29 March 2012 Thursday

We met for breakfast about seven. It was about 8:30 AM before we really got on the road and headed back to Kathmandu. Our driver was a bit frustrating for us. He was quite young and we don’t know how experienced he was. One minute he was driving sooo slow and the next, faster than I was comfortable with. Gene was riding in the front seat and I think it was driving him crazy. And he didn’t speak any English. Another thing was the air conditioning. He kept turning it off. And it was hot over there. Finally, Gene pushed the ‘on’ button. After that he was better about that. We figure we are paying for the use of the vehicle and that should include the use of the air conditioner.

We got home just after two. It’s always good to be home.  We had Laxmi do a couple of batches of wash, getting ready to ‘run’ again. Brown’s arrive tomorrow at 10:00 AM.We will be involved with wheelchair training here in Kathmandu and also in the Lumbini area.

28 March 2012

We were meeting for breakfast at 7:00 AM. We left our room and walked over with Deppong’s. The hotel grounds were quite spacious and Gene said there was a deer eating grass. Then he said it was tied up.  Somebody made the comment they had their own lawn mower. Gene was pretty quick as he said ‘yeah, and it’s even a John Deere.’ Cleaver! We got a good chuckle out of that.

The John Deer lawn mower at the hotel. . .

For breakfast, I ordered scrambled eggs and a banana pancake. They brought a fried egg and that was fine. You never know here in Nepal what you will actually get. We’ve had all kinds of experience with that. So I went ahead and started eating the eggs. It wasn’t too long and here came a big plate of scrambled eggs. Pres. Bishnu had joined us and his doctor friend. I passed the scrambled eggs down to them.  Again, here came another plate of scrambled eggs. I guess the waiter could see I didn’t have any and bought more. I don’t know if I was eating someone else’s fried egg or not, but it was actually pretty funny. Another one of those ‘you had to be there moments.’

Some villagers at Krishnapur Water Project

My new friend...The lady who donated the land for the well.

We were soon on our way out to Krishnapur to have a short meeting, trying to nail down a date for the closing ceremony there. We were on a tight schedule as Pres. Bishnu was catching a bus to return to Kathmandu about 10:00 AM.

When we arrived in Krishnapur, again there were quite a few people there to greet us. And of course more flowers and tika’s. Deppong’s had never had a tika, so they thought it great fun. We walked out to the site of the bore well and they had chairs set up. It ended up being more than ‘just setting a date’. There were a few speakers and they did ask Gene as the ‘Country Director’ to say a few words. He did a great job. They wanted to hold the closing when we are in Lumbini, but we finally settled on April 23rd.  They had prepared some rice pudding for us and though we were running short on time, thought it best to take a few minute and be gracious. We were taken to someone’s home and enjoyed some wonderful rice pudding and some potatoes. They are just so appreciative and so gracious. Anyway, it won’t be long and we will be back over that road, yet again.

We left there and went to the big hospital there in Bharatpur. It’s the one where Usha works. Her boss is great and he greeted us and gave us a tour of the hospital. It’s a huge hospital and only part of it is completed. Sis. Deppong really wanted to check it out, gathering information for Helping Babies Breath. And the hospital is excited to be part of HBB training.

 Pres. Bishnu and Pratek left for their bus to return home. About this time, we received word that Subash had arrived with the truck load of Hygiene Kits. We met him at the hotel and were soon on our way back out to Krishnapur to unload the kits. The students were supposed to be in taking some kind of exam. We did see quite a few kids and of course, they want their pictures taken. I would take a picture and it was about like a flash mob wanting to see it. I quickly put the strap around my wrist, so I would accidently drop it. 

They love their photo taken. . .

unloading bag after bag of hygiene kits

The kits were put in a room where they would be safe and the plan was to return about 4:00 to distribute the kits. We were taking some more kits to another school. It was quite a ways away. One of the CHOICE guys from that area was on his motorcycle leading the way. We had to backtrack a little, but finally found the little school. We had thought we would just have to leave the kits and they would hand them out to their students, but it ended up that the students were there and we were able to interact with them a little bit. They really need help.

Orphans and children of squatters...what joy to help them.

Not sure who these ladies were. I think some were teachers.

This little girl held tight to her kit.

She had a jump rope out of a piece of electrical wire...

The students are from about3 to 12 or 14. They are orphans or children of squatters who can’t afford to send them to school. It was a tiny school building with about 18 students, all of them in one little room. It was a wonderful experience to be instruments in the Lord’s hand in doing this work. We loved being there. The teachers were wonderful as well. It’s amazing how even though we don’t speak each others language, we can communicate. It was great!

By this time, it’s time to head back to the large school and distribute the kits there. The children were lined up in their lines. This was supposed to be a distribution of about 1200 kits. Sister Deppong wasn’t very happy when she learned that only about half of the students were there and they would get their kits later. She really likes to do a bit of hygiene training before handing out the kits. And that is important. It was good – there were still a lot of kits given out. The students ranged in age from little to about 16 year olds.

We did do one more school (making total of three school today) of about 175 students. They were so cute and happy to have us there. They were a lot more attentive. They had waited a long time for us. We felt bad about that. Sometimes, it would be so nice to have a little more control of start and end time when doing some of these kinds of things.

We finally headed back to the hotel. It had been a very busy long day. We barely walked into our room and the phone was ringing. It was Usha. She wanted to spend some time with us this evening. I told here we had just arrived and she said she was actually at the hotel. I asked if she would like to join us for dinner and she did.  After dinner, we went to Deppong’s room, it being the largest, and had a ‘family home evening’.  We played a little game and shared some testimonies. It was fun.

Let me just say a word about Usha. She is the woman who went on a mission to the UK. Then she went to Bangalore and got her doctor degree and then a degree in hospital administration. She wanted to return to Nepal but wasn’t sure if she could find a job here. Pres. Bishnu knows the administrator at the big new hospital in Chitwan. So Usha was able to work for him. She is the assistant administrator and wrote her own job description. At first she hated the thought of not being able to attend church each week as there isn’t a branch in the Chitwan area.

Once she got there, it wasn’t long and she found  a couple of other members of the church, one of whom is an Elder and so holds the Priesthood. She got approval from Pres. Jackson and Pres. Bishnu to hold Sacrament meeting and be able to pass the sacrament. She is so happy about that. And they are inviting others and last week had seven people in attendance. She is a pioneer there. We are calling their little group a ‘twig.’ And know it will continue to grow. We do pray for them.

It’s been a very busy day and we were ready to fall into bed, knowing morning would be here before we knew it.

27 March 2012

We walked over to the church about 6:45 AM and met Pres. Bishnu (CHOICE) and then picked up the Deppong’s. In all, there was Bishnu, us, Deppong’s, Pratek and Karin, both fromn CHOICE. We were in a pretty nice Tata Jeep style vehicle. I was impressed that Pres. Bishnu and Pratek and Karin, hopped right in the back seat. Rakesh always rides in the front. The back is rough. It was a long ride to Chitwan and then from there, to the project at Syaulibas. We had to drive through a little bit of Chitwan National Park and that included crossing a river in the Jeep. This time of the year there isn’t too much water, but during Monsoon, it would be wild. They are in the process of building a bridge over the river.

We arrived at the project. We had expected to just slip in quietly, look the project over and it wasn’t supposed to be a big deal. But when we arrived, there were people waiting. And they loaded us up with flowers. It was a warm welcome.

Flowers and more flowers . . .

Up at the water source. . .

Ladies hard at work.

The soil was mostly rock....it's hard work

It will be worth it. . .

I saw this little boy, probably about three years old getting water. He was quite shy and didn't want to be bothered....just went about doing his job. He had his little jugs and came out to the water pipe to fill them up. He was all business. He filled his jugs, and carried them back to his home. They learn to work and contribute at an early age.

He was all business. . .

Filling up his jugs with water

Carrying them back home. . .

It wasn’t long and we were hiking up to the source. On the way, we passed many women who were busy with their little shovels, really more like a big hoe, and they were working on the trench, getting ready to lay the pipe. I’m amazed that it’s usually the women who are doing a lot of the work. I’m sure they are so excited to get clean water closer to their homes. Right now, they rely on wells and during the dry season, the well's often run dry. It really looked dry today. This project will be a real blessing to them.

Washing dishes and washing clothes - Nepali style

Then we walked back down to where the vehicle was. Sister Deppong didn’t hike to the source and some of the women in the village had taken her up the hill a bit. They were sitting on a plastic tarp, under a open tin roof building and they were having a good time. Sister Deppong speaks a touch of Nepali and they love that. They don’t speak any English, but they were bonding and having a good time. We all gathered together and had a meeting. They were so appreciative of the help they are getting from Latter Day Saint Charities and also from CHOICE. They look forward to the completion of the project. So do we. They really want to extend the project and Gene told them we can probably add the extra tank they want. There are other people that now want to be included in the project and we will have to submit it as a separate project and see where it goes. It will have to go through Hong Kong first. It would be a worthy project and we would like to see it 

approved.

A picture of their kitchen sink. . .

Out toward the village

The meeting adjourns. . .

We returned back to Chitwan again going back through the Park. It was about sundown and we thought it was a good time of day to perhaps see wild animals. We were all on the lookout. Pretty soon, there is a shout from the back seat and Karin is shouting, ‘there’s an elephant’. And sure enough, there it was - it was  pretty exciting.

An elephant in Chitwan National Park

I wish the photo of this black rhino was better. . . what fun.

It was hardly five minutes later when again the back seat was all excited. They had spotted a black rhino. That was awesome! He was a little ways off, but we could see him through some brush. He was pretty big. Okay, we continue on and soon, another shout. Wild Boars, and they were right close to the road. We stopped and unrolled the window to take a photo and they bolted. But it was fun. We also saw a deer. We felt pretty fortunate to see all that within about 15 minutes time. Cool!

We returned to the hotel. We stayed at the Global Hotel in Bharatpur (Chitwan). The Hotel was set back in and really, it was quite a bit nicer that where we have previously stayed. The beds were still hard, but we were so tired, we slept pretty good. Another nice thing was, they had power, thanks to a generator and also hot water. That was a treat.