else that they can do.

The old woman dies in the early hours of the morning and so finds peace after years of having difficulty breathing.

The people of the Tamang decorate the dead with yellow clothes and flowers before carrying them through the village to the crematory. Grandmother was well known and loved in the village and all the neighbors stop working to participate in the cremation. Each family brings a plate of good food to feed the angry spirits.

Bindu Maya and Gun Bahadur are the only relatives but the entire village is like one big family and everyone mourns together. Bindu Maya is terribly sad and can hardly see the Himalaya Mountains through her tear-filled eyes. “That's where the souls of the dead go“, her grandmother had always told her.

Gun Bahadur ask himself again-and-again how he could have helped grandmother.  Maybe if they had had more money for better medicine, she would have been cured.

After a few weeks as the children are getting accustomed to their new life, Bindu Maya hears about smoke-free stoves whilst talking to the other women from the village.

The women meet every Saturday morning to exchange news and information and to gossip. Sometimes they receive small presents. It's always worthwhile to attend.

Today a Tamang man from the next district was their guest. With the help of photos and prospects he explained how clay cooking stoves could benefit the women.   Especially one point catches Bindu Maya's attention. “Chronic inflammation of the bronchia can be prevented by the clay stoves“, Bindu Maya tells her brother. “The smoke from the fire is poison for the lungs, like smoking, only much worse“, the Tamang-man said. Bindu Maya remembered how Grandmother never smoked a single cigarette but she had spent her entire life sitting in kitchens filled with smoke from the cooking fire.

So it is decided. Bindu Maya and Gun Bahadur will install a cooking stove. Bindu Maya has already collected three baskets of clay from the field and piled them in front of their hut. Now she has to collect two baskets of cow dung which can be found everywhere.

Gun Bahadur left in the morning to meet the stove maker on the road to their village. On the way he collects a sack full of rice shells from the mill. Bindu Maya prepared a big fire which creates a lot of smoke but their guest must have a good milky tea and a rice dish before he starts work.

Bindu Maya and Gun Bahadur are both excited!