Simpani, Pokhara

Sorry to be late in updating this blog. Since being in Pokhara I have been so busy, every day is full and also I have had two evenings in Rotary meetings.
Things have been quite sad here. Matching children has been difficult because of having to choose between so many especially at the private school where I only have a few sponsors. Families have fallen on harder times so the need is greater. I see a lot of mother's tears and this is hard to bear. At the government school things are difficult also because of the poor children there. I sponsored three children from one family who were at the top of the list for a sponsor. They looked so desperate. The mother came to the school and begged for them to admit her children and they did but they have no uniform, books, pencils etc. It looked like they needed regular clothes as well so Mann is bringing some today.
Yesterday we went to visit their home and mother. This is definitely the poorest family I have ever sponsored. They live in a quarry on the river edge and the mother works all day in waist deep water finding rocks to fill her dokha (basket) on her back. Everyday with no breaks and for about one dollar per day if she is lucky. She was 35 years old but looked at least 20 years older and was stooped. Her 14 year old daughter had stepped on a nail and her foot was infected. We walked for some way along the river and then some people stopped and we squeezed in their taxi and went to a medical post. Here she had a tetanus shot and medication. I put them in a taxi and sent them home. When I had sat in her little mud room and I had asked her about her life her eyes had filled with tears. Her husband left her for a younger woman in the village and so she had to leave and find a place to make a living to feed her family and this was it. I really felt that no one should have to live like this and if it was me I would rather be dead, it was that bad. When she left she wound down the taxi window and gave me the biggest smile. That was my reward for an emotional day. Maybe we had made her life just a little brighter and given her a little hope.
The women of this country have a very hard life and that is why I am concentrating mostly on girls now. On a brighter note I took a group photo yesterday of some of the children sponsored here and how different they look from when I first met them. It is a huge improvement. That gave me hope as sometimes it is hard to find the silver lining. Today we are going to buy shoes, bags etc. Tomorrow the children are off school so I can visit with them at leisure.
More later.