I've just come back from a four-day trip to one of UMN's geographical areas of work (clusters), working in the Sunsari and Morung provinces in the south east of Nepal, in the terai.
The flight there was amazing - 45 minutes long in a 19-seater aircraft that swayed every time a cloud was near. All the way from Kathmandu, the Himalayas could be seen from the plane and I also saw Everest for the first time. It was a truly breathtaking flight - in more ways than one!
Nepal is split into three zones in terms of geographical features and climate. Along the south of the country is the terai - very flat, very hot and in parts almost jungle like in the vegetation.
Above that you have the section called the 'middle hills' - think mountains in European terms, not hills. Above that you have the Himalayas - including ten of the world's 14 tallest mountains.
It is an amazingly diverse country and I got a real picture of that geographical diversity from the window of the plane.
The aim of my visit was two-fold. Firstly, to find out more about the work of UMN in the clusters and to start to understand how we work with Nepali NGOs.
Secondly, to meet with Binod, the cluster finance and administration officer, to get a better understanding of the work the finance and administration officers do there.
It was a very successful trip and helped me to appreciate some of the joys and challenges of working in these remote areas.
On Monday, I accompanied the disaster management advisor and cluster team leader as they visited two of the projects that are being carried out in the area.
Disaster management project
UMN is working with a group of 12 churches that are working together to show Jesus' love to people in their communities.
In the community of Noorsing, there is a village that floods every year for three months during the monsoon season.
Around 12,000 people have to leave their homes for three months every year, their homes and possessions are destroyed and they are forced to live on handouts of aid.
I was told that the people from these villages felt sad, hopeless and full of fear about what would happen to their homes every time they leave for three months.
The villagers find it very difficult to manage when they move elsewhere. Many of them become ill and much of their livestock, a valuable source of food, gets washed away.
When they come back, before they can move back in, they have to start the work of cleaning the mud out of their houses. It really disrupts their way of living and the villagers are desperate to change this situation.
One of the reasons the village floods is that there is a large embankment nearby.
With the help of UMN the villagers are building a 'gate' system in this embankment to channel excess water away from the village along the route of a dried up river.
As a result, from this year onwards, the villagers will be able to stay in their village all year round.
It was such a privilege to meet some of the people from the village who were working on the project. You could tell from their words and the expressions on their faces, how happy and excited they are that this year they will be able to stay in their village.