Tough Year

This has been a tough year in that we have lost sponsors and children, more than any other year especially sponsors.  It is always heartbreaking to tell a child that the sponsor has moved on.  I try to brightly tell them that I have a new sponsor for them but their reply is always "why does my sponsor not want me anymore"   I have to have a convincing answer to that, not easy.  With younger children it is easier as they do not understand as much and have not bonded with the sponsor but the older ones it is very upsetting for.  Children are not pawns and we must remember that, they think very highly of their sponsors, sleep with their letters under their pillow and have the sponsors photo on the wall.  

We lose children because life gets too tough for a single mother in the city so she returns to her village or a teenage boy,who has family problems, drops out of school or a child has started school too late and ends up being in a class with 8 year olds when they are 14.  Sadly we sometimes lose a teenage girl because they have been married off.  

The other heartbreak, which happened today,  is a child who does not get a letter and his siblings do.  

Today I visited a home where there were six children from two families, five got letters and photos one did not.  He looked expectantly for his but I did not have one but I did give him a new sweatshirt from our supplies but he did not have that personal letter from his sponsor and the disappointment was all too evident on his face.  I felt terrible.  So next year I have to write fake letters as the situation has to be rectified as it is hard on the child and on me.  Life is tough and children learn that very early here, we are hopefully trying to make it better for them.

Kathmandu

We are now back in Kathmandu and it is very unpleasant.  There is road construction everywhere and in Nepal that means you tear up miles of road and leave it that way for months.  Although the roads are a horrible mess I have seen no work crews doing anything.  Miles and miles of the ring road are just dirt and the dust is horrific.  The dust along with the regular pollution is just choking.  It is going to be very difficult to get around to see the children.  I definitely will be wearing a mask.  The weather is much wetter and cooler than usual and there is a severe water shortage and of course the electric is off for at least half of the day.  Life is difficult in Nepal.  

Today we went to Hattiban where Jeff did a dental camp seeing 73 children.  We have to go back there on Saturday as I did not get to visit with all our children and give out letters etc.  I also have to visit the Chalnakhel school there.

Jeff working on Anjali and below our student Asmita who is just starting class 10.

Dental Camps

Dr. Jeff Phillips has done several dental camps in the last two weeks.  Yesterday we did one at Simpani where he treated a lot of NEF children.  He saw about 80 patients there, children and mothers.  The children are so brave about having teeth pulled and seldom cry.   He is returning to Kathmandu today where he will do two more camps before returning home next Wednesday.  It is an excellent service as nearly all these patients have never seen a dentist before except for NEF children who have been seen through us in previous years.  This is Manu being treated with his grandmother looking on.  Manu has a tough life and his teeth were in bad condition.  Also Dr. Jeff, Momta his assistant and a blind brother of an NEF child.

Children at Pumbi Bhumdi

Pumbi Bumdi

Visited here yesterday.  Always a delight to visit this school.  Dr. Jeff conducted a dental camp here and also along were Keith and Carol from Qatar.  Keith and Carol and NEF have donated to the school over the last four years and tremendous improvements have taken place here.  The school enrolment 

 has gone from about 45 to nearly 100 in that time.  NEF put in a library and Qatar sponsors donated computers and paid for Montessori training for the teachers.  They have just completed four new replacement rooms and hope to rebuild the remaining three or four in the future.  70 percent of the students are low caste and very underprivileged but at this school they are blossoming and most of them speak very good English.  The classrooms are bright and cheery and are inviting to the children.  The Principal, Mr. Prakash Gurung, has made a tremendous change to this school and he is hoping to add to class 8 from the present class 5.  NEF now sponsors 14 children here and we have donated, along with Carol and Keith from Qatar, money towards the new rooms.

Women's Literacy

Visited the ladies a couple of days ago but did not see all of them as some were still at work.  We went too early so have to go back again.  We have lost a few dur to family problems and one had moved away but there were new ones there who wished to start.  This is a six months program so some do six months and others want to keep attending.  

We put in solar lighting here but they do not have desks or a table which is a bit of a problem but the manage.

Ganga and her mother and her Home