Sunday, April 19, 2009

Dream A World of Good, Part 2


A few months passed before I heard from the cricket team I was sponsoring in Nepal, then I received a lovely photo of the team with all of their new equipment and everyone in a white T-shirt that said, A World of Good, Inc. The former head man's eldest son wrote to me with his thanks and kept in touch to let me know how things were going in Nepal.

Things were not going at all well in Nepal. The difficulties with the government became worse. The king was losing control and started to arrest members of the Parliament, 'for their protection,' he said. I cannot take sides on these issues--it is not my place and I have friends on opposite sides of the issues. But I can tell you that friends of mine were being squeezed from both sides. If they cooperated with the Maoists the Government could arrest them. At the same time, Moaist representatives would come to people's homes or shops and say you must give us money or we will hurt members of your family. Anyone with a little money or the perception of power was in danger. Bombs went off in the business district and strikes were constant. Tourism began to dry up and shops were failing.

The following year I returned to Nepal to visit my suppliers. It was the off season, but even so I had never seen it like that before. The tourist area of Nepal looked like a ghost town. Again, while I was there, there was a strike and I found myself throwing pebbles at a suppliers window to let him know that I was down below and wanted to come up to shop. (Go back to The One Eyed Monkey of Swayambu to read about strikes.)

The headman's two sons invited me to come to see them play cricket, and since I couldn't get much work done anyway, I followed them down dusty streets past cows and goats to a large flat area near a river. We walked straight toward a brick wall that seemed to go on for about a quarter of a mile and had no door. The brick wall ended perpendicular to the river bed. There was a sheer drop about 30 feet to the rocks below. The boys told me to hang on to the end of the wall and swing one foot around to the other side. I felt like a kid again sneaking through the neighbors garden to take a dip in a forbidden pool. On the other side of the wall was a great expanse of flat ground with a few blades of grass. I could see several areas where cricket games were taking place.

I saw our team right away because many of the boys were wearing the shirts that I had given them. Up close the shirts looked a bit shabby, and one of the boys told me that was the only shirt he had. I have a hard time understanding comments like that. Did he really mean that it was the only shirt he had or the only shirt he had to play in?

The boys suited me up in their new equipment, a face mask, pads and a bat. I was raised on baseball and had never watched a game of cricket before. Did you know that games can last 8 hours a day for up to 5 days! Anyway, they laughed at me trying to hit the ball and we had fun.

When I left Nepal this time the two brothers promised to keep writing to me. And they kept their promise. A few months later, I received another note from the headman's eldest son. Their father's shop was failing and he and his brother were going to drop out of school and go to work. At that time, the brothers were about 11 and 13 and if you read the first part of this story, you know that school is why the gentle headman left his village to come to Kathmandu in the first place. It was a very sad situation.

My husband and I struggled with this for a little while. Wealth is a matter of perspective, we don't think of ourselves as wealthy, yet we can clothe and feed our own children and send them to a public school. So, we have enough. I asked around to see if anyone I knew would be willing to sponsor these kids through school, but no one was volunteering. Really, who would? Who is any closer to these boys than we are. So I wrote them back, "You need school more than cricket. If your father can provide everything else for you, we will pay for the education." That was how we came to have "nephews" in Nepal.

*There are so many kids in this world with needs. Unicef, Feed The Children, Nepalese Youth Opportunities are doing great things. If you feel compelled to help, you can even go to your local community center or school and teach a child to read.

8 comments:

  1. Helping children get an education is one of the best things in the world to do. You are an angel!

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  2. What a wonderful thing for you to do. That kind of energy flows out and multiplies.

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  3. You are fulfilling a dream and not just talking about it! I really salute you..and you had me holding my breath walking along the wall!!
    Lyn

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  4. Bless you for your kind heart. I donate regularly to our church which does humanitarian work all over the world. It is so sad to see the damage and hurt evil can do.

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  5. It's hard to think that people are squeezed from both sides caught between government and Maoist. If you dont give the money the Maoist demand your family can be harmed and you cant rely on police to protect you. But if you give the money you can be arrested. This would be very scary with the King loosing control as well. It was kind of you & your family to help another family in this way.

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  6. You're so good! Reading this story (and other stories you've shared) reminds me not to take our wealth for granted. Even I (who live in a rented room in a house with others) live like a queen compared to most of the world.

    I also tend to take for granted how stable our government is. Thinking about the upheavals in Nepal in recent years is a good reminder.

    Thank you!

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  7. I was really thrilled last week when I heard that the photo book I had sent to Ramesh in India had arrived. (I had hidden money inside it.)
    He, his wife and three children all live in one room.
    They were gentle and courteous.
    You are so good to sponsor these children.
    Yes, we are utterly complacent here in the US.
    I get really upset when I hear of women with shoes that cost $350.
    I know I have luxuries - like travel - that most of the world would envy.

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  8. Thank you all for the praise. I almost didn't write this because of the self congratulatory aspect, and I am a bit shy about that. But, I really wanted to let people know that we can do more than we think we can.

    Leenie, Hope and Reya, you are so right about the graft and protection issues. There are many countries in the world that have a culture of bribery and intimidation. It is truly evil.

    Families in rural Nepal still only make around $350 in a year. That is the pair of shoes Elizabeth was talking about. $50 a month sends one child to a very good private school in Nepal.

    Peace.

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