May Flew By

       We feel we could write a book about May here in Nepal, but we will try to just hit the high points.  We have been in and out of Kathmandu, worked diligently to get new visas which expire any day now, endured some ups and downs (normal when you are away from home and family), and still have more humanitarian work to do than we have hours in a day.  We are slower to accomplish things.  I think it is because Jim is a project manager and he is use to being very thorough in an engineer sort of way, and I have been accused of being a perfectionist.  I only want to do things once.    We just hope that when our time here is finished, we have done some good and if possible - we have done a lot of good.  That remains to be seen.
       We wanted to see one more wheelchair and blind stick distribution before the monsoon season hit and we couldn't get out of the city.  Early in May we headed to Jiri which is about 8 hours from Kathmandu.  It is only about 150 miles to Jiri (which is by the Tibetan border) but the roads are single lane, rough and windy, and it takes a 4 wheel drive to get there.  We hired a driver and a Land Rover and drove almost 6 hours to Charikot.  Our Nepali partner got us the best hotel in town which cost $10 a night and was in the new section.  It came complete with bed bugs, stained towels, and a dirty bathroom with no toilet paper.  But it did have a western toilet.  Yeah for me.  The drive was beautiful.  We wound around rivers and up and down mountain roads.  Part of the road to Jiri was built by the Swiss.  The Swiss had been there years ago, and since the mountains were so Alp-like, they decided to build a resort up there and make Swiss cheese.  Unfortunately the Swiss did not take into account the Hindu religion and their belief in the sacredness of cows, so their idea of a resort area in Nepal complete with wine and cheese was fruitless.  However we did buy some yak cheese in Jiri at the cheese making place, and it was very good and very reasonably priced.  In fact it was the best cheese we have had here.  Needless to say we have had very little cheese in Nepal.  It is about $30 for a tiny block of cheese in Kathmandu.
      We arrived at the Jiri hospital the next morning where 12 chairs were given away.  Most of these recipients were adults who were very respectful and very serious.  One man literally crawled down the mountain with tire pieces strapped to his knees and flip flops on his hands.  Another disabled woman keep squealing with delight.  Her family had kept her indoors most of her life, and she was getting outside and seeing many things for the first time.  She could hardly contain herself because she was so happy.  Jim and I stand in awe as Rakesh and his small staff of 3 - Gokuhl, Kabita, and Sunita - assess clients, put together wheelchairs, and teach wheelchair skills.  After a closing ceremony with happy wheelchair recipients and their families and local dignitaries (Nepali love ceremonies), another Nepali partner fixes these people a lunch.  For many of these people it will be their only meal of the day so they have dahl bhaat and fried potatoes and a little meat and beans.  They will eat well and then they will be off to find their way back home before darkness hits.
     We climbed back in the Land Rover headed back 2 hours to Charikot to a blind and deaf school.  Their were 10 students and teachers waiting anxiously for a white stick which represents independence to them.  With it they can get around without always having to have help.  Getting around is no easy job for even a sighted person in Nepal with their narrow dirt roads complete with pot holes, but it is a chance for them to be independent.  We were met at the gate by a whole bunch of deaf children who wanted us to put our arms around them and hold their hands.  A little love goes a long way in Nepal.  They were fascinated by Jim's hearing aides and wanted to try them on to see if they could hear.  Wouldn't that be fabulous if hearing aides would allow them to hear?  They led us to a small room where the blind teachers and students waited to introduce themselves to us in English (they had been practicing) and receive their sticks.  This was a happy group and we were humbled to be so blessed.  As we left we saw another group of girls sitting on the steps.  They were not deaf or blind, but perhaps were homeless and boarded here at this school.  We told them they were beautiful and we would think of them as our Nepali princesses.  They loved the thought of being called beautiful.  What a small gift it is to tell someone they are beautiful.  And they were beautiful.  Perhaps after reading this blog, we will all remember to be just a little more kind.
     Enjoy the pictures of Charikot and Jiri.  Some day we will look back at this adventure and think how lucky we were to have this opportunity.

The Nepali people work hard to garden on the mountains.  The mountains are literally covered with terraced gardens.

Wheat laid on the road so vehicles will drive over it to separate the wheat from the chaff.  

Women do almost of the planting and harvesting.  They cut the wheat with a scythe, bundle it, and then lay it on the road.

Wheat being moved the old fashioned way.  This is just the way they do things here. 

Look how hard this guy works to move his produce.  Remember this is all up hill.

Planting the terraced grades with a team and a wooden plow.

Traveling between the villages can be an adventure.  There are buses going up and down the mountains all day.  This is a  stopping point because the road is wide, but wide roads are few and far between on the mountains.  When we meet a bus on the single lane roads it is quite a feat to get both vehicles past one another.  There are times when I just close my eyes because we are so close to the edge and I am afraid the mountain road will fall away and we will go crashing down the mountain.  When the buses get too full, people and their goats just hop up on top.  I can't imagine riding up on top because the roads are twisty and bumpy and the people must have a heck of a time staying seated on top.

This was a little girl we passed on our way.  She was having a drink when she saw our white faces.  She immediately put down her drink, and welcomed us with a "nameste."

Charikot town square.  You can't see it but in front of us is an open sewer line.  The smell was horrific and we didn't linger.

This little boy was more fearful of our white faces.  We are walking up to the hospital at Jiri.

The disabled come with their families to get their wheelchairs.  This chair is called a Rough Rider and is bigger than a standard wheelchair.  Its wheels are tougher and the chair is bigger.  These kind of chairs are more difficult to get on and off buses but they are great for rougher terrain.  They are also a little heavier so a recipient must be stronger than those who get standard chairs.

This man was so serious.  I had to work really hard to cross the communication barrier and get him to smile which I did later on.  He is the man who crawled down the mountain with tire pieces tied to his knees and flip flops for his hands.  You can see the flip flops on the side of his wheelchair.  I can only imagine what a wheelchair meant to him.

Here is the same man as above.  After the wheelchair ceremony is over, the staff shows the people how to transfer in and out of their wheelchairs as well as other necessary skills.  This man wanted to know for himself so he climbed out of his wheelchair so the staff could show him personally how to do it.  Notice the flip flops on his hands.  The girl in the white shirt by him is one of Rakesh's staff.  The staff literally drive all over Nepal fitting wheelchairs.  Also notice the girl on the left side of the picture who has an aqua shirt and purple sweater on.  She didn't get a wheelchair.  She doesn't need one.  Her disability is her hands.  They are all deformed.  She was brought in to show the people that they should look for ways to go around their disability.  She showed everyone how she writes with her toes.  Nepali writing is picture-like which is difficult even with hands, but she wrote with a pen between her toes on the line on a piece of paper.  She was incredible.
 

Rakesh is on your right.  He is the best!  We have a great deal of respect for the man.  The man on your left is a man who would like help building a water project from LDSC for his village of Dolkha.  We met with him to see if he had a water source and a few other details.  Rakesh also helps with water projects.

Look at how serious these men are.  I did my best to share my happiness that they could now have a wheelchair.  All I could do was smile and shake their hands.  Hopefully they knew we genuinely care.

Gokuhl is the main assessor on Rakesh's staff.  When someone needs a wheelchair, they call Rakesh's office.   The office receives about 60 calls a day from people looking for wheelchairs.  When a distribution point has been identified, then Gokuhl travels out and interviews, measures, and assesses each person in the area that has called.  If a person can have a wheelchair, Gokuhl determines what kind and size of wheelchair he needs and then tells him where and when the next distribution point is.  The government requires extensive record keeping on all wheelchair recipients.  Many people in these villages cannot read or write so Rakesh's staff get a fingerprint.  Gokuhl works very hard and the disabled seem to really like him.
  

Lunch is served.  The girl in the red top on the left, you just see her back, is the one that hardly, if ever, got out of her home.  This was her first trip even out of her village.  She squealed with delight at the things she saw on her way to and from Jiri.

That was as close to a smile I got with this man.  I said goodbye and wished him well.  I don't believe the disabled are treated well here in Nepal, and they are a little surprised with the respect we show them.

Back to Charikot.  This little deaf girl came running to us and gave us a big hug. She did not want to leave my side.  She just needed a love.  It took me a while to figure out she was deaf.  I wish I had known some sign language, but a touch and a smile was all I had.  It seemed to be enough.

Dad had the honor of giving out the white sticks.  I love how even the ones that were not blind were happy to see their friend get a blind stick.

Dad gave these sticks to children of all ages.  Isn't this guy a handsome kid?  I hope the stick gives him confidence.
  

This young man had not been able to leave his academic school outside of the blind and deaf school gates to get back to the blind school to get his own stick.  He came running with the assistance of a helper to get to us.  He was kind of panicked that we might have left.  We do not know who is getting sticks before we come so we could have missed giving him one.  I am so glad we lingered to take pictures.

Last but not least, a group photo at the school.  You can see the blind kids.  Most of them have blue shirts on which is part of the uniform required for the school outside of the gates.  The "Nepali princesses" are the group on the right  The youngsters kneeling are the deaf children.  Two teachers also received blind sticks - one is on the left with the orange shirt and green scarf.  The other is a man with sunglasses on who is standing just to the left of the "Nepali princesses." One of the  teachers asked for a computer program called JAWS - job access with speech - which is a program LDSC also provides.  It allows the blind to "see" the screen using voice commands.  Jim is here in Nepal as a JAWS specialist.  We have used all of our LDSC money for the year so we won't be able to honor their request this year.

     I will continue the activities for the month in a new post.  The posts are too long.  Sometimes as we look out of our apartment window and we see the beautiful mountains, we feel what a beautiful place Nepal can be someday.  Then we look down at the garbage and torn up roads and the small shutter stores and the humble people as they are walking, and we wonder how a transformation like this will ever happen.  There is only one way and that is through the help of our Father in Heaven who created our earth.  He knows how to take something that seems beyond hope and turn it into something beautiful.  So faith moves us ahead and allows us the opportunity to live and work at this adventure in Nepal.