Tuesday, September 7, 2010
More about Nepal and the children I was working with - in the news
http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/asiapcf/09/07/kara.nepal.forced.labor/
Monday, September 6, 2010
Back in the states
Hello everyone,
I've now been back in the states for over a week, and am still adjusting. It's so strange coming back to your own culture with such a different perspective - noticing so many things that you took for granted or had unqestioningly accepted before. Nepal was definitely an amazing amazing experience and I will definitely be going back as soon as I can. I miss everyone and everything there so much. Nepal has such a beautiful and rich and prevelant culture to it that leaves such a void after coming back to America.
My last few weeks in Nepal consisted of very similar things as the first, but with the addition of the Baby Orphanage as I had said. However there were a couple events that I did not get a chance to talk about as the ending of my trip was so hectic.
I was able to attend a basket ball game for the school that the NOH children attend. It was a boys basketball team and it was the first game that some of the NOH boys had been allowed to be on the team for. It was very exciting and definitely interesting to attend such a seemingly american event in Nepal. PLUS they had Nepali cheerleaders! it was quite a hoot - the girls were wearing very traditional clothing and did a traditional dance to some Hindi music, a very stark contrast to any half time entertainment you see in the US. Also, there concessions consisted of tea, fried momos (like potstickers or dumplings), and some biscuit crackers. Definitely no popcorn or nachos or candy in sight! Our boys team ended up winning and it was really quite wonderful! Everyone was happy and excited and I was so glad that I got to share it with them. After the game- the whole team, the coaches, some other fans, and me and Kayle all piled into one micro bus - 35 people in all. It was definitely the most packed micro I had ever been in, but it was also the most fun! The driver randomly put in a cd that had Backstreet boys and Taylor Swift on it - and me and Kayla (whose lap I was sitting on) were SO excited and instantly started singing and doing the small amount of dancing we could in such an overly packed minivan. It was fantastic, especially becuase everyone else in the micro was confused and had no idea what the music was and why we would be singing it. Needless to say we were getting some odd looks.
After that I tagged along with lexi (the volunteer coordinator) and Kayla to Pokhara. Kayla was heading there for a volunteer placement for three weeks and lexi was coming along to do a site visit for the Boys home that Kayla would be woking ini. The boys home was actually very nice, with about 10 boys all aged 6, 7, or 8 except for one 16 year old. The boys were wonderful - highly energetic, very smart, and always cheerful. I was very glad I got to spend some time there, even though it was such a short amount. Also, While I was there I had the chance to meet up with Habitat for Humanity of Nepal as they are preparing for the Everest build in Pokhara and have a temporary office out there along with 7 staff members and a few volunteers who are staying there and working extremely hard to get everything ready for the big event. The Everest build is a very important event that Nepals Habitat puts on - building 40 homes in 7 days. They are having over 500 volunteers come to help and it should be really great - I wish I could be there for it but unfortunately school gets in the way! I had the amazing opportunity to go around and see several of the sites where houses will be built, meet some of the families that will be recieving homes and see their current homes, see a finished house (and what all of the other ones will look like), and go to their bamboo processing plant to see how they process all of there bamboo as well as drill a few holes and hammer some bamboo together on a house they were framing there. They do EVERYTHING with bamboo - it was pretty fascinating. All the supports and beams were bamboo (held together by bamboo nails which were hammered in by bamboo hammers), the walls were woven bamboo which will get cement plaster spread onto it, the door and window shutters were bamboo, and pretty much anything else you can thing of. It was crazy. It was such an enjoyable experience and such an honor to be able to get taken around and shown all of these things. We then all went out to dinner which was a blast since they were all like a big family and were a blast to be around. The only unfortunate thing about Pokhara was that it rained - correction monsooned - pretty much the entire time we were there which meant we didnt have a chance to see much of the scenery or do any of the short hikes that Pokhara is so famous for. After a ~8 hour bus ride I arrived back in Kathmandu the night before I was leaving to come back to America. I did my best to spend every second of what I had left with the children and I was truly devestated at the idea of leaving them. I still think of all them and miss them every day. I'm currently in the process of sending each child a gift - a pair of earrings for all of the girls and a bracelet for the boys. I have finished the earrings and have a few bracelets made, so I hope to finish by the end of the month. Then I'll be able to send them to a volunteer who is heading over there so they can get to the children (mailing things to Nepal is a very expensive process). I can't wait to get these gifts to them so that they can be reminded of me and they will know that I have not and will never forget about them.
I want to thank all of you who so generoulsy donated money to me and to Nepal Orphans Home once again. None of this would have been possible without you and I am eternaly grateful! This has been a time of growth, joy, and learning for me and I truly cannot thank you enough for that. Also thank you to all who have been reading these blogs, I know they are sometimes long and disorganized but it means a lot to me that you want to know what I'm up to.
Despite my saddness at this particular adventure and Nepal experience has ended, I am happy at my ability to say that it is not the last :)
http://www.habitat.org/newsroom/worldwide/ap/05_20_2010_Nepal_Completes_Two_Test_Builds_For_Everest_Build.aspx
I've now been back in the states for over a week, and am still adjusting. It's so strange coming back to your own culture with such a different perspective - noticing so many things that you took for granted or had unqestioningly accepted before. Nepal was definitely an amazing amazing experience and I will definitely be going back as soon as I can. I miss everyone and everything there so much. Nepal has such a beautiful and rich and prevelant culture to it that leaves such a void after coming back to America.
My last few weeks in Nepal consisted of very similar things as the first, but with the addition of the Baby Orphanage as I had said. However there were a couple events that I did not get a chance to talk about as the ending of my trip was so hectic.
I was able to attend a basket ball game for the school that the NOH children attend. It was a boys basketball team and it was the first game that some of the NOH boys had been allowed to be on the team for. It was very exciting and definitely interesting to attend such a seemingly american event in Nepal. PLUS they had Nepali cheerleaders! it was quite a hoot - the girls were wearing very traditional clothing and did a traditional dance to some Hindi music, a very stark contrast to any half time entertainment you see in the US. Also, there concessions consisted of tea, fried momos (like potstickers or dumplings), and some biscuit crackers. Definitely no popcorn or nachos or candy in sight! Our boys team ended up winning and it was really quite wonderful! Everyone was happy and excited and I was so glad that I got to share it with them. After the game- the whole team, the coaches, some other fans, and me and Kayle all piled into one micro bus - 35 people in all. It was definitely the most packed micro I had ever been in, but it was also the most fun! The driver randomly put in a cd that had Backstreet boys and Taylor Swift on it - and me and Kayla (whose lap I was sitting on) were SO excited and instantly started singing and doing the small amount of dancing we could in such an overly packed minivan. It was fantastic, especially becuase everyone else in the micro was confused and had no idea what the music was and why we would be singing it. Needless to say we were getting some odd looks.
After that I tagged along with lexi (the volunteer coordinator) and Kayla to Pokhara. Kayla was heading there for a volunteer placement for three weeks and lexi was coming along to do a site visit for the Boys home that Kayla would be woking ini. The boys home was actually very nice, with about 10 boys all aged 6, 7, or 8 except for one 16 year old. The boys were wonderful - highly energetic, very smart, and always cheerful. I was very glad I got to spend some time there, even though it was such a short amount. Also, While I was there I had the chance to meet up with Habitat for Humanity of Nepal as they are preparing for the Everest build in Pokhara and have a temporary office out there along with 7 staff members and a few volunteers who are staying there and working extremely hard to get everything ready for the big event. The Everest build is a very important event that Nepals Habitat puts on - building 40 homes in 7 days. They are having over 500 volunteers come to help and it should be really great - I wish I could be there for it but unfortunately school gets in the way! I had the amazing opportunity to go around and see several of the sites where houses will be built, meet some of the families that will be recieving homes and see their current homes, see a finished house (and what all of the other ones will look like), and go to their bamboo processing plant to see how they process all of there bamboo as well as drill a few holes and hammer some bamboo together on a house they were framing there. They do EVERYTHING with bamboo - it was pretty fascinating. All the supports and beams were bamboo (held together by bamboo nails which were hammered in by bamboo hammers), the walls were woven bamboo which will get cement plaster spread onto it, the door and window shutters were bamboo, and pretty much anything else you can thing of. It was crazy. It was such an enjoyable experience and such an honor to be able to get taken around and shown all of these things. We then all went out to dinner which was a blast since they were all like a big family and were a blast to be around. The only unfortunate thing about Pokhara was that it rained - correction monsooned - pretty much the entire time we were there which meant we didnt have a chance to see much of the scenery or do any of the short hikes that Pokhara is so famous for. After a ~8 hour bus ride I arrived back in Kathmandu the night before I was leaving to come back to America. I did my best to spend every second of what I had left with the children and I was truly devestated at the idea of leaving them. I still think of all them and miss them every day. I'm currently in the process of sending each child a gift - a pair of earrings for all of the girls and a bracelet for the boys. I have finished the earrings and have a few bracelets made, so I hope to finish by the end of the month. Then I'll be able to send them to a volunteer who is heading over there so they can get to the children (mailing things to Nepal is a very expensive process). I can't wait to get these gifts to them so that they can be reminded of me and they will know that I have not and will never forget about them.
I want to thank all of you who so generoulsy donated money to me and to Nepal Orphans Home once again. None of this would have been possible without you and I am eternaly grateful! This has been a time of growth, joy, and learning for me and I truly cannot thank you enough for that. Also thank you to all who have been reading these blogs, I know they are sometimes long and disorganized but it means a lot to me that you want to know what I'm up to.
Despite my saddness at this particular adventure and Nepal experience has ended, I am happy at my ability to say that it is not the last :)
http://www.habitat.org/newsroom/worldwide/ap/05_20_2010_Nepal_Completes_Two_Test_Builds_For_Everest_Build.aspx
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