Before I share our experiences of the last two weeks, a couple of funny Nepali things, first, the time. Meetings don't ever start when they are supposed to, I couldn't figure out why, but now I know.
One cell phone says 2:18, the other say 2:11 and another person had another phone with a third time. What time is it really?
They don't wash their cars in Nepal, they dust them.
Friday was Rukmina's birthday and we took her to a nice Chinese restaurant. The food was ati meto (very yummy), but I don't think there was enough of it for the Magar family. I can't believe how the Nepali people eat. Tomorrow we are having our visiting teaching sisters for lunch. I have made lots of chow mein, fruit salad, breadsticks and carrot cake. Rukmina does not think that is enough so she is making razma (beans), rice (of course), potato pickle, and chick peas. I guess that should probably be enough.
Devi and Lucy folding towels
Carol trying to explain the assembly line method
I think they got it and it went very fast. The next time we do hygiene kits we need to do 800.
In Nepal as we are serving a humanitarian mission, we are held accountable to the government for the amount of money we pledge to spend in their country. If we promised to spend $100,000, they want to make sure that we did indeed spend that much, so every 6 months they hold what's called a PAC meeting where we explain our projects, where we are with them, and then answer any questions. There are about 18 different people that have been invited to this meeting, dinner is served, which the Church pays for, and they all receive a small stipend. It's kind of weird but it's protocol and it's just one of the many hoops that we have to jump through. The country director for LDSC, which is Elder Rempp worked mostly with Rakesh Hamal to get this organized. He put together a power point explaining all that we do and made sure everyone left happy. He put together a great presentation and we left feeling that we are doing a good job and that Nepal is happy with the things we are doing in their country. Whew! I'd hate to get kicked out of here :)
On the 20th we got up early, because we had a very long day ahead of us as we traveled to Chanute to the closing ceremony of the water project and hand out the hygiene kits. Kent explains this trip in his blog, check it out. kemendenhall.blogspot.com. I'll just share a few pictures and the short version of this trip.
At 6:30 a.m. we met up with the other couple and those that were traveling in the two jeeps with us, Laxmi (she has lived her whole life in Nepal and has never climbed the mountains, or hills, she is also the Rempps didi), Pana and Pushpa from Helping Hands who had gathered all of the things that went into the hygiene kits, they are also members of the branch, and Rakesh, whose NGO is over the water project.
We had traveled about 2.5 hours and our drivers needed to stop for their morning tea. We got out and took pictures. Everyone wants their picture taken with us white faces. These young men all pulled out their phones and wanted pictures taken. A happy bunch! This little square we were in looked to be the produce center of this village.
These are their homes.
I took this picture because of the precarious stance this little guy was taking. We see many physically disabled people here in Nepal and I've often thought of how these people live their lives, not very safe. Small children caring for even smaller children, the roofs and stairs without railings, cars and huge trucks that speed through small towns where children are playing unsupervised. This little boy was standing so close to the edge of this 3.5 foot table and no one was really paying any attention to him. At our last wheelchair distribution I heard several stories of children being dropped or falling off of a roof. So much of this could be prevented - soo sad :(
Onward and upward!!!
We start into the hills and come to this broken down truck, no one can get past, two broken axles.
We check out the situation and find that we are going to be late for the ceremony, but there are some pluses, we hike around a little and find this .....
A beautiful waterfall.
Laxmi, near the waterfall, she was thrilled that she got to come with us. We had all brought snacks because there would be no place to stop and eat. Rakesh had packed a lunch for the missionaries, which was very nice and Laxmi and fixed all sorts of good Nepali food for the drivers and Pana and Pushpa. They were glad that she came along.
Look what else we caught a glimpse of.............these Himalayan Mountains never seize to amaze me.
As we climbed higher, well, not actually climbing yet, that comes later, we saw some amazing people who farmed in these mountains (hills),
These two men are carrying their plows to their fields
And here is one of the oxen that will pull the plow.
We finally arrive at the place where we will hike for about 1.5 hours down the mountain into a small village where the water tap has been built and where there are almost 300 children waiting for us at their school. We walk about 5 minutes and my brand new Nepali hiking boots fall apart.
Lucklily, I had planned ahead. Because I hadn't worn them very much I was worried I might get blisters so I threw into Kent's backpack a pair of sandals.
This was a long, hard hike, at least for me, But it was worth it and I'd do it again. I was grateful for Kent and Brother Pana who stayed and helped me along the way. They both were so patient. And to think that many of these people hike this trail everyday to either get to jobs or children who get to school. I'm through whining.....
I wish you could tell you how high up into the mountains we are.
Here's what was waiting for us,
This is the closing ceremony for the water project. It was interesting, they failed to mention that LDS Charities paid for the water project and it soon became a political, "vote for me" affair. The Church is starting to get away from the big water projects because of some of the corruption that has been going on, especially those things that we have no control of.
The new and only water supply
But it was fun to watch the children, they had not had any water here at this school... I can only imagine. These children were all so very dirty, their lives are so hard, I'd just like to bring them all home with me.
They all left with their hygiene kits that had towels, soap, toothbrushes, toothpaste and combs in them and we sang a song and taught them how to wash their hands really good. I sometimes wonder if we make a difference, it's hard to tell in circumstances like these children live in. One thing I did learn when we were serving at the prison is that I can make a difference, even if it's only for today.
I didn't post pictures of the hike out, I could hardly walk and I looked a mess by the time we reached our jeeps. I was just grateful to get to the top especially since it was starting to get dark.
Aren't they cute, I really would like to bring them all home.
Rakesh thought it would be a great idea to stop at this little shutter and have some fish. Kent and Greg really like this fish. I was too tired to eat anything and besides I have a hard time eating those heads and tails.
If you click on this picture to enlarge it you can really get the head, tail effect.
The next day is Friday and it is our Branch Christmas party. Our little building is in a small compound. We usually have about 50 - 75 members at Church. At this party there were close to 400 people who came. Everyone invites all of the friends and neighbors and besides there is lots of good Nepali food, dahl bhat, chicken, bones and all and what kind of a party would it be without the rice.
People had a great time,
Smina singing Silent Night with Hitson accompanying her
We sang Christmas carols, watched several of the Church's Christmas videos, President Monson's Christmas message and had a great time talking and visiting with old and new friends. I didn't get a chance to take many pictures, again we are the white faces and you'd think we were movie stars, everybody wants their picture taken with us or to visit with us. There are three things I wish I had one rupee for each time, having to turn down tea after it's been brought to us and people can't even imagine that we wouldn't want tea, every time we've been served hot water (they do not like cold water and so they heat it up before they drink it, and for every time some one has asked to have their picture taken with us. I just don't get it.
Saturday is church and we were so hoping that we'd have a full house after the party the night before. President Bishnu had invited all to come back the next day. I guess they knew there would be no food at church. Someday they will come.........
On Sunday, we decided for Christmas that we wanted to do something different than what the other missionaries had done in the past, they had usually baked cookies and gone caroling to some of the branch members homes. We decided that we would go to Mother Teresa's care center. On Saturday we invited anybody that wanted to join us to please come. The Rempps and us decided we would stop and each buy a 50 lb. bag of rice and 40 lbs. of dahl to take with us. The oranges in Nepal are in season and Kent wanted to buy some to bring home. We got to the center with our goods and found one of the nuns who was very happy to see us. In the care center there were about 25 men and women, mostly old but a few had mental and physical disabilities. They noticed Kent with his bag of oranges and started pointing. He started passing them out but quickly ran out so he left and bought 10 more pounds, which he distributed, every last one. They loved them. We went around and visited with each of them and then we sang Christmas carols. I took great pictures but can't seem to find where they were saved. Sorry, I'll try to post them another time. A great day!!!!
Monday is Christmas Eve and the Patch family has invited the missionaries to their home for dinner and a Christmas program. I almost felt like I was home and appreciated their thoughtfulness so much. Dinner was delicious but their children were the best part.
Bronte playing Christmas songs on the violin and Addie dancing.
Yared singing Jingle Bells, boy was he belting it out!!! So cute!
Gretel sharing a Christmas story that had been published in The New Era many years ago when she was in college......
and Ravi playing Joy to the World on his trumpet.
We will truly miss this family when they leave in June.
Christopher will have a new assignment at the U.S. embassy in Iraq after they spend a year in Washington D.C. for language training. This next assignment he will leave his family home in St. George while he's gone, not a very conducive or safe place for families.
On Christmas day we share our family traditions with Rukmina, Hari and Hitson, breakfast casserole(the Nepali version), sweet rolls, sharing the Christmas story from the scriptures and exchanging some small gifts. A very quiet Christmas morning, it's pretty much business as usual in Kathmandu, in fact later that afternoon the printer comes over to finalize some printing that we need for our HBB project next month.
In the evening, the Rempps and us take Rakesh and his family out for dinner.
Rajasee and Jerrik
We've been invited to her birthday party on New Years Day.
On Thursday we had another wheelchair distribution and also certificates were handed out to those with physical disabilities who have completed the JAWS training for the blind, computer training and sewing and knitting. LDS Charities was recognized a lot in this closing ceremony.
The man in this picture.... I took a picture of his legs
He has walked on stumps with these shoes on backwards, I can only imagine what his legs or feet look like inside those shoes. Imagine what a wheelchair means to him.
This little guy got a wheelchair too.
Rakesh and Sagun
A quick story about this picture, Rakesh started NRSD, National Rehabilitation Society for the Disabled several years ago. He saw this young man on the street, he couldn't walk and offered to help him get a wheelchair. He also asked him what he did for a living, was he going to school and what he wanted to do with his life? Sagun wasn't sure, Rakesh asked him if he'd be interested in going to school and learning about computers. Rakesh told him that if he would go to school he could come to NRSD to work and teach others who were disabled to help learn the computers so that they could become empowered and be productive in society.
This day, after six years of teaching computers to other disabled people, Sagun is leaving with a new, very good paying job. I sat with him as they paid tribute to him, he told me, he was sad about leaving and that it was hard to sit and listen to people say nice things about him. He also said he was worried about whoever might replace him because they might just think of NRSD as a job, and he has felt much more while working there. Kent asked him if he understood the phrase "bitter sweet" and then explained what it meant, he said "we would say, sweet and sour." A very good man.
LDS Charities has provided the funding for the training for NRSD in computers, blind training for sewing and knitting and JAWS training also for the blind. It feels good to be helping people who value what they've been given and are willing and desirous to give back.
Yesterday, the RS had a service activity. We taught them a few different newborn hat patterns. We were there 5 hours, no one wanted to leave, they were having such a good time making hats. Finally when I got home I had so much to do before the power went out, because we were having a family for dinner and I needed to get most of it done the night before. The power went out an hour earlier than scheduled so I had to finish up in the dark. So much fun! But it was a good day. I love the members of the branch, they are such good people and have such a love for the gospel.
These past couple of months I have seen the travail of man here in Nepal. Life here for so many is very difficult, some of it is by choice but they deal with it the best they know how with what few resources are available to them. I wish I had the answers to the many problems here. I know I am only one person but I will do what I can today and the Lord has blessed me with this opportunity to serve here and to love the people. And loving the people in Nepal is easy. I will try to make a difference even if it is only for today.
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