Strike in the Terai

The strike only affected travel between Kathmandu and the Terai.  No vehicles could travel the road without threat of violence.  If I hadn't planned my trip so tightly, I would have been just fine with another day in the jungle.  I had so many things left unfinished in Kathmandu.  I was also very worried about the hassle of rescheduling my flights and about my husband having to arrange more child care in my absence.

But, there was nothing I could do.  So, we just made the best of our extra day.

In the morning, Smiley offered us an extra walk in the jungle to see if we could find rhino.

He sent a young man ahead of us to make sure the path was safe.  There is no telling what could be watching us from behind that tall grass.

He climbed trees, trying to find rhino for us.

We saw some men fishing.

They hadn't seen any rhino.

We waded across the river.  I apparently committed a faux pas by wearing my shoes around my neck.  Causing the locals to laugh.  Criminals are made to wear shoes around their neck as a public chastisement in Nepal .

We ran into a buffalo herder.

He hadn't seen any rhinos since yesterday.

But it was another beautiful walk.

Past interesting fields.

 I had to give up on the rhino photo this trip.  Perhaps next time.

Dream A World of Good, Part 3

This picture is from the path that leads to the boy's home village in Dhunche.

In April I wrote about a dream that lead to a life time connection with a family in Nepal, 'Dream A World of Good, Part 1,' and 'Dream A World of Good, Part 2.' Many of you wanted to know what happened to the boys that I gave rings to. It has been a very rough six or seven years since I handed out those rings. The boys didn't always know if they were going to be able to get through high school because of the unstable government and the numerous strikes and violence. This morning I received a letter from one of the boys that we have been helping through school

.................

Dear Aunt, Uncle, and our brothers.
How are you all? We all are doing well over here and we wish that you are doing well over there.
Finally! Monsoon is here... Farmers have already planted rice in their fields. Some years back, maybe about 6-7 yrs, we had a different Kathmandu... Big stretches of paddy fields gave life to this once beautiful shrine. But now there are only patches of those just giving those memories some fuel. We had a very dry spell this year and farmers are worried that they will not be able to yield anything at all.

My brother has left for Dhunche today to make his passport. He is currently taking classes on IELTS and working in one of our uncle’s travel and tours offices. He plays football in the morning with his friends and spends his whole day working and learning. I am also spending my days learning and working... I wake up at 4 in the morning go for a nice morning walk and come back to spend one hour on yoga. In the day, I go to the shop and help father in his work and sometimes I manage to go to our uncle’s office as well.

Last week, I visited a youth forum. It’s called Today’s Youth Asia and I was delighted to see all these young people from high school discussing many social issues. The youth forum is making efforts to bring changes to the society... they already have two TV programs and some more programs in the pipeline. I suggested to them to use 'inter phenomenon' like 'Twitter' and 'YouTube' and TV programs like 'iReport' in CNN. I saw a different side of the younger generation of Nepal totally different from the youths affiliated with some political organizations of the past. They were there not trying to revolt but to be a part of the change.

Yesterday, I managed to watch Barack Obama giving his speech and I was delighted to hear his message for the younger generation. We all are an active part of our society and each and everyone can be a part of the story of change. Every time we watch him giving his speech he makes us realize our dreams.

Aunt, after a long thinking and working I have decided to pursue my further education in Bangalore, India. I am choosing Biochemistry as my major and I hope I will be able to pursue my Masters in the United States. My brother is now working for his application to US, he is looking for colleges and I am here to help him with his application. I have already started working on my application in India and I hope I will be there after a month or two. My brother is really good in mathematics and I hope that he will be going for Business as his major subject. When I joined my high school I already knew that I would pursue further education in biochemistry so I am really excited.

We don’t have any words to describe how thankful we are to you. Our cricket team is not active at the moment... some members are in the US and some are busy with their own life but they still have those rings you made for us and I don’t know how many have passed the rings on to other young people. We all love you a lot and there are no words to describe how much we are thankful to you. We all love you all.
Love from Nepal

...................................

I am so proud of these boys. They are full of hope and promise. As many set backs as they have had, they have always forged ahead. Both of the boys have taken an active part in their communities. If they couldn't go to school or work, they volunteered for the Red Cross and they contributed to the development of a new school in their home village.

I am planning on making the 'One Good Deed' rings again, so let me know if you would like to pass one on.

Peace!

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.