Home Sweet Home

So I've just spent a bit over 3 weeks 'working' in the children's home in Thali. I working in its loosest possible sense as my work really just comprised of playing mostly. I thought to start this blog off I would use some choice words/sentences from my diary so that those of you who find my blog long and boring dont have to read so much, and those who would like a more in depth description can read further.

To Summarise:
My room contained an Xray, some rubbish and a desk-we moved a bed up from the kitchen later. I love it already. I feel like a spare wheel. The children have head lice. Went to a 'Fun Park'. Met Pralhad's Uncle in Bodah. Found out curd tastes nice! More runny Poo. Eaten a lot of sweets. Swing is Ping in Nepali. Nepali movies have appaulingly bad acting. Kids stole lollipops from my room! The Aussie ladies made me want to go trekking. Made a mosaic. Head lice are huge! Helped at a Hindu Funeral-included peeling potatoes for 2 hours. Everyone thinks Sarah is beautiful.Runny Poo again. Did art. I hate every aspect of HW. Cleaned loads of shoes for the kids. Indian Visa=hassle. OR2K restaurant is awesome. Met amazing young swiss couple. Found out I definitely do have head lice. Made an art gallery of kids' work.Cleaned the upstairs bathroom and toilet. Met with Stijn and Marianne - wonderful time. Showed kids photos and played guitar.Another exhausting day. Did yoga with some of the others, taught guitar, art club, watched kids singing and dancing with Gesine and Jennifer. Ear infection! I am now deaf in my right ear. tried learning Nepalese dancing, did some other idiotic dancing in front of the girls. Played card games. 3 very nice potato curries in one day. oil lamps everywhere. Watched and tried to make cell roti. Everyone woke early to see me off.

In depth:

Intro :
I've spent my time working in a children's home on the outskirts of Kathmandu in Thali for an organisation called Women's Foundation which is run by a lady called Renu who works to protect women from abusive situations and train them so they are able to single handedly support their families in a safer environment. It's like women empowerment - there seems to be a bit of that going on in Nepal at the moment, but they're still a little behind the times.
 It's been fairly chilled out, no major stresses, and on the whole it's been an enjoyable experience. I've enjoyed being like a big sister to 50 odd kids and have been feeding them and myself insane amounts of sweets. What's not to like? Well - waking at 5:30/6:00 sucked, especially to get up and do HW/Make kids do HW. Pretend crying is annoying. And people coming into your room without knocking is annoying... Most of these had solutions, and one soon works out how to live happily in a large community of young girls.


The kids :
They were just so friendly from the off - like the first day I met them I felt like I was family - they just seemed to trust me instantly - which I thought afterwards was a little dangerous. I'm a fairly trusting person, but I also trust myself and my own judgement - do these children have this judgement? Do they know who not to trust? I don't know, but it was ok to trust me, I was nice enough. They seemed to have a lot more personality and confidence than the village kids, which I wasn't expecting. But I guess this is a result of living on the outskirts of the city - maybe having to grow up more quickly due to their circumstances and also having a private education where they were taught in English for most lessons.
The older kids could all speak quite good English which made my life easier, and I'm sure having conversations in English is good for them too. Some of the girls had lost their parents, others' parents couldn't look after them, but they all seemed quite well adjusted, and happy, which I wasn't really expecting really. They all supported one another, and yes they had their stupid squabbles - but then what family doesn't? They calmed down and got over it. I detected no bitchiness or cliquiness they all seemed to get on with one another. Maybe I would have got a different view if I spoke more Nepali - but we'll never know...


My roles:
I don't think my presence there was really out of necessity - it was more of a bonus - as a person who could entertain the kids and keep them happy over the holidays. But from what I saw really they would have been happy without me. They maybe would have done a little less, but still been happy enough. In holiday season they are allowed a DVD player and so they literally would just watch movies all day. I'm not opposed to watching a movie a day - but like 4 or 5 - one night they watched this Korean series all night long - I passed the TV room in the morning and it was full, and I asked if they'd been up all night and they just laughed. Auntie Shibamaya who was the guardian of the home had also been up all night - clearly a bad influence.
I joined them in watching some TV but I couldnt sit there for more than an afternoon - the floors are very hard! And most of the films they watch are awful or terrible copies.
I started a sort of art club, and made an art gallery in the TV room where the children's work is displayed.
I taught guitar (badly)
I helped with HW
I helped teach the children who didn't go to school as they werent accepted - or because they were 'ill'
I pushed the swing (ping in Nepali)
I taught a little yoga to a small group who wanted to learn some
I helped cook the dinner, they were all very impressed with my chopping skills.
I helped clean and even wrote instructions on how to keep the bathrooms clean - they dont seem to take a lot of pride in the cleanliness of their abode in Nepal. -In the village I often wondered why the family didnt sweep up the rubbish in front of their house or like tidy up the place a little bit more... Cultural difference?
I also generally entertained with bad singing and guitar playing and dreadful dancing - the few that were privileged enough to see my dancing seemed to enjoy it.


Health update:

On my second day there I noticed that a fair few of the kids appeared to have head lice, I helped with picking them out, and also got them myself. I decided there was little point treating the condition until I was due to leave as I was bound to get them again. I have considered cutting my hair off as a solution - especially when I could find no anti-louse shampoo in the village shops. Auntie Shibamayar had some she gave me. Also I need my hair to keep me warm on my trek. I dont think I have them now, though I'll need to use the shampoo again to be sure. My head is still itchy - it may be as Manjila pointed out when I asked her to check me for lice - that I have a lot of dandruff. I do love the honesty of the Nepali.
I've had diarrhoea numerous times - I think I was accidentally drinking a bit of shower water...
I've had 3 different types of cold - every time I felt better I seemed to have another the next day
I am now deaf in my right ear, I've been taking ear drops but they haven't done much yet... cannot be bothered to go to the dr but the ringing noise is getting quite annoying now.
I think if I stayed longer I would have started becoming immune to all the lurgies that the children had and would have like the most impressive immune system ever.


Other People:

Jan and Lillianne
I met a lovely Swiss couple who were so interesting and insightful, and just generally lovely to talk to. They had come as Lillianne had bought many scarves made by the woman's foundation and she wanted to find out more about them and see where the scarves were made. They had been travelling a while in a jeep which was where they slept and basically lived. They were also taking their one year old(?) daughter with them. The girls all loved her and commented on how she was like a doll. They also carried her off to show her around and treated her as one of their own. They didnt give her much space though - which agitated me a little - so I explained to the older girls that maybe she didnt want people around her all the time. They disagreed with me - so I said our cultures were different and if she looks a little sad - leave her alone. Lillianne would take little Lola off to the car if there were too many other children around, it was probably a little too much excitement at times. Jan and I spoke a lot about the state of Nepal, religion, politics, geology, philosophy and food. I really enjoyed it.

Gisina
A lovely German volunteer who came to help Renu on the organic farm. She also turned up at the Hindu festival and we were both treated like honoured guests - being fed too much and not really allowed to help a great deal (although I had peeled potatoes for 2 hours in the morning). We met a few other times as she came to look around the childrens home with Jennifer another volunteer from Australia. She gave them a pairs game so we spent an afternoon playing that-the kids cheat so much!  I met them both for a relaxing break from the home one morning in Bodah. I've just met up with her again today for a huge lunch at OR2K this lovely Israeli restaurant I wasn't going to go to (cos I should eat Nepali food in Nepal?) but this Canadian girl at the Indian embassy told me to go and I'm so glad she did.

Brooke and Helen
A crazy Aussie duo who came to teach the girls how to make mosaics. I did a poster afterwards so the kids wouldn't forget how to make them. Helen came back to finish the mosaics the next day, and I helped as most of the kids seemed a little bored of the process by then, I think they mostly just liked smashing the tiles and making a mess. The ladies were really good with the kids and full of energy, Helen seemed a little crazy, I liked that.

Stijn
A Belgium vegan! I just didn't think you'd get them cos of all the chocolate... I met him in the Indian Embassy - it really is the place to meet people! He seemed very interesting and I'm hoping to meet up with him again in India.

Things I've noticed/been told:
-When the kids wake up and go to bed all the doors knocking sound like the druns in the Lord of the Rings in the mines of Mourier after Pippin alerts the goblins/orks to the fellowships presence.
-Everyone has commented on how beautiful Sarah is (I have some photos of her on my phone)- Sharada said why is she so much more beautiful than me? And followed that by saying that I looked like Harry Potter. I said she could leave my room.
-Munjila asked why I didnt brush my hair - she said I did not look beautiful.
-There was a little sparrow who used to live/perch at night under the glass slat in my toilet, I closed the mirror when I cleaned the toilet and he couldn't perch there anymore but I figured maybe it was his poo making the place smell... He also kept scaring me every time I went to the loo before bedtime as he flew away after I scared him- it was a 2 way thing.

I'm sure there's more - but I think I'm keeping the owner of the internet cafe here and its getting too late for dinner, So I shall depart. I hope to upload my Vlog tomo and some pics.

'Childrens Home Massiv'

Urban dictionary definition - for the benefit of the parents:

1.	massiv
	Bigger than a crew, this is the collective noun for a large gang, which usually has a large amount of 'turf' to cover.

This is my last day in Kathmandu for a month or so then. I don't have much to add, I've been completely flaunting my -I'm allowed to eat non vegan food in a foreign country because of language barriers etc- by eating insane amounts of chocolate and cakes. I think it's why I feel a little bit sick all the time... No more cakes Mary!

I visited the children's home yesterday - I have been told off twice by the lady that started the place for calling it an orphanage - she said she would be very upset if I said that again... But I've got such a bad memory!!! It was a wonderful place - to be honest I was expecting a lot worse - especially when she said I couldn't live there cos it wasn't finished and the food wouldn't be satisfactory. So I had a look, the food I get the impression will be very basic - I had lunch of channa curry and rice pops...? It was nice though. The accommodation is basic, but it's probably better than where I was living in the village in terms of facilities - it has proper toilets and showers!!!

I love the idea of helping out with chores, teaching extra English and playing games and drawing all day. I've bought some paper and pencils to donate, as well as some sweets cos they went crazy for sweets yesterday. I think it will be a little bit like the time I volunteered in Scotland for Edinburgh Cyrenians (http://www.cyrenians.org.uk/) A lot of work and a little emotionally draining, but a great experience too - I'd recommend cyrenians to anyone who has any sort of social conscience and an ambition to help the homeless.

I expect I'll be in touch in a month or so - just before I go off travelling for fun! Then Kolcatta. It's all so exciting!

Rural Assistance Nepal (RAN)

I suddenly realised that for all my posts I've still not mentioned Rural assistance Nepal. This is the charity that has found me placements to go to and organised my hotel stays and airport pickup - Marianne Heredge has been amazing at organising everything in an almost chilled out Nepalese manner. There were no charity fees - although you may decide to donate some money to RAN- but you do have to fund your own way -i.e. rent and food - its all very cheap.

More information can be found on the website : http://www.rannepal.org/index.php?pg=2

I was also thinking should anyone from any school (cough st marys... cough) wanted to raise any funds - it would be best to go through this charity as Marianne can ensure that the money goes to building a library for example - as the school in Pokri Chauri didn't have one. Maybe there are computers which can be donated - the school in Pokri Chauri has one - but it doesn't work. Maybe sponsoring teachers or poorer students so that a better education can be given. Or maybe some of you would like to go out to Nepal and volunteer here too! It is wonderful... and the momos are very tasty - although they don't have momos in Pokri Chauri.

Momos

I shall never eat anything else but these from now onwards.