Balcony Bus Seats

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I'm going to attempt to summarize the past few days... first let me tell you about my project. I met with Tej and he had the idea to expand my project even further than I had imagined. So this is the plan: We are going to start a skills training school that will operate on the top floor of the new VSN school. Right now my sewing class will be the pilot program. In the future they will do literacy, computer skills (if they get them donated) and more. For my class, we are going to teach widows exclusively. I will publish the details of why on my website, but the gist of why is that widows are ostracized in Nepal. There are ridiculous superstitions that they carry ill fortune and had something to do with their husbands' death - regardless of the circumstances. The women often resort to hard labor, like carrying bricks, etc. Because the widows are the primary bread winners for their families, we are going to provide our selected widows (which we are currently screening and selecting) a small salary while they train, so they can still provide for their children. At the end of the training, we are going to open a tailor shop for them. We are still helping the orphans, but we are unable to give them extensive training because they are in school. For any girl who finishes her schooling, she is then qualified ot come to our classes. We are also going to make pajamas for the orphans of two orphanages. In addition we are making screens for their windows - to keep the mosquitoes away. Needless to say we are busy. Today and tomorrow we are measuring all the kids and disseminating the clothing that was donated (thanks Tahoe RS!).
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Yesterday we visited the OCRC orphanage. It is about an hour outside of where we are staying. I like it out there because it is free of traffic. There is just beautiful farm land everywhere. Despite the beauty, the orphanage is in pretty poor condition. They have one guy supervising 35 kids. They are getting fed, but no one on one time. The older children are given the responsibility to look after the younger ones. They do this, but they have to leave for school at 7 am ( a 1.5 hour bus ride) and get home at 5:30 pm. Then they have to do laundry, bath little ones, etc. I had a long talk with Tej and I think I convinced him to completely take over this orphanage. It will also take funding, but if we can get at least two more care takers in there, it will be so good. We are also going to try to get them a gas stove and running water... the little things :) The kids are so cute and just crave attention. There is one little boy, Ranjeep, who I'm pretty sure is autistic. He is almost 5, but looks like he's 2. The caretaker said that he doesn't like to talk, but he understands fine. He rocks back and forth all the time and likes repetition. I want to adopt him! He just sat on my lap and held my hand. One of the volunteers here is a special-ed teacher in the U.S. I told her about him, and she strongly recommended that he be moved to VSN's orphanage, which is in better condition with a 1:4 child -caretaker ratio as opposed to the 1:35. I think we are going to be able to facilitate Ranjeep's move! I had the cutest picture of him, but my camera broke. It's about time - I've had it for quite a while, but it's sad 'cause I lost a lot of pics.

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We went to church on Saturday (again - broken camera, so no pics). We got six of us in the tiny taxi (7 plus driver). I was impressed with myself for remembering how to get there... I was shocked when I walked in because half the congregation was white. There are three large American Families that moved here in the last year. Two of them work for the state department and one works in the private sector. Last year Rick and I were the only westerners besides the couple missionaries. Everything is the same though - the service is in English and Nepali. There is a new branch president. He gave us all assignments, the first of which is to sing next Sunday. It was good to be back. Everyone remembers me, and it feels like I never left. After church we went to one of the couple's homes and hung out with the young adults. It was fun - everyone practiced their Nepali.

There are about 20 volunteers here now from all over - Netherlands, UK, Austrailla, Belgium, USA. Many of them recognize me from the films I made, and a few said they came because of them. That is such a great thing to hear!

Yesterday I took two of the volunteers to the Manahara Landless community (I'm a tour guide too). They are both engineers. The community is pretty flooded, but it is also growing. There are new shelters and buildings. The people seem to have no intention of leaving despite the conditions .

Oh - here's an interesting tidbit - there was a doctor's strike. I was talking to a doctor and asked about the sick people. He said they were just lying in the hospital. Apparently someone threatened a doctor. Someone's relative had died in surgery and the surgeon was threatened, so all the doctors left the hospital for 3 days. Apparently the emergency is open, but still. Have no fear though - the international hospital is up and running, and we have 3 or 4 doctors volunteering too.

The monsoon is definitely here - I like the rain though.

See our adventure - packed buses due to petrol prices make us resort to sitting on the top. I told everyone not to write home about it, but I can't help it. It's not like there is a nice ladder for you to climb up... you have to jump on the bumper of the bus then pull your self up this metal railing. I often see goats on top of busses, but today we were the goats.

My water bottle fell off the top of the bus, so they stopped the bus and threw it back to me. My Klean Kanteen has an awesome scar and story now.

Attack of the monkeys

There’s a big field in our neighborhood where all the kids play soccer. Because of the monsoons, parts of it are flooded, especially their goal area. So this morning a bunch of kids were putting dirt in whatever they make-shift containers could find and attempting to fill in the muddy holes with rocks and dirt. They were making very little progress, but it was so cute!

Today I told everyone that they could only speak Nepali on the bus rides. This was partially because we are such a big group and tend to get loud and a little rowdy on the buses. This is in contrast to the Nepalese who sit quietly and stare. So they practiced their Nepali and the people ate it up. Chelsie is especially brave. Gelu helps them, and fortunately I’ve mastered all their language concepts so far, so I can correct them too. They’re saying things like: what is your name?, where are you from?, etc.

We went to Bouddhanath, a world heritage site of one of the largest Buddhist stupas. For those of you unfamiliar with Buddhism, you should know that you always walk around a stupa clockwise. This is huge, so if you visit all the shops and monasteries along the way, it can take a while. You can also walk around the top. I like Bouddhanath because it is quiet, and unlike the other touristy areas of Kathmandu, vendors leave you alone for the most part. I also love to see all the little women in their traditional dress. You can see them in the shot from on top of the stupa. They’re wearing what looks like aprons. The colors are great too. It looks like the Solokumbu region where I trekked… all the homes are really great colors…the colors of my house actually.

Gelu is Buddhist, and he explained to me the meanings of the prayer flags. There are five colors, and each represents a different place where the prayer/mantra is sent or what the prayer is for. Red – fire, white – heaven, blue – sky, green – earth, yellow – art …cool eh?


This other picture is from inside some monasteries. In one, the monks were doing their traditional chanting and rituals, which was cool to see. Part of the ritual includes throwing rice as an offering to the gods. We saw a little mouse come out and steal some rice. That may be horrifying, but I thought it was cute. I picture some little monastic mice colony living behind the shrines. In another monastery a monk stopped what he was doing to answer his cell phone… so irreverence has reached the corners of the world!

We then went to Pasurpati. This is a very holy place in Hinduism. You are able to observe – close up cremations. Again, I’ve been here before, but it is fascinating to see. The kids found it interesting too. They were a little hesitant to go when I told them what they would see, but w stayed for quite a while and watched the process. Fortunately they got to see a cremation from the beginning. There were about eight or so going on while we were there.

There were 7 or 8 boys swimming in the water right next to the cremation sight. They were completely naked and not at all phased by the fact that the ashes were constantly being scraped into the water.

This is a little boy who is imitating the monkeys. His name is the same as a famous actor which is appropriate because he hammed it up for us... he wanted money




The biggest hit was the monkeys. Here they run wild with the cows and dogs. One of the monkeys stole a gum ball from Chelsie's hand... literally pried it out of her fingers, unwrapped it and started chewing the huge green gum ball. It was hilarious! Another one was convinced that I had a stash somewhere and grabbed me... he wouldn't let go. Katie captured the moment for you...

One of the domestic helpers (i.e. paid servant), Laxmi, came into the office today to say hi. She asked about my family and told me about her children. I knew her from last year. Anyway, I was able to carry on a full conversation with her… she speaks no English. I was a little surprised with myself. But it gave me a boost. I think last year I let Rick do most of the talking, so now it’s my turn. Tej mentioned how confident and brave my group is. I think they are just brave, confident kids, but he insisted it was my grasp of the Nepali way of life… or something to that extent.

Only one way to throw a frisbee.

Me with a mangy dog... a staple of this community.

Today I woke up really early and took a bus into Baneshwor. The bus ride was old hat.. crazy, but easy. And inflation has reached Nepal. The price from last year has increased by 4 rupees. I was talking to Sabin, and we figured out that gas here is about $2.20 / gallon. It was a long process to figure that out because they use rupees and liter here, but still. That is super high for this country.

Everything was closed, but I did a couple errands nonetheless. In the morning the weather is perfect. Super humid, but comfortable. I came back in time for our morning meal, Dal Baht. I actually love this. We have it for all our meals, but it’s yummy ( for you first timers to my blog, Dal Baht is a dish with rice and lentils).

Tej took me to the new school that they built. It is so great! Some of the students are sponsored kids (anyone interested in sponsoring, let me know) and some are orphans. The do pre-k through 7^th grade right now, and as the 7^th graders progress, they will take them up through 10^th grade. Sabin is the principal of the school and is right at home. He was my language teacher last year. He says he’s good at this job because he can make decisions quickly and doesn’t get stressed – this is true. However, he is good at this job because he likes to be in charge. It is so fun to see him. He told me, “I have memories of you all winter, Liz.” I gave him a white sweatshirt from Tahoe as a gift, and he said whenever he wore it, he would get lots of compliments and make a memory of me.

On the top floor of the school are three empty classrooms. They are to be a library and a computer room. I think I convinced Tej to make the third one a skills center, so we can have evening classes there for women. We will teach literacy, sewing, etc. So my first project has begun! Hopefully, I’m also going to start skills training classes in Solokumbu, a village in northern Nepal near Everest, as well.

During their recess break, I taught the kids how to play Frisbee. They loved it and played it the whole time. At one point I took the Frisbee and showed one boy how to throw it under his leg. I said, “you do like this.” He did, and for the rest of the game everyone threw it under their leg. They didn’t grasp the concept that it was an option, but I didn’t stop them ‘cause it was hilarious!





The trash is still an issue, and during these warm months, the odor is awesome.


This is me spinning a prayer wheel at the Golden Temple. It is a temple where the surrounding walls are a Buddhist temple and the middle is a Hindu shrine. Our guide, Gelu, is Buddhist. A tourist was spinning a wheel in the wrong direction and after she left, he discreetly changed the direction of the wheel.




We went to Patan, an old Hindu shrine. it was interesting to see everything through the eyes of someone new. They got their first bus ride, first tuk-tuk ride (a three wheeled vehicle about the size of a mini cooper that fits 20 people), and saw their first cremation. In one temple a peddler followed us in and tried to sell us Karma Sutra books. I yelled at him in Nepali and told him to get out of the temple... There are vendors in all the touristy places, but usually their trying to sell jewelry or handmade crafts.

On our way home, we got our first monsoon. It was nice and cool, but an insane flash flood. More later!

Arrived

Okay we arrived in Kathmandu! The trip over hear was incident free… long, but no problems. The flight to Bangkok was 16 hours (10 of which I slept… surprisingly). I finished a book on the plane!... Three Cups of Tea, a really inspiring story about this guy who built schools in Pakistan. He’s my new inspiration.

We had a 5 hour layover in Thailand, and then a short trip to Kathmandu. The Bangkok airport is huge and intense. There are high-end stores like Gucci, salons, you name it. The kids got pizza and milkshakes. Someone asked me if the airport in Nepal was like that… I said, “Picture the opposite of this… that’s KTM.” I actually love how we walk across the tarmac into the tiny, un-air-conditioned building.

On the plane trip, Katie saw Mt. Everest out the window…

The sewing gear and clothing all arrived without incident…mostly. I wanted to declare them at customs, but the customs officer said not to worry about it, which was a blessing. We had so much luggage, that it took 3 cars to transport us and our stuff. I was proud that I had only my backpack. Some packed 2 huge suitcases full! We did, however, have 4 bags exclusively for our humanitarian projects.

The ride from the airport was perfect. We passed a lot of cows in the middle of the road and took some near head-on collision passes… enough to give everyone a thrill. We had our first Nepali meal with Tej and Rupa - Chow Chow – the Nepali equivalent of Ramen noodles. The kids were excited to eat something familiar…

We took them to there homes. They seem okay with their living situations. I’m staying with Sugandha’s family again. It’s great. There are three Dutch girls here and a guy from LA. He told me he came because of my blog!

Moment of the day - Maddy asked her host how to use the toilet. I’m not sure what she wanted to know. He thought about it and then told her to shut the door.

Here I Go Again!

Great news! I'm headed back to Nepal in July.

Do you want to come volunteer?

Do you want to help fund a humanitarian project?

If so, email me! liz@irisvsi.org

namaste

Namaste

We had a party in Gotthatar... We colored and played games. We ate cookies... and I thought that should be enough to make a good with party. We had a lot of fun, but as I was preparing to leave, Ramilla made me sing for them. So I did, then they said that I had to dance. I told them that I couldn't dance without music. So they all started to clap and sing Nepali folk tunes. Then, Suresh started to dance... and I couldn't help but join him. So for the next half hour, I danced and learn to dance with the kids and women.

This was definitely the highlight of my Nepal experience.

They all ran out to watch me walk away, and of course said 'Namaste'.

This was the hardest day... harder than climbing the Chola Pass with no skin on my feet.

My children of Gottathar

Suresh's little sister sleeping as we played

I'm going to Everest... do you want to come?

Simon Says

Head Shoulders Knees and Toes

The boys

Film of me folk dancing!

My women. (Radika's in the middle w/ me)

The only time I really cried was when I had to say good bye to these women. I gave Radika a hug, and the tears just came... totally unexpected. They made me promise to come back (with a husband).

Party with VSN.

Currently there are so many volunteers. It was an early going away party for Rick, Jessica, Hanna, and me. The new group is pretty young (I think because it's summer).



See below what these amazing women have done in such a short time!

I love them so much, and I'm so proud of their efforts and enthusiasm.

Our last Sunday with the young adults

Church members

I see this cow everyday when I walked to Gottathar. It has a tika. :)

Me in the recording studio

We ended up using a different voice for narration, but it was fun to record. I even sang a little between takes.

Young Monks

Monkey Temple... sans monkeys.

Just as I was leaving (around 9:30 am) all the monkeys started running up the stairs to the temple. It was actually really great to watch. I have video footage of the little monkeys hanging on the moms' stomachs as they ran. Monkey temple is one of the oldest temples in Nepal. It also unique because it has a Buddhist stupa and a Hindu shrine.

Spinning the prayer wheels at the Monkey Temple.

I went early in the morning, so I saw many locals worshiping. Rashan, a Nepali guy that I met there, showed me around and gave me interesting facts etc. about the temple.

A little boy on the side of the road.

Just Friends

PDA is not acceptable in Nepal (unless you're a guy). Everywhere there are guys, old men, young boys holding hands or with their arms around each other. It is totally cultural. Friends are just affectionate. Men and women (husbands and wives even) do not show affection in public ever!

Women working as a walked down the street.

Me, Riza, Laxmi

Riza is the daughter of Tej, VSN's director. Laxmi is the housekeeper for both our home and the VSN office. Laxmi has two little children, a boy and girl, but she spends most of her time working... sadly. She is always happy though. She speaks no English, so it was good to practice Nepali w/ her. Riza and I bonded one day as we sang "itsy bitsy spider" and "bah bah black sheep". Now she won't leave me alone if I'm in the room. During our going away party, Riza kept us entertained by singing the same songs over and over again. She's so beautiful! Her mother, Ranu, is gorgeous.

Just a man I was walking behind on the way to the VSN office.

I started to get paranoid as my time grew short, that I did not have images that adequately captured my daily experience in Nepal.

Abines, Me and Bryony at the Editing Suite
This is the room where I've been spending most of my time. I arrive before 7:30 because Ranjit, one of the assistant, has to go to animation class at 7:30. Bryony had difficulty dealing with interpretation... having a 3rd party tell Abines when that we wanted to shave off a half second from a clip... was really frustrating. Anyway, we convinced them to teach us how to use the editing software. It sped up the process, but we are still super slow. I thought Bryony had really good taste, and I'd seen some pictures she'd taken, so I asked her to help her with the project. It turns out, she was an ad exec for huge companies like Dove and Nestle. We both have artistic backgrounds and totally saw eye to eye on where the film was going. Bryony is awesome... a great friend.

Goodbye to Rick

He is off to graduate from medical school, so he wasn't that sad to go. It was wierd when a new volunteer moved in his room. Sean from England arrived at 2:00 am. When Rick left, they made momos ( a huge feast)... Thankfully the new kids in the house can pull their weight eating 150 momos.

Hunchha

Namaste

Yesterday there was another strike, so I walked to town, so I could work on the film. It took me an hour and a half. Sounds long, but I did 6 -10 hour trekking days... Actually, I got a ride part way with Sugandha because he had to pick someone up from the airport. Apparently it was risky, but we drove with a sign on the car that said tourist (and even better, a white person in the front seat to look official). We were going in different directions, so he dropped me after a few minutes. A bus came - let me stop here and clarify that the day before, the Maoists had announced the Banda for the following day. Banda is the word for strike, but that is a misleading translation. The drivers are not striking.... the rebels are preventing anyone from using transportation. They throw bricks at buses and burn tires if you are on the road. Back to the story, so a bus came. I got on, and we drove for about a minute. Then some guys with black arm bands stopped the bus and made us all get off. I later found out that they were Maoists... they weren't violent at all. So I walked. Good thing it was early in the morning.

I don't know why I am always talking about the strike... it is such a minor part of my life.

The other night, I watched some traditional dance. It was actually Hindu religious dancing, where they tell stories. We were coached through yoga breathing (closed eyes etc) for about 20 minutes before the dancing began. And on the dance floor was a little god (statue) with candles etc. They were performing it for her. They used masks and lots of hand gestures. It was really interesting.

I was invited to lunch with a family in the village I go to. I see them everytime I walk by, but they are not involved in any of my classes. Anyway, we were eating and I asked the mother why she did not come to the mother's group. (VSN gives classes every other week to mothers about hand washing, wound care, nutrition, etc.) I found out that they did not know about my English classes, the knitting class, the health classes... nothing. I was confused because they live next door to where the classes are held. It turns out, they had not been invited. I don't know why. I am frustrated, but also glad. If this is happening in one small village, I'm sure it is happening elsewhere. I let the VSN staff know, so we can address it.

Right now I am off to Gottathar to see my kids. We are having a "party" which will include singing Head Shoulders Knees and Toes, playing simon says and coloring. I will miss the kids the most when I go.

I'm off to walk in the heat :) I'm using an umbrella to block the sun, so I'll still be super white when I come back!