Kathmandu Children

Jitesh above and Deepesh below, two of our successful students.

We visited some of the Kathmandu children yesterday who are located in the centre of the city.  All were doing well.  Also saw Uma who I wrote about in the last post.  She is a fine young lady now.  The children are all growing up and some have been with us since the begining in 2004.
When we came home two young men Deepesh and Jitesh came to visit us.  They travelled two hours by bus to come.  I was so impressed with them, they are both in college and Jitesh is also working at a hotel.  They are about 18 and so very polite and respectful.  They have both been sponsored by NEF for many years and their sponsors would be very proud of them.  This morning another young man, Pasang, came to visit and he has just started college.  His father is a security guard at a building site and they live in a tin shack.  He also is a fine young man now.  We tend to focus on girls but our success with these boys is quite impressive.
Today we visited the Kathmandu Animal treatment Centre.  This small charity spay the female dogs in Kathmandu and also treats street dogs with mange and other injuries.  I always enjoy my visits here although it is sad to see the state of the dogs, they are doing great work.  Dr. Keith Grey from Duncan donated several boxes of Advantage Multi which I took and I gave some brushes and pens.  A very nice young volunteer from the US was working there for one year and showed us around.  This charity was started by a British lady and with her work she has stopped over 50,000 puppies from being born and this has stopped the poisoning of dogs in Kathmandu. 

Life in Nepal

Yesterday we had an easier day. The apartment kitchen needed new lino
as it was in tatters so we went into Patan which is a short ride in a
tempo, a three wheeled vehicle with as many people as can be squeezed
inside with some hanging off the back. Cost only ten rupees about 12
cents. We purchased the best quality in the shop for a cost of $60
and to my surprise the man said that included installation and it
would be done by 5 pm today and it was now early afternoon. How is
that for service? It looks very nice and so much cleaner. We had
lunch in a local restaurant of coffee and chips. I do not like french
fries in Canada but here in Nepal they call them finger chips and they
are delicious and the coffee is a milk coffee like my mother used to
make years ago. I suppose a true coffee drinker would not like it but
we do. Mann delivered some wedding invitations for their wedding in
two week's time.

Life here in Nepal is getting tougher with the rising prices
everywhere. We never eat in the tourist area or restaurants as the
prices have risen so much so when out we use Nepali restaurants for
half the price. Jobs for unskilled persons are very hard to find.
Mann's brother-in-law, Mohan, leaves for Qatar today to work in a
dairy and will be earning only $80 per week and he also has to pay
back his agent fee and airplane ticket over the next months. They
work long hours six days per week but he says it is better than not
working at all.

Uma, who I wrote about earlier here, has nearly finished her sewing
course and has also now got a job in the passport office as a cook.
Mann tells me that the sewing course really changed her and she became
a responsible young woman. So now she has a job and her sewing as
well. I am going to visit her home today. Uma gave us a lot of
frustration over the years but our patience and belief in her has paid
off and many thanks to her sponsor who never gave up on her either.

Now we are going to visit some children and will have more photos tomorrow.

Visiting Children

Today we visited some children and delivered some gifts and letters.

Most touching was a little girl, Samjhana, who lives downstairs from
us. Her sponsor is a pilot and sent her a large photo of him in the
cockpit holding Samjhana's photo. In a letter he told her that he
carries her photo with him wherever he flies so that she is also
travelling to these places. Watching her looking at the photo and
listening to the letter brought a lump in my throat. She is just such
a poor, hardworking little girl who always looks so sad. This brought
a bright spot to her life and was just so touching. When she is not
at school, she is cleaning, cooking and looking after her brothers.



Samjhana with the photo of her sponser


I also saw Pradip, Parmila and Sandeep today who were the first family
I sponsored. Now Pradip is in class ten. Both Pradip and Sandeep
spent time on the streets and with our help have turned their lives
around and now are respectable young men who are studying hard.


Sandeep

We visited the stone quarrey family which includes, Juni, Bijaya and Puja. They are all doing well and growing up fast. These families bring me a lot of satisfaction by their success and all of them live
in extreme poverty.


Juni

The weather is quite cool for this time of the year and we have had rain. We have three more days here in Kathmandu before leaving for
Pokhara.

Arrived

We arrived in Nepal on Friday just after midnight. It was a very long
journey and tiring journey. On the flight to Hong Kong a heavy
laptop fell from the overhead bin and hit my face but fortunately I am
okay. My glasses saved my eye but they are chipped and bent. I iced
my eye for an hour and then it started to feel better. I was lucky
not to have been seriously injured. The crew were very good to me and
gave us first class pyjamas and chocolates. Now I am walking around
the apartment in Chinese pyjamas!!!

When we arrived in Nepal we rushed to get at the begining of the visa
line up with our papers all filled out only to then realize I had lost
Bob's visa photos. We had to leave the line up and go through all my
things but no luck so Bob had to have another one taken in the
airport. Then we were at the back of the line and had to wait nearly
two hours finally leaving the airport at midnight. Mann and Jagat had
been waiting two and a half hours outside.

So today is Saturday and a holiday here. Tomorrow we will start visiting.

New Computers for Pumbi Bhumdi School

New computers, a printer and computer desks have been provided to the school at Pumbi Bhumdi through NEF by our donors in Doha, Qatar.  I am sure the children are very excited by this addition to their library which NEF donated earlier this year.  We will be visiting the school next month during our visit to Nepal.

Dental Program

We are still running our NEF dental program.  Approximately 200 children were treated this last year.  We would like them to be able to have yearly check ups to keep their dental health in check.  This can still be bought as a gift for someone for Christmas.  It costs $38 to buy a dental visit for a child.  The receipient will receive a card telling them of their gift and also some info on our dental program in Nepal.  Please keep this in mind.  It makes a really worthwhile gift.   

Back Home but Leaving for Nepal shortly

I am back home in Canada after an extended stay in England looking after my sick mother. 

We are now leaving for Nepal on November 1st.  I am willing to take letters and small gifts if they are delivered to me in good time.  Packing is always a huge job.  We will be there for the month of November.

I wish to thank Sandy at Valley Yoga for holding the golf tournament in September which raised $1230.00.
Apparently everyone had a good time and I am sorry to have missed it.  Thank you also to those who provided prizes for the raffle.  We had donated a hockey stick signed by the members of the LA Kings from a Banff game back in 1990.  This proved a very popular item.  Thanks to the donor.

Payments are now due for women's literacy as of this month and also sponsor money for the children by Jan. 15th. 

Sorry not to have updated this blog regularly lately but it has been a difficult time and I had to use library computers in England.  I will be updating very regularly while in Nepal so please check for news.