Thursday, May 12, 2011

It’s been a quieter day today and we are glad about that. Gene is still working on the Two Year Agreement.  It feels good to have the Final Evaluation reports handed in. Now we just wait to hear from the Social Welfare Council  and or the Evaluation Team members. I have entered information into Chas and the Project Journal concerning our Trip to Chanute. I’ve caught up on the blog and it’s just been a catch up day.

We did get an email from the Embassy telling us of a Strike tomorrow and to stay indoors. The strike is scheduled from 5:00 am to 5:00 pm. President Jackson is coming today and wanted to take some of us out to dinner. I’m not sure what it will do to those plans.

Read Nepal, an organization here in Kathmandu had also called and wanted to meet with us. I suppose because of the strike completely shutting down traffic, that meeting will be put off as well.

Gene has gone to PEC. I’m sitting here working on the computer and it’s raining like crazy. And monsoon season hasn’t even started. I can’t imagine what it will be like - if this is pre-monsoon season. Should be interesting.

When Gene got home the phone rang and it was President Bishnu. He asked if one of the people doing the translating of the Book of Mormon could stay with us. Because of the strike, they wouldn’t be able to get here tomorrow. We said sure and he said he would bring them over. I got Laxmi to help me make up the bed and get a few things together for them.

President Bishnu came with a beautiful young woman. Her name is Ussa and what a delight she is.  Her home is in Kathmandu but she lives and is going to school in India. They called her to see if she would be interested in helping with the translation. She interviewed with Mike Peck, was recommended and then set apart by Pres. Jackson. We (Laxmi included, she has known her for some time) just had the best visit. She joined the church here in Kathmandu.She was introduced to the church by a senior missionary serving here. She was Jehovah Witness at the time and not interested, but the missionary didn’t give up and quietly, because we aren’t supposed to proselyte, encouraged her and told her about the church. She now has such a strong testimony and is a wonderful person. She is a returned missionary, having served in the U.K. We hit it off well. It was about 10:30 when we went to bed. She will go to the church tomorrow and work on the translation from 8 – 5 pm.

Wednesday, May 11. 2011

It was 5:00 before we left yesterday. Dr. Lama, Secretary of the Social Welfare Council and Ram Bhattarai, Minister of Women and Children’s met up with us and went to Bhaktapur. It started raining just as we got there and was raining quite hard. It was wet and mucky and so it made for a quick visit there. Then we were off. We drove for it seemed a couple of hours and then stopped at a little hotel.

It wasn’t much. It consisted of a ‘hole in the floor’ toilet and two beds that were hard as a rock. I told Gene I didn’t want any dinner but for him to go with the others. He did and when he returned, he said I wouldn’t  have liked it and wouldn’t have been able to get it past my eyeballs. They had whole fish that had been deep fried. He said he thought they also had some goat. I’m glad I didn’t go. I was tired and just wanted to go to bed and read for a bit. There wasn't a blanket, just a big heavy comforter type thing and that was it. I folded it in half and slept on top of it. I didn’t sleep very well and woke in the night, smelling an awful smell. I finally decided it was that hole in the floor toilet. I got up and shut the door and tried to go back to sleep with little success.

Riverside Inn we stayed at Looked much better than it smelled....

Morning came. We got dressed and ready to go, not knowing what time they were leaving. I went outside and it was a pretty day. I looked up on the hill and just behind the building, there were about five monkeys in one tree and a couple in another. I told Gene to come see and it was fun to watch them. We spent some time while waiting for the others, taking pictures and taking in the countryside.

The buses here in Nepal go everywhere and the buss is how most people get around. They pack people on. When the inside is standing room only, people climb up on top and hold on. We saw several buses head up and down the highway. The Nepali’s we were with told us that if we stayed on that highway and drove for a couple of hours we would be at the Tibetan border. They said lots of goods are imported to Nepal from China on that highway. The road is nothing like our freeways, more the road in front of our house. Part of the road we were on was an old trail to Tibet dating back many,

years.

Monkeys in the trees behind the hotel A full buss and then some - the green is rice growing

 When we arrived, there were about 700 school children waiting for us. They were so excited. They lined up in formation and did a couple of little drills. Then the Evaluation Team met with the Village water Users Committee. Next  we went to the home of a villager. A couple of the women had been cooking all morning.  We had seen the women, time and again come out and wash dishes with water in a bucket with a spout on it. That was their kitchen sink. And those were their dishes. Just tin plates and cups and a few spoons.

Typical kitchen sink for Nepali women.

 Rakesh said they were going to feed us and he would like to get out of it. I told him I would too. We didn’t. Sujata Koirala, whom the Trust is named after, even came to the village and she was escorted by a truck full of military men. Being the ex Prime Minister’s daughter she is given protection by the military.

I've met her several times before and it was good to see her again.

After greetings by the village leaders, she was taken in this little home and given food. They ushered Gene and I in also. I was pretty hesitant but what do you do. They served us  a big plate of rice and some ‘local chicken’ (meaning freshly killed) some fish, deep fried and cut in chunks, some kind of potatoes (which weren’t too bad) and some sauce to put on the rice. Gene said it was hot and I didn’t even try it. I ate the rice and tried a bite of the chicken and fish. I didn’t do too well with it. They also had some fresh (I guess) buttermilk made from goat’s milk. I didn’t get much of that down either. By this time, lots of people were eating, so we could slip out quietly.

 

Then we headed back to the school. There were a lot of people and as we went through the arch welcoming us, they put a dab of red powder on our foreheads. We really had red foreheads and even my nose. They also put scarfs around our necks and treated us royally. As I sat there, I thought of the many members of the church world-wide who donate money to the Humanitarian Effort, making it possible to do this wonderful Humanitarian work around the globe. And we are so grateful to them and know these projects bless the lives of so many people.

 The 'tika' is a universal symbol of Hinduism. It is a mark or dot placed in the middle of the forehead. A tika may be a mall plastic dot, a smeared line of sindoor, or a forehead-wide mixture of yogurt, rice and sindoor. The tika is a mark of blessing from the gods. It is also an acknowledgment and representtion of the divine within us all..Receiving a tika is a common part of most ceremonies and is an acknowledgment of the divine presence at the occasion and an invocation of divine protection for those receiving it.(the above from the book - Culture Shock! Nepal)

They put on a program as this was the inaugural signifying the beginning of the water project. There were speakers and dancers. Sujauta was anxious to keep the program short and head home as rain was in the forecast.

Before we left everyone wanted their pictures taken with us. We were the only white faces there in a crowd of 800-900 people. And we are from America. They like American's and want to be seen with them. Some of the women just took my hand and wanted pictures taken. They are such a warm and loving people. We would like to help them all.

We headed home and arrived about 6:15 p.m. I’m tired. It’s been a good day, but a long one. We accomplished three things with this trip. 1. We needed to visit the site. 2. We needed to have an inaugural ceremony and 3. The Evaluation Team needed to visit the site. We did it in one trip saving LDSC a little money and us a lot of time.

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

We got an email from Hong Kong and SLC today, giving us the go ahead to supply addition funds for the Five Village Project. We feel good about it. Mr Dhakal is working so hard to pull everyone together and get this going again. I pray for a successful completion to the project and getting water to about 50,000 people.

We also heard from the Evaluation Team leader. He received the revised report and did ask for the reports from the Partners, which we gladly emailed to him. It’s just so nice to be able email them instead of having to print them all off, saving lots of time and expense. We are so grateful for the computer and know it is such a blessing in furthering the Lords work.

It’s now 9:30 AM and we already feel that we’ve had a pretty good day and accomplished something. We are headed to SWC to take a letter requesting an extension on getting the Two Year Agreement submitted. Then we will have lunch at Nina and Hager’s and pick up a few snacks to take with us on our trip to Bhaktapur. And it looks like rain. Should be interesting.

We did go to the bank this morning and requested that they send our statement electronically. They are able and will do that. It beats getting a taxi and going there each month just to pick up the statement.

We are headed on an overnight trip to Bhaktapur and Chanute with the Evaluation team. While we are in Chanute we will hold an inaugural ceremony to officially begin the project. We are looking forward to going as we hear that a beautiful part of the country. I’m sure we will have a good time.

I read a quote today I thought was well worth remembering. I want to share and remember it: "A mind that is stretched by a new experience can never go back to its old dimensions."
- Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.

Monday, May 9, 2011

Gene is still working on reports. I spent time this morning reworking some Relief Society things for Sister Rukmina, the Relief Society President. Gene helped me put them in Spreadsheets. One was a Birthday List for the Sisters. One, the Lesson schedule and who was conducting and the other was a list of each sister, with phone numbers and birthdays. I’m sure glad I had that done. Rukmina came over and it was pretty easy to fill in the blanks and it surely made it easier for her and much faster for me.

Rakesh stopped by. We are set to go tomorrow to Bhaktapur and Chanute, taking a couple members of the Evaluation team. It will be an overnight trip. I’m looking forward to it as we have never been in that part of the country and Rakesh said it is beautiful.

Tonight, we figured out to make the Google talk work. We had to download a plug-in and then we were able to call Lenore. She was pretty excited and said what a miracle. I think so too. We chatted last night about 45 minutes and it was good to hear her voice. Of course, she wanted to know all about what we are doing. It was so good to talk to her. This technology makes being so far from home much easier.