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BLOG 1
We have arrived in Nepal for the second time, after 24 hours and 15 minutes travel. After being hassled into the hotel minibus by the airport touts, I was in the front with the driver and Kath was right at the back. It all came quickly back to us - the traffic, noise, smell, fumes, dust. Our brains had wiped out just how dreadful Kathmandu is. It couldn't be. But it was. After a few minutes, a voice came from the back, "What have we let ourselves in for!"
The Holy Himalaya Hotel was great and very welcoming and made us feel a lot better. After settling in we went to Gaia for a quick drink. All the staff were still there and recognised us. And then to our room for a sleep. Then we felt a lot better and were ready for action.
The following morning saw us back in the old routine. Krishna collected us and took us on the long 6 mile journey to DNC. The roads are not better, in fact even worse after the recent monsoon. Where they have been compulsorily widened no new surface has been put down.
The children were expecting us and there was much excitement as each group returned from school. It seemed to be genuine excitement with much hugging and chatter. They were really pleased to see us and we were pleased to see them. Perhaps it was worth coming to Kathmandu after all. We spent some good time talking to the older ones as there is now more help with homework for the younger ones.
There is another volunteer, Brian from Northern Ireland, so we can all work together. He has been here only 3 days but gets on well with the children.
There are a lot of new children, many of whom have Cerebral Palsy. Ayog has just returned from hospital where he has had an operation on his leg, to straighten it. His leg is in a frame with rods attached to his bone. He says it is painful (It looks awful) but he rushes around like a maniac, just as before - hopping on his good leg, pushing his wheelchair at speed, when he should be resting in it. Sabina has been in hospital for two months because she had such bad pressure sores. She has a new wheelchair with special cushion and has exercises she should do to stop the problem returning. It is difficult getting the children to understand the future benefit of doing things now - but this is the same with all Nepalis
There are noticeable improvements in many of the children we know. Manshara no longer walks with a crutch. Sanjay walks upright with a regular gait. Tikka no longer has his big boots. Susme and Jevika walk much more confidently than before. Bikess has new fingers. And lots of other progress.
As always we help with homework. Sanjay must analyse 5 pages of Chekov which even Kathie finds difficult. Little Bikash has to understand obscure Hindu stories written in archaic English, using complicated words and ancient phrases. Sabina has to write about her parents. I help Susme with volumes. She doesn't understand what volume is so I get out large lego bricks and build the shapes in cm cubes, l x w x h. She understands but I don't think she can see the perspective of the drawings in her textbook. We gave up, for now, but she is keen to tackle this again.
On Saturday we went to the school fete with five of the children. There were sideshows and stalls such as coconut shy with tins, shoot the pingpong ball, etc. Food stalls sold various delicacies we thought it best to avoid. We noticed that the rice was sold in a cone made of folded up pages from old exercise books so, when you finished eating, you could see some child's homework and mark. All the time there were long lectures by notable men, which nobody listened to, and these were interrupted by shows put on by the students. After about three hours three of the children wanted to go (thank goodness) so I found Krishna and after waking him up, he took us back to DNC. Kumar and Saraswoti wanted to stay so, after a lecture to Kumar to look after his 'sister', we left them.
Great excitement at Gaia when a big monkey swung in. It went into the central tree and stole unripe guavas. The waiters were afraid it would upset the customers so tried to shoo it away. It went up onto Michael's balcony and looked down on us for a while, casually eating its guavas. Then sloped off and the usual hush returned. (A big benefit of Gaia is that there is no TV or music)
On the flight to KL I sat next to a young Chinese man who was returning, via London, from Afghanistan where he had visited his wife in the Chinese embassy in Kabul. He works in the Chinese Radio Afghanistan. He had not seen his wife for a year. He had spent 3 days in London so I asked him what sights he had visited. Bicester Village was where he had been. It was worth flying home via London because of the money he would save at Bicester Village which is famous in China.
So ends our first, blog. It is short because things are less 'new' this time. So it all seems less amazing and newsworthy - blogworthy. Also, using Kath's new toy laptop is a real struggle. It is designed to be tiny but sacrifices ease of use.
There are photos but we cannot download them. We cannot work out why the photo header for this blog is on its side but you'll just have to turn yout head. We'll try again another time.
See you next time
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