Shopping Trip, Nepal

Above are some of the items we sell.

I'm off to Nepal March 1st to look for new items for our business, http://aworldofgood.com.

Hopefully, I will also be able to visit a village school while I am there. Several people have asked me if they could directly contribute to a school in Nepal. This is the opportunity, I am going over myself and will be handing a contribution directly to the school for operating costs. I would also like to take some books with me:

Picture books of how things work. If they can't read it, they should be able to figure out what's going on by the diagrams and drawings.

'Popular mechanics,' very practical books on construction.
Health and Biology books
Junior and Senior level Math: Algebra, Trig, Calculus, Geometry
Art Books

We want the kids to see what students are learning in different parts of the world. So if you have a text that's not too old and in good condition, send it along.
Of course, cash is easy to carry and they can purchase many interesting books right in Kathmandu if you would rather do that.

If you are interested in contributing, contact me at butternutsquash2@gmail.com.

Peace!

*I'll take a camera this time and bring you back some photos.

Under Siege in a Strange Land

In ordinary times, a trip to the gas station was not remarkable, but now, I looked carefully around me for parked cars with passengers, potential enemies, lying in wait. Was it my imagination, or were the streets quieter than usual? I couldn't put off getting gas any longer or I would run dry. No one was at the pumps, so I took advantage of the empty space and strategically pulled around to the back side of a pump so that the pump would be between me and a possible sniper. I only filled the tank half full and I retrieved my credit card quickly. I was successful, no shots fired. I speed off toward the daycare to retrieve my 4 year old.

They had just instituted a new system at our daycare. Parents would no longer park their cars and walk in to retrieve their children. Now, we waited in a line of cars. When our car reached the door a teacher would identify us and send our child out. Only one child would be allowed to leave. If someone was going to shoot children at school, as the Sniper had already done, it would be only one child at a time.

During the years that we lived in the DC there was an average of about 250 murders a year in that city. But this was something different.  Looking at a map of where the shootings happened, they were all around us, North, South, East and West of our home.  There seemed to be no pattern, no motive, just someone with a gun lying in wait at a gas station, a bus stop, a Home Depot, a school… For the first time in my life, I could imagine what a city under siege might be like.

When it was all over, my neighbor said that he had seen him. He had come face to face with John Allen Muhammad. After murdering, he showered at our YMCA, our Y, where we took our children!

People always ask me if I am afraid to travel by myself. The answer is no. For the most part I have always felt safer while traveling abroad than I do in the United States. There are certainly countries that I do not choose to travel to, but keep in mind that the average murder rate in the United States is 5.4 murders per 100,000 people, as compared to 1.84 murders per 100,000 people in Nepal where I travel most often. The United States is indeed a strange land having 90 guns for every 100 citizens. This makes the USA the most heavily armed society in the world. -Information gathered from Wikipedia.

School in the High Himalayas

Above is a school that is under construction in the Langtang, Nepal. This project was undertaken by a group of Italian scientists and tourists/trekkers. You can read about the school and make contributions through their web site at http://www.sundaribaini.org/chisiamoen.htm
If you click on the top photo you should be able to see the school perched on the hillside.

Some of you have read my stories about helping some boys go to school in Kathmandu, 'Dream A World of Good.' The boys were from the village above. When they were young they had no opportunity for an education so their father gave up his status in the village and moved the family to Kathmandu so that the boys would have the possibility of receiving an education.

Below is an excerpt from a recent letter I received from the boys who are now young men.

It rained yesterday. Brr!!! And this morning we are all wrapped up and warm. I am writing this email with a huge pile of blankets around me. Recently there has been much news of deaths in the southern part of Nepal and India because of a cold wave. Homeless people suffer the most and the governments try feeble ineffective ways to counter the problems. Poor people are given wood to burn and clothes to wear but that will not help at all. It is so sad to hear when we are wrapped up and warm inside our home there are people dying because of cold.

Last week I visited my village. I have taken some photographs of the school and we all hope that you will like it. Recently, the school has been developing under the eyes of an Italian volunteer who helped the school build its first toilet and even a new building for higher secondary classes. A few years back the school ran up to grade eight only, but now villagers send their students to grade nine and grade ten too.

It is progress! If possible, I would like to visit the school when I go to Nepal in March and make a contribution to their operating expenses. I would also like to arrange a letter exchange with some of our local school students. But, I will have to wait and see how the plan unfolds. Travel restrictions, strikes, and weather can make it difficult to get to rural areas of Nepal, and someone would have to offer to host me in their home. With only a two week travel plan, I may not be able to get there and back. If I do get there, I'll bring you pictures and stories.

In February, I will be giving a free lecture on 'Life and work in Nepal during difficult times.' I will discuss the effects of 911 on Nepal, the murder of the entire Nepalese Royal family, endless annual strikes, and the Maoist Revolution. The lecture will be held at the Plymouth UCC in Shaker Heights, OH. Sunday February 14th, 9:30 - 10:20 am in room 102.

Peace to you all and prayers for Haiti!

What does an angel look like?

Poetry
By Butternut Squash

Imperishable
God’s Words Whispered Obliquely
Mirror Creation

(another haiku for you)

…

I have been thinking a lot about angels lately, probably because Christmas has just gone by and I have been watching the Christmas trees pile up on the curbs and the angels disappear from windows. It occurs to me that what I know about angels is mostly from Renaissance paintings, Christmas cards and the nativity story. I have never read a book on angels other than the Bible, though I know that there are several available.

Some people say that we all become angels when we pass on. Others say that we are angels to one another in the present moment. When my grandmother was on her death bed, my aunt said, your grandmother has just seen an angel. And so I asked her, what did it look like. “Beautiful, I guess,” was all that she said. She was very ill, so I didn’t press for more. But I have always wondered what did she see and how did she know that it was an angel?

A few years ago, I was in a shop of crystals and rocks. The owner and her assistant were laughing while watching people walk through the door. “What’s the joke?” I asked. They told me that they had rearranged a bunch of crystals when they cleaned their shop. Something about the way that they had arranged the crystals was making people loopy when they walked through the door. I walked over to the door and put my palms out. Much to my surprise, there was an electrical flow in the air. I could feel it quite clearly. There were three large crystals, about 10 feet apart, forming a triangle that seemed to generate a very strong circular flow. Standing in it, I could feel energy enter one palm and shoot out the other. I felt like I was standing in a giant crystal radio kit. As I stood there I could feel a release of tension from the muscles in my back, neck and shoulders.

I closed my eyes and enjoyed the waves but when I opened my eyes, I saw that one of the women who had been laughing moments ago had her face buried in her shirt and she was crying. When I asked her what had happened she said that she saw an angel on either side of me. I couldn’t resist. What did they look like? Her description was that they were shafts of light that came from heaven. She could not see them when looking directly at them but only askance. How did she know they were angels? She just knew.

If you have seen an angel, I would love to know what it looked like.

Peace.

Pondering Divine Intervention

Street Dogs in Thailand are often hairless and covered with scabs. This photo is from Thai Pulse.

Pondering Divine Intervention
By Butternut Squash

A spotlight fixed on a steam locomotive that was about to charge across the bridge. Moments after the engine crossed, the canons boomed from the river spewing water up all around the bridge which was rigged to collapse. The look-out towers were in flames and men on fire leapt from the bridge. From the boat, I could see everything quite clearly. The music was unbearably loud and I couldn’t help worrying about the ecosystems of the river that had to endure the blasting night after night all throughout November and December.

I had traveled with a friend to Kanchanaburi, Thailand, in early December to watch a reenactment of the bombing of the bridge over the river Kwai. After the show we headed to a video restaurant and had a few beers and stayed to watch a movie. However, my friend got tired and decided to return to the houseboat where we were staying. She left with a few other drunken backpackers that were headed the same direction. Shortly after midnight, when the movie ended, I headed off toward the house boat alone.

Earlier in the evening the streets had been full of cars and pedestrians, but I found it to be disturbingly quiet when I entered the dark humid night. There were few electric lights in the neighborhood and I was feeling vulnerable without people around. I thought that it might be quicker to cut through the temple grounds, so I turned at the stone gate and walked briskly into the center courtyard of the temple.

I saw a shadow move beside the temple, but I kept my pace. It was a bad choice. Very quickly I saw two shadows moving slowly toward me. I stopped. A dog stood in front of me. Its back was arched its head and tail were down and it began a low menacing growl. This mangy, hairless cur had a scabby friend with infected eyes that came up slowly behind him. Within a few seconds, while I was still struggling to decide which way to go, four more dogs arrived. I was now surrounded on three sides by a very hungry looking pack of stray dogs.

My rear was the only side without a dog, but I was afraid that if I turned to leave that I would be taken down and mauled. There would be nothing left of me but a fleeting story of gore for the morning news. I had never had a dog, but I had had a few scruffy cats in my life. So I summoned the persona of my mother enraged by the cat eating hamburger from the dining room table. I stood taller and fiercely smacked my hands together and said, “Bad dogs, go home!” And I marched forward confidently while circling back toward the stone gate from which I had entered. The dogs did not attack but they did continue to growl and followed me closely until I left the temple grounds. A few paces out of the gate. I grabbed a fat stick and carried it all the way to the houseboat.

I have been in some terrible situations in my life, but that was the most frightened I have ever been. The fear made me tremble so badly that I could barely walk, and I felt as if my soul was only vaguely connected to my body for at least the next hour. I still wonder how I could have possibly managed to escape without a scratch.

Barnyard at Bedtime

Pig Smelling a Lily by Karen Thomas, The Angels in Pastels

Barnyard at Bedtime by Butternut Squash

“Hush,” said Rooster at the end of the day,

“I have to rise early. This is not time to play.

Dog chasing cat and cat chasing mouse,

It’s time to be quiet!” He continued to grouse.

“I’m not tired,” squeaked mouse. “Me either,” mewed cat,

Dog ran round the corner, and knocked them both flat.

“Oh no!” groaned the donkey, the pig and the cow.

Cat and mouse cried, it was a terrible row.

“I’m sorry,” woofed dog, “We were playing a game.”

No use in explaining, his head hung in shame.

“Alright, settle down now,” mother cow said.

“It’s dark out, and time that we all went to bed.”

Mouse sniffled softly as she curled in her nest.

Cat licked himself clean preparing for rest.

Dog yawned and stretched, then plopped on the floor.

But donkey was wide-eyed, and stared out the door.

“I can’t sleep,” brayed donkey, “I’m afraid of the dark!”

“Quiet!” crowed rooster, you’ll make the dog bark.

All the barn animals began to complain

“Knock it off! Shut your mouth!” was the noisy refrain.

“Shhhhhhhh!” said the pig to the rooster, and then,

he nosed open the gate and walked out of his pen.

“When I’m very tired at the end of the day,

Or when I’m not really sleepy and I still want to play,

when something scares me, or I’m troubled somehow,”

said the pig to the donkey, the cat and the cow,

“I just think of my day, and I try to recall

some things that I’m grateful for, both large and small.”

I think of my home and my family and friends.

I think of the flower I smelled at day’s end.

I think of the frog that I saw by the pond,

And Ladybug sunning herself on a frond.

With all of these beautiful thoughts in my head,

I find it much easier to relax in my bed.

“I’m thankful for cheese,” squeaked the mouse from her nest.

“I’m thankful for yarn,” purred cat feeling blessed.

“I love each sunrise,” the rooster then crooned.

“I’m happy in clover,” cow sweetly in tuned.

“I’m grateful for blue skies and oats and for hay,”

Donkey had had a wonderful day.

“Thank God for my supper!” said the dog on the floor,

He nodded, breathed deeply, and started to snore.

“Good Night,” said the pig going back to his pen.

“Good Night, and Sweet Dreams,” said his animal friends.

Hunger in America?

Feasting at our house.

Did anyone read this headline?

USDA: Number of Americans going hungry increases
11/16/2009, 2:14 p.m. EST
HENRY C. JACKSON
The Associated Press
(AP) — WASHINGTON - More than one in seven American households struggled to put enough food on the table in 2008, the highest number since the U.S. Department of Agriculture began tracking food security levels in 1995.
That's 14.6 percent of U.S. households, or about 49 million people. The numbers are a significant increase from 2007, when 11.1 percent of U.S. households suffered from what USDA classifies as "food insecurity"-not having enough food for an active, healthy lifestyle.
The USDA said Monday that 5.7 percent of those who didn't have enough food experienced "very low food security," meaning household members reduced their food intake.

7 Haiku
By Butternut Squash

Twenty-one children
In our classroom, three are thinking
Only about their lunch
…
Grandpa…Grandma…Mom…
Dad…Brother…Sister and Me
Someone does not eat.
…
At school with the nurse
“My stomach hurts,” I tell her.
“Did you have breakfast?”
…
Dollar store Ramen
Peanut Butter, Canned Chicken
Seven year old soup
…
Grandma said she’s full.
Mom said she would eat later.
I eat by myself.
…
Bored, sitting in class
Dreaming of a feast, I doze
Teacher calls my name
…
1, 2, 3, 4, 5,
6, 7, one child starving
She goes to heaven

Give Generously this Thanksgiving. There are a lot of people counting on you in the US and around the world.

Don't forget, http://www.freerice.com/