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Week 3 in Sirutar! :)
Workwise this week we continued to mix sand, gravel and water to make concrete which was laid down over the cobbled floor we made from bricks last week. You wouldn't believe how relaxing making cement is, especially when you add the water. Its like making a volcano. When we finished a floor we were allowed to put our names and handprints in the cement. I was excited by this because if I come back in a few years I could see this in the finished school. Then they told us it was getting plastered over anyway... rage. We also continued to dig the drench around the school and constructed the first wall of the bottom floor of the school. The lads have also started to dig out a massive tree trunk. It will take days for that thing to come out. There was alot of rain this week. On the days it rained we couldnt work, although we did get to see our trench in action and it was lethal. I'm glad we finished it before the rain came or the bottom floors of the school would have been flooded.
The Nepali lessons are going well. I also had my first teaching session in the local school this week. Loved it. I got such a buzz from it. The teacher, who is my sister, literally walked me and chole to the classroom and left us. The children were around 14 years old and had a very high standard of english, which i was suprised about. They already knew every nursery rhyme and song I could think of so that plan went out the window. We started the class with a game of hangman, then a little question and answer round and then a spelling card game. Then they asked us to sing waka waka and dance but thats were we drew the line. Besides we were like that song isn't even in English. I told them I would play my tin whistle for them next week. They gave me the Nepali name "priti". Later I asked my supervisor what it meant and he said it mean "love". I need to think of new teaching sessions for next week. That hour ended just in time. I was running out of ideas for things to do.
This week there was a mini festival were people gave free food out in the streets. Priests went to houses to give people blessings. This week I met another one of my sisters, who doesn't live with us, and her daughter. The daughter was four years old. She had a little notebook and was writing the alphabet out in both English and Nepali which i was suprised about. She was so cute. She told my sister she wanted to take me to her home. I went to Kathmandu at the weekend with Chole, Thomas and Jimmy. Decided not to take a shower until I got to the hotel which was a good decision because we were walking through rivers to get to the hotel. It was actually ridiculous. Way too much rain. No chance i'll be coming home with a tan. After that we were soaked and didnt want to go out again so we stayed in the hotel watched a few movies and had a feast. Was good to chill out. I also had my first shower which was warm. It was actually amazing. I also slept walked for the first time. Was dreaming there was a spider on my bed and I got up to get away from it, then I woke up. The next day it was dry so we went and did a bit of shopping and then went to pizza hut. It was good but Im actually not even sick of rice yet and eating with my hands seems more satisfying with each day.
It was so warm on Friday so when work was over I decided to sit out on the balcony and read for a bit. I could hear two people shouting at each other in the street. I looked over the balcony and saw and woman and man fighting. The woman was actually hitting the man on the face. I was so afraid he was going to hit her cause you could see his anger building. My mum tried to take the woman away. At this point I went downstairs. I got angry and upset. I was afraid my mum was goin to get hurt. What annoyed me even more was that there was about five men just sitting there and done nothing to help break it up. This was the only time i'v cried since I'v got here. It just made me question myself. What would I have done if he had of hit her? Would I have stepped in? Should I have stepped in? Obviously we have been told not to get involved in incidents but I don't know, its different when you actually see it happening.
Speaking of gender inequality, that was what the presentation was on this week. It was presented by Jazz, Alice, Charlye and Rory. The guys done a great job. Some of the things discussed was just shocking. In Nepal each year there are 12,000 girls sold into sex trafficing for as low as 1000 rupees (less than 10 pound). Many of this girls and women are sold during desperate times such as droughts by their families. They are starved and tortured until they are able to serve 30 men a night. They are raped repeatedly. Another shocking thing is that 90% of infants are delivered at home. If people go to the hospital to give birth they are looked down upon by family and friends. Birth is considered a "dirty" process and thus those who deliver the babies are not trained midwives. They are "untouchables" and usually the poor as no one else wants to do this "dirty" job. The Government now offer an incentive for women to go to the hospital to give birth. They give 1000 rupees (less that 10 pound) to the woman and then 100 rupees to the person that delivers the woman to the hospital.
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