Busy Beaver
Well, sorry. It's been awhile. It's tough trying to save the world and applying for grad school at the same time. Yes, I'm trying to figure out how to send a silly amount of documents to Canada before January 31st so that I can get even more in debt come September. I'll let you know if I get in (but let's not talk about it if I don't).
So it's been busy here. And it's also been awhile... so let's see... where can I start? I guess the last 8 days have seen good times and bad. Since the kids have been on vacation, we've done lots of fun stuff. We went on a great picnic last week. I have to say, it was surprisingly grueling climbing to the top of a mountain, not of course due to my tremendous physique and enviable athleticism, but because I was hauling a 40lb bucket of fried potatoes, uphill for an hour. The climb was so difficult but the potatoes were so exquisite, I still haven't decided if it was worth it. But we danced and blew bubbles and ate great food and had a marvelous time.
So school has begun and the last few days have been difficult. Moreorless, there is a general mutiny happening. The children not only are refusing to go to school, but also lied to us and management about when they were supposed to go back. Many of the kids are also on a self-imposed hunger strike (which hasn't seemed to have lasted more than a few hours at a time) because there has been a cut back in the amount of salt in their curry. Of the 30% who are going to school, about 60% miss the bus daily, creating yet another problem. Yesterday, the volunteers took over the discipline and made all the hookers (you know, those playing hookie) sit in a classroom all day just as if they were in school. Needless to say, I have two weeks left and all the children now hate me. I only have a couple of loyal ones that have decided to still mutter a couple of words to me. It's strange how quickly we forget what being a kid is like. I can't understand why they are being so difficult and I also don't enjoy being hated. I hope being teenagers, their moods will be short-lived and they will go back to liking me before I leave.
On the bright side, all our cohersion and guilt trips kinda-sorta worked as all the kids went to school today, but all emphatically, refusing to even look at us.
The other night I went to dinner with another volunteer at the home of the President of the American Himalayan Foundation. Just to give you a bit of a mental picture, he lived in a house in the Australian Embassy compound, had a houseboy (I don't know...male servant?) and some wonderful other treats. For example, he had two fire places. You don't know what it's like, sitting next to a fire of burning wood, instead of huddling around a burning pile of your own shit tickets. (used toilet paper) What a treat! And I had the most exquisite gin & tonic. My god, it tasted good and the smell reminding me of the juniper bushes back home.
Over dinner, which was a very nice meal of pasta and bread (crazy, eh??), we were privvy to a number of interesting stories of what Nepal was like back in the crazy days. What a nightmare! I'm very lucky that it is considerably more peaceful here now. I think I will tell everyone the details of the stories when I'm back home. Don't want to give my Mum any fodder for her incredible imagination.
The scary stories aside, I learned a number of interesting things that night. Well, as for the good things, this man and his organization live in relative prosperity compared to native nepalis here, but he does the most incredible work. I have seen scores of street children here, emaciated, filthy, violent and all huffing glue; even the little ones. These are the children that he targets. He offers them shelter, food, education and sponsorship into their adult lives. I am so relieved that someone is trying to tackle the problem with the most downtrodden children here.
The crazy bad news I heard was shocking. They just recently rescued a group of girls that had been traffiked to India. A Nepali, went from village to village, collecting money from families, with the promise of taking their children to Kathmandu to be housed and educated. What he would do however, was sell them (yes, SELL) to Christian houses in India. No kidding! There are hundreds of western evangelical organizations in India that are litterally buying souls. And they are aware of what they are doing! They buy the children and give them new names and everything. I couldn't believe it. For all the greenmen back home, don't worry; apparently, the catholics here are great.
Anyway, wish me luck on getting this application in on time. And also, wish me luck that the kids will like me again before I go.
So it's been busy here. And it's also been awhile... so let's see... where can I start? I guess the last 8 days have seen good times and bad. Since the kids have been on vacation, we've done lots of fun stuff. We went on a great picnic last week. I have to say, it was surprisingly grueling climbing to the top of a mountain, not of course due to my tremendous physique and enviable athleticism, but because I was hauling a 40lb bucket of fried potatoes, uphill for an hour. The climb was so difficult but the potatoes were so exquisite, I still haven't decided if it was worth it. But we danced and blew bubbles and ate great food and had a marvelous time.
So school has begun and the last few days have been difficult. Moreorless, there is a general mutiny happening. The children not only are refusing to go to school, but also lied to us and management about when they were supposed to go back. Many of the kids are also on a self-imposed hunger strike (which hasn't seemed to have lasted more than a few hours at a time) because there has been a cut back in the amount of salt in their curry. Of the 30% who are going to school, about 60% miss the bus daily, creating yet another problem. Yesterday, the volunteers took over the discipline and made all the hookers (you know, those playing hookie) sit in a classroom all day just as if they were in school. Needless to say, I have two weeks left and all the children now hate me. I only have a couple of loyal ones that have decided to still mutter a couple of words to me. It's strange how quickly we forget what being a kid is like. I can't understand why they are being so difficult and I also don't enjoy being hated. I hope being teenagers, their moods will be short-lived and they will go back to liking me before I leave.
On the bright side, all our cohersion and guilt trips kinda-sorta worked as all the kids went to school today, but all emphatically, refusing to even look at us.
The other night I went to dinner with another volunteer at the home of the President of the American Himalayan Foundation. Just to give you a bit of a mental picture, he lived in a house in the Australian Embassy compound, had a houseboy (I don't know...male servant?) and some wonderful other treats. For example, he had two fire places. You don't know what it's like, sitting next to a fire of burning wood, instead of huddling around a burning pile of your own shit tickets. (used toilet paper) What a treat! And I had the most exquisite gin & tonic. My god, it tasted good and the smell reminding me of the juniper bushes back home.
Over dinner, which was a very nice meal of pasta and bread (crazy, eh??), we were privvy to a number of interesting stories of what Nepal was like back in the crazy days. What a nightmare! I'm very lucky that it is considerably more peaceful here now. I think I will tell everyone the details of the stories when I'm back home. Don't want to give my Mum any fodder for her incredible imagination.
The scary stories aside, I learned a number of interesting things that night. Well, as for the good things, this man and his organization live in relative prosperity compared to native nepalis here, but he does the most incredible work. I have seen scores of street children here, emaciated, filthy, violent and all huffing glue; even the little ones. These are the children that he targets. He offers them shelter, food, education and sponsorship into their adult lives. I am so relieved that someone is trying to tackle the problem with the most downtrodden children here.
The crazy bad news I heard was shocking. They just recently rescued a group of girls that had been traffiked to India. A Nepali, went from village to village, collecting money from families, with the promise of taking their children to Kathmandu to be housed and educated. What he would do however, was sell them (yes, SELL) to Christian houses in India. No kidding! There are hundreds of western evangelical organizations in India that are litterally buying souls. And they are aware of what they are doing! They buy the children and give them new names and everything. I couldn't believe it. For all the greenmen back home, don't worry; apparently, the catholics here are great.
Anyway, wish me luck on getting this application in on time. And also, wish me luck that the kids will like me again before I go.
posted by Kelly in Nepal at 9:59 PM
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