Update on Umesh

I am very happy to say that we have the money for Umesh's surgery as outlined down further on this blog.  They have been to the hospital twice now and are waiting for the surgery.  It is suppose to take place on either Sunday or Monday.  Umesh is so HAPPY.  He keeps phoning Mann to thank him and tells him that he will work very hard in school once he is well again.  Many thanks to the two donors who are paying for the surgery.  This story reminds me of Pradip's also outlined below and who I have written about many times.  Hopefully Umesh goes on to have the same success.  I will update here after the surgery.

I am now on my way home from Nepal. I am writing this in Hong Kong. As usual it was very sad to say goodbye. I love these people.
It has been both a difficult trip and a rewarding one. The first three weeks weeks were difficult owing to my high stress level. For the last two years people have been questioning my age and asking what I am going to do about planning for the charity after I am gone. I had never thought I was old before. But this has been wearing me down. In Nepal they honour my age. After spending time at the retreat with Dr. Chintamani I realized I had to let this go. His words to me before I left were "you are going to live for thirty years, you are fit, you walk fast and your mother is still fit at 90 and you have to live for today. Besides no one is jumping up saying they want to take NEF over. I have a wealth of experience working in Nepal, I understand and love the people, I know the customs and some of the language. My age gives me wisdom and a compassion that I would not have had at a younger age. I want to state that I have no intention of giving up NEF. So please to the doubters out there remember this "tomorrow is promised to no one". When I do pass on I will have helped countless people to a better life and I cannot ask for more than that. My thanks to those who helped me through this difficult transition especially Dr. Chintamani and my dear and faithful Mann who put up with my irritability and tears and without him NEF would not run. Also to his wife Sima who waits on me hand and foot and of course to my husband Bob whose understanding and support I could not do without. I move on to a new chapter in a positive frame of mind and I will dedicate my life to NEF for as long as possible. Photo of Mann and Sima.

Sunita. What an improvement!

This is the young lady I was taken to see last year who was in such a bad way.  She looked like a child bride and indeed had been one.  When I went to her room she was frightened and had sad eyes that told her story.  She had a tiny baby and a four year old son.  Her family lived many hours away.  She had no food, had never paid the rent, and could not send Rajesh to school.  To put her at ease I asked to hold her baby and sat with her in my arms admiring the tiny daughter.  The house owner has a little grocery shop so we bought groceries for her but she could not bring them home for fear her husband would return, as he did every couple of months, and he would take them and sell them.  So she went and got them as needed. She had a kerosene burner but no fuel for it so we bought her some.  I put the story on this blog and someone offered to help her with some money for food and he also found a sponsor for Rajesh.

I visited here yesterday and what a change.  She was looking relaxed and happy.  She has a cleaning job every day for six hours earning about $35 per month but she is managing.  She has a two burner gas stove now and a cupboard and Rajesh has just finished his first year of school.  I felt so satisfied to see her so much improved.  I just wanted to sit and savour the moment.  I took them clothes and the hat that baby Rita is wearing was my granddaughters. 

Very often when we give hope it lights a fire and the situation improves greatly as has happened here.  It is so heart warming to see.

Medal for Rabin

Just before I left home for Nepal I was at a road race. One of my friends won a medal and said he did not want it so I asked him if I could take it to Nepal.  I have been waiting for the right child and occasion to give it away.  A few days ago I visited Rabin and he showed me his school report.  He had placed first inclass 3 with 96%.  Yesterday he came to the office with his father to pick up a gift that his sponsor had asked me to buy for him.  I decided this was the child that really deserved it.  They are extremely poor but it had not deterred Rabin.  I placed the medal around his neck and he was so happy.  Unfortunately he has his eyes closed in the photo and I did not notice at the time.  Also a photo of him with his gift of books and a football and playing with Mann's children in our compound.

Many Thanks to a Kind Sponsor

Within hours of posting the last entry about Umesh a sponsor in Australia offered to pay for his surgery.  We appreciate this so much and Umesh and his family are so happy.  They are going to the hospital tomorrow to make the arrangements.  Today is New Year's Day so this will be a great start to their new year 2071.  

I will post more here later today.

Umesh

Umesh, his brother Rupesh and their mother came to see me this morning.  They live very far out on the other side of Kathmandu.  They are a very poor family who we have sponsored for many years.  The mother cannot work because of bad arthritis and the father is unreliable. Poor Umesh has had a problem with haemorrhoids for a long time probably four or five years but the problem has got steadily worse.  He has now failed two years in school because of pain and bleeding and he eats very little.  The family can seldom afford vegetables and never fruit.  Even sitting is painful for him now as the haemorrhoids have become so large.  The doctor says only an operation will cure the problem but they cannot afford that.  The mother did not even ask how much the operation would cost as she knew they did not have the money for it.  Imagine your child having to suffer like that and not being able to help him.  I have asked her to find out the cost but it is going to be in the range of $400 to $500.  Mann knows someone who just had the same operation and it was this much.  So if anyone would like to make a donation to this cause we would be very grateful.  Photos of Umesh and his brother at our office today.

Mamdira now Sponsored

Mamdira is now sponsored to go to the same school as her sister.  Thank you to everyone who responded.  We really appreciate it.

Mamdira Needs a Sponsor

This morning I visited the home of Indira and Mamdira.  Very poor family that has been waiting over a year for a sponsor.  Father, Naran, works in an iron shop making 5000 rupees per month ($60) and mother does labour work making about 2000 rupees a month ($23) and their rent is 2,500 per month (30) so this only leaves $53 for food and other necessities.  Plus there is no free medical here or education and no food banks.  It is a tough life.  When I go to a home with only one sponsor left I always pick the youngest girl.  It is a little hard on the heart as one watches while the other holds the sign and is photographed.  I always take the whole families photo but they know what is going on.  So Mamdira does not have a sponsor.  Indira has a private school sponsor but even if we could get a government school sponsor for her it would as sometimes we can get a deal at the school where we register many children.  That costs $125.00 per year or half private school would be $175.00.  This would help us get both girls in the same school.

Some of Our Children

Some photos of our children visited today.  Top is Liza, Mann's daughter.  Mann is President of NEF.  Liza is starting class 1.  Sunita, in red festival costume, she is in second year of a Bachelor's program. Sunita has been with NEF since 2005. Kirin, who was taken in by a Government employee and is sponsored by a Nepali living in the US.  Kirin is starting class ten.  Bottom is Delisha and Bilisha, sisters from a very poor family.  Bottom is Rabin.  Rabin is a very smart boy who came first in his class this year with 95.36%.

Carol & Keith from Qatar

Carol and Keith are donors and sponsors from Qatar and they come out to visit all their children every March.  It is always a great pleasure to see them and spend a few days together.  They and their friends sponsor 15 or 16 children here.  They also have helped Pumbi Bhumdi and Gunjara schools with rebuilding.  They also have provided two library's and a science lab to schools.  They are continuing to help fund the Pumbi Bhumdi School new improvements.  They raise money in Qatar with their Pinky Fund, named after one of their sponsored children.  Also from the Qatar Wooden Spooners rugby club and other friends.  We thank them for their continued support.  All the red shirts have also been donated from Qatar.  They are school uniforms from schools that no longer need them and most are brand new.  We will look forward to seeing them again next year.

Yoga Retreat in lovely Setting

How peaceful it is here.  Yesterday it rained most of the day but this morning dawned bright and sunny.  We went for a walk up the hill, everything is always up here, to the oldest temple in Nepal.  The views were beautiful.  I was near here, at Nargarcot, when I first came to Nepal in 2001 with my daughter, and this takes me back to that first time.  This was the Nepal I first fell in love with. The yoga and meditation is so healing for me along with the spirituality of this place and the quiet.  Sometimes we need time to refresh and re energize and I am glad I have taken the time for this.  It will be hard to leave but now I will just enjoy the day.  Everyone keeps commentating on my advanced age so I had this photo taken with a 72 year old man we met on the toad this morning.  Funny that I never ever thought I was old until people kept telling me I am.  I always thought age was a state of mind.

Yoga Retreat

I am taking a few days break at a yoga retreat outside of Kathmandu in the green Himalayan foothills.  I am the only one here so it is very peaceful and quiet.  The noise where we live on Kathmandu is unbelievably bad.  Two little dogs that are kept very cruelly on chains in a very small cement compound  cry and bark constantly night and day.  We have complained to no avail.  They are so lonely and bored and the crying is too much too much to bare.  So I am here for a few days and then if the situation has not improved I will have to move to a hotel.  I know a good cheap one in Thamel and I can finish my work from there.  There are no laws here to protect animals or noise by laws so there is nothing we can do.  Children and animals are so vulnerable here.

Visiting the Second Family Sponsored many Years Ago.

The family of Pradip, Sandeep, Parmila and Prabu were the second family I sponsored back in 2005.  They have had many hardships and setbacks over the years.  The father is not often around which is a good thing as he is drunk most of the time.  Pradip, our success story, as we saved him from drugs and the street. He is now in second year college.  Sandeep left school and home and was living on the street and diving in the river at the cremation site to find gold teeth and jewellery which might have been missed before the body was cremated.  He has been back at home and school for at least three years now and is starting class ten.  Parmila and brother Prabu are also doing well. Pradip keeps the family going by working at a warehouse every day from 11 am to 8 pm earning $60 per month and he goes to college from 6 am to 10 am.  He loves to play his guitar.  I am so proud of this family.  If I want to make myself feel good I come to visit this family and then I can see and feel that NEF and our sponsors have made a huge difference.  I wonder what would have become of this family if we had not been there for them.  Pradip has been a role model for his brothers and sister, they are all admirable young people.  Pradip has a maturity beyond his years and a dedication to provide for his family, he is a kind and sensitive young man.  I know every year I write about him and I will continue to because he is a shining example of what NEF is all about.  Prabu missing from the picture as he was taking an exam.