Children of Nepal - Part 2.

June 1st 2012 - Kathmandu

There is a warm heavy rain as I disembark from the plane and make my way towards customs.

Narayan and his cousin meet me at the airport late at night and take me to my hotel. In the morning I spend a few hours wandering the streets of Kathmandu and having breakfast. I notice one restaurant with "prown" on the menu.

5 a.m. view of the Monkey Temple from my hotel window.

 

Narayan and his cousin drive me out to the orphanage. It is Saturday so there is no school today, a good day to visit. The children are so happy to see me and I am so happy to see them. Last year they were all new faces. Now I recognise so many of them. I have kept in touch with them in the past year with Skype and Facebook. They have moved to a new building recently. The rent is cheaper but it is more crowded.

Nicky has written letters to each of them individually including photos. I hand them out which gives me a great opportunity to reintroduce myself to each of them. I also have a laptop to give them plus a hundred USB memory sticks all of which were donated from my work.

The children take me by the hand and eagerly give me a tour of their home. It is a freestanding two story building with a room for the boys downstairs and a room for the girls upstairs. A garage style roll-a-door at the front of the building opens up to the kitchen area. A few of the children take me for a walk in the fallow fields around their building. I ask if this is where they play and they tell me it is. I ask if they have a ball that they play with. No, they play with the grass, they tell me matter of factually. We walk a bit down the road where two of the children are hand washing clothes from water drawn from a well. The children tell me how they have seen water snakes in the area and they point out the dry sloughed snake skin in one of the fields. I ask if the snakes are dangerous or poisonous but they don't know and don't seen too concerned.

We return to the orphanage and have a simple lunch of packet noodles with some small pieces of fresh onion added.

After lunch most of the children take me for a walk up to a nearby forest where they say we will see many monkeys.

We pass through a small village. We are a sight with me a tall white giant surrounded by small children.

Whenever my hands are free it's hardly a moment before a child slips their hand in mine. The children want to be helpful and offer to carry my water bottle for me and my camera. Soon they are taking all the photos for me. All my movements are made under direction. Come this way uncle. Be careful uncle. It is slippery here uncle. Come this way. Do not hurry uncle.

We see many monkeys and have a wonderful time. We walk and talk and laugh.

Although they might not have a ball to play with, about 10 of the children have mobile phones. They are 21st century children after all. They take photos and send and receive messages and play music.

When we return the children ask me to stay the night with them. I check with Satish if this is ok and he thinks it's a good idea so I agree.

For dinner we have delicious seasoned chicken with rice and yellow dhal. The children have made chapati for me as a special treat. They feed me first as the guest of honour. Then the children eat. Without sitting down they squat on the cement verandah in front of the kitchen and eat with their fingers in Nepali style. A few of the children are vegetarian and have vegetables instead of chicken. They have copious serves of  rice and I am glad to see they are eating well.

After dinner the power goes out and we revert to battery operated lights. I teach some of the children how to sing "I like the flowers" in a round.

At bed time I share a room with seven other boys. I have a single bed by the window so the cool air from outside offsets the heat of the room. In the morning I am up early and I go for a morning walk with two of the boys.

For breakfast we have rice and dhal with a sort of vegetable stew with textured vegetable protein.

The children are hoping that school will be canceled. A Supreme Court judge was assassinated three days ago and they are anticipating a national day of mourning. When the news arrives only the government offices will be closed. School is open. I wave goodbye as the children head off for school. I promise that I will return to see them after my trek.

A few of the older children have finished school. One of the boys leads me back to Kathmandu, first by foot, then local bus, then taxi.

Now I start to focus on preparing for my trek.