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| The orphans in Nepal |
Somehow Aaron and I ended up taking a bunch of teenagers to
Nepal to work at an orphanage. This would be our first (and I am guessing last)
time chaperoning a large group of teenagers in a foreign country but that isn’t
because the trip was a failure more because if you are a person who doesn’t
really like following rules, having a guide or traveling in a group than that means
you are probably not a person who likes being a chaperone of such a group.
There were lots of questions, actually it seemed like insistent question to
which I had very few answers for.
Because no matter how many times I told the girls I had never been here
they still somehow expected me to know everything- maybe if I had pretended it
would have comforted them. This may have been one of the reasons they said to us, "you guys are like the chillest chaparones eva, you give us like so much freedom."
So usually when traveling we are concerned with two things
our passport and money but now we were responsible for 7 girls and 9 passports.
But with that said it should be mentioned that these girls are “international”
they have spent most of their lives moving and traveling, so much so that their
passports have another passport attached because they have too many visas and
entry stamps. So they may have been
“worldly” but this what not really the trip they were use to, there were no 5
star hotels, personal drivers and constant service.
We were told to wear our school polo shirts to the airport
because we were representing the school and it would make it easier to stay in
a group. Only problem – I don’t wear polo shirts- sorry. In the end Aaron and I
were relieved that we didn’t wear the “uniform” since our group kind of looked
like one of those Christian missionary groups and it was easier for us to blend
out of the group.
While waiting in the customs line this is what I heard.
SHIT INTERNATIONAL GIRLS SAY:
·
What
colors your passport?
·
I ran out
of pages in my first one
·
Let me see
your photo- OMG your so young
·
My dad
knows the pilot
·
What is
the exchange rate in Nepal? ---oh I don’t think in dollars, I think in Dirham
So our plan was to work at the small orphanage for 4 days
and then trek for 3 days. We slept in a simple hostel and where carted around
in a crammed bus.
Nepal is amazingly colorful and dirty at the same time. Women
are adorned in bright saris and people’s heads are usually decorated with a
colorful offering from the temple and then there is the trash which is
everywhere. In the piles of trash which old women were shoveling, were random
cows, dogs and even monkeys. The rivers in the capital city look about a moment
away from apocalypse; they are lined with make shift shanty houses, piles of
trash, cows, dogs, rats, monkeys and bathing children, and what I assume use to
be water is now more like a black oily liquid that slowly flows amid the
trash. We have seen our fair share of
impoverished areas but never have I seen it so in the capital of the country.
Katmandu a capital city of roughly 1 million people (but I can’t imagine how
the could ever count) is in rough shape; it has electricity for only some hours
in the day, the wire situation is a nightmare and then there is the traffic,
there are no working traffic lights, instead police men suck in smog while they
direct honking vehicles through potholed gravel roads. Although the people and the food were
wonderful the overall state of the city left me feeling down about the future
of the human population.
But no too much time dwell on that because we spent most of
our time at the orphanage. Here live 14
children from all the casts and from all over Nepal ranging from 4 -16 years
old. These children are truly admirable; they are constantly playing, singing
and dancing. They may have no adults to call mom and dad but they surely have each
other; it is amazing how they look after each other. I found it fascinating how independent and self-sufficient
these kids were- especially the toddlers. However, I did find one of the little
ones on the side of the house eating grass, but after a few days of eating
their diet I couldn’t really blame them for their need for some fresh
greens. These kids were quick to love,
hug and form bonds with us. It was a great experience and there were some tears
at the departure.
The trek was a 3 day, 2 night trek through the foot hills of
the Himalayans. It went through remote villages and offered some amazing views
of the snow capped Himalayan mountain range. We got stuck in crazy hail storm,
followed by rain, followed by very cold temperatures. And these first time
trekkers learned some valuable lessons. Like, why a cotton hooded sweatshirt is
not good back packing wear. Why even when it is sunny when you leave, you
should still bring your rain jacket. And when you keep asking how much longer
it only makes it feel longer. And finally, if you don’t dump a bucket of water
down the toilet (like your chaperone told you to) there will be a massive pile
of stinky shit and toilet paper (which your chaperone also told you not to put
into the eastern style toilet) making it not an attractive place to do your
business. On the first night Aaron and I
lay in bed with a crazy fever during the most intense thunderstorm when our
little tea house actually got struck by lightening, which was a first for us. I
thought of getting up to comfort the girls but the fever made even opening my
eyes painful.
We saw some sites on the trip including temples, festivals
and historical squares. We heard of many of amazingly complicated Hindu
traditions one of which was how they care for their dead. Summarized, they
carry the body by foot to their holy (and very polluted river) where they burn
the body for 2-4 days (we actually got to see this,) wash the ashes into the river, feed the people who
helped for 13 days, return to the river in 6 months to celebrate and it just
went on and on and on and on. Pretty impressive dedication to these rituals.
Well in Nepal we pretty much ate what they eat and how they
eat (with your hand.) It is called Dal bhat – which is basically white rice
with lentils. Sometimes we had noddles
–which is basically top roman. Despite the simple diet and bottled water a few
people got sick. One on the plane, which was a pretty lame experience for this
young girl- I could go into detail but I think I would just end up bashing the
general intelligence of flight attendants so I will stop here.
Well Blogger says I have used all my picture space and I need to pay to use more. So here is a slide show of the rest of the photos from the trip
