Festivals, Transvestites and Goodbyes

The events of Monday, August 27th, brought me back to reality after a relaxing weekend in Pokhara. Michel, an AHF Field Office staff member, and I visited three projects back to back that morning. Childhaven is a school of 159 children, where 99 live at the orphanage. The younger kids were so adorable when they sang traditional Nepali songs, and the older ones, who are used to seeing foreigners, surrounded me and my digital camera during recess. Children throughout Nepal loved seeing themselves on the screen after the picture was taken.

They make soy milk and tofu at Childhaven to follow the vegetarian principles of Gandhi; the first Childhaven is in India. Childhaven has been branching out to the community by offering women’s skills development courses on sewing and regular skills development with computer training. Pokhara has a women’s skill development project where the women weave rough cloth to make bags that are sold in Pokhara and Kathmandu. This smart way of allowing women to earn money is spreading, thankfully.

Out next stop was Kunsang Choling nunnery where we met the head lama and ani (nun), the rest of the ani, and received a tour of the compound. After meeting Lama Gondup and Ani Sonam through the letters they sent to AHF and the pictures we had of them, it was quite rewarding to receive a short Buddhism lesson from Lama Gondup. They are so incredibly nice that it’s hard to not give up my entire bank account to allow the nuns to continue with their Buddhist studies. Lamas and ani live solely on the support of others, especially Buddhists, as they are not allowed to work, and spend their time achieving an in depth academic and spiritual education. Most of there is spent praying, chanting mantras, and studying the sutras (Buddhist scriptures). Like Childhaven, Kunsang Choling was constructing another building to house more nuns.

Friends of Shanta Bhawan (FSB) is a medical clinic for poor families where thousands of babies get immunized a year, hundreds of women are supported with family planning and gynecology help, and medical drugs are sold on a income earning sliding scale. It’s a great deal for the poor who can’t afford medical care. Although Luke Sunde, the head of FSB and a retired Marine, wasn’t there that day, the cordial staff were helpful during the tour Michel and I received.

Please check out my pictures to see the people from these and the other projects that I visited.

Listening to live music is one of my favorite pastimes, so I jumped at the chance to see a sitar (similar to a guitar with more of an Indian twang) and tabla, an Indian drum, concert at a book store in Thamel. Definitely recommend the Pilgrim Bookstore as a great place to hang out and read books in Thamel.

Janai Purnima, the festival of the sacred thread and holy bath was celebrated on Tuesday, August 28th. People from all over Kathmandu came to a temple in Patan. Michel and Raju gave me the name of the temple, which I found in LP, but alas the buildings are not numbered and do not have signs. I followed the long lines to get to the temple and walked past bowls of offerings to the Gods being sold on the sides of the street. A young man caught my eye and he showed me how cut through the lines which were being tended by the Nepalese version of boy and girl scouts. Having an SLR camera with me helped to get into many places as many assumed that I was the press. Once inside the walls of the temple, the entire square was packed at 7:45 in the morning. Many were waiting to see a Brahmin to get a new thread placed around their wrist, as a blessing for the whole year, and others were waiting to bring their offerings to the center of the pool of water where a statue of a god overlooked the lines. Boys in their underwear jumped into the stagnant rain water collector and women soaked their hair in the water to receive an aquatic blessing; everyone wanted to receive a blessing.

After spending hours observing these people give thanks to their gods in the temple square, I started to walk home, using the maps in LP as a guide. Heeding advice from my local advisor, Raju, I thought walking home would only take an hour from Patan to Thamel. Stopping at a grocery store (favorite thing to do in other countries), and a couple of fair trade stores to do some preliminary pashmina shopping along the way until a half hour into the walk, without including the store stops, I started to wonder if I was on the right path. I saw three older women in the street and asked for the direction to Thamel. One woman motioned for me to follow her, and I did for an hour and a half, leaving her friends on the way and mostly over silence as I could speak only a few Nepali words and she, a few English words. It was an interesting trip as we used body language to communicate. Although we said very little, I felt the welcoming hospitality that Norbu and Dorjee had told me that I might experience by complete strangers in Nepal. It was an afternoon to remember as I learned where her son worked (we walked past it) and that he is an accountant along with his picture over a bottle of soda. She eventually left me and I made my way through the spice market to go the even longer way home. The five hour trip back to the hotel from Patan was unforgettable.

Besides watching the same Hindi music videos over again on TV, I eventually watched CNN World and BBC news. One story on CNN described the trials of being Tibetan in China. The Chinese government, in its’ efforts to “integrate” the Tibetan people, have set up settlements in China. Unfortunately, the government has also taken away the nomadic Tibetan herds of yaks and sheep, forcing them to stay on the reservations with nothing to do. This sounds like what America did to Native Americans; what a heartbreaking occurrence.

Another sad story on the news was on the second anniversary of Katrina. After seeing Ferne’s pictures of her Habitat for Humanity build in New Orleans, I would look to go down to build over spring break in March 2008. Please let me know if you are interested in joining.

The next day, Gillian met me at my hotel and we took the bus to Bhaktapur. We walked to a hospital, Siddhi Memorial, named after a boy who was hit by a vehicle and would have survived if a hospital was closer to the accident. Gill used to volunteer there and she knew many of the patients and staff. We met two German med students who we recruited to come with Gillian and I, along with the president of the hospital, on a private tour of Bhaktapur. The Gai Jatra festival celebrating the dead and the cow, who guides the dead to heaven, was going on in the street as we waited for the president at Siddhi. Families had created monuments of pictures and other memorabilia carried on the shoulders of the family members. I didn’t really understand why men dressed as women for this festival, but it was fun to watch them walk by in drag.

The president (now have forgotten his name) took us on a tour of Bhaktapur which is a small town that takes care of its heritage by charging tourists $20 get in. We somehow escaped the charge and went to a beautiful Buddhist temple that was being built in the town with sculptures and materials from Thailand. We walked through the small town to a paper store, a popular tourist good in Nepal. We took a factory tour where the paper is handmade from a Lokta plant that is sustainable and easy to cultivate. The president took the four of us out for a traditional Newari lunch and we watched the festival from the second floor of a restaurant. More families displayed the tribute to their dead family members while brass bands played with the moving procession (think New Orleans). Young men dressed as cows and ethnic groups of young people slammed sticks with each other to the beat of the drums.

I returned to the AHF office on Thursday after three days of constant motion to find Dr. Aruna Uprety getting paperwork from Michel. I was lucky enough to be there as she is the president of AHF’s project partner, Rural Health and Education Service Trust (RHEST). RHEST gives academic scholarships to young girls whose parents are not able to afford to send them to school. Families in Nepal normally send their boys to school first as they see boys as the future family supporters, not the girls. Sometimes men come through the smaller villages, telling families that they will bring their daughters to India to find work for a price. Unfortunately, the families fall prey and hand over their money and innocent girls who end up in brothels in India. AHF supports RHEST strongly and gives scholarships to approximately 3,500 girls every year. Many of these girls make it through school as they work hard knowing they have a great opportunity, and AHF supports a few of them through college. Aruna invited me to meet the girls the following Monday.

That evening I went for dosa (southern Indian pancake made of lentils and rice and eaten similarly to a tortilla) with an American I met while shopping on the way home from Patan, Rexanne. She had just finished six months in India receiving Ayurvedic training and now was in Kathmandu under training from a Swami. We went back to the school where she lived with the Swami and we met in the yoga room. In conversation, the Swami related Buddhism and Hinduism to Christianity. I think many in Nepal and Tibet automatically assumed I was Christian considering my name. Some children couldn’t pronounce my name and instead would just say “Christian”. I took a cab back to Thamel that evening and was dropped off on the outskirts of Thamel to walk back to my hotel. I walked behind a group of transvestite prostitutes which I have yet to do in the US, so it was interesting to see men in saris and makeup in Nepal.

Friday, Gillian and I met up again and she took me to the Shanti Sewa Griha clinic for leprosy rehabilitation. The people there make incredible crafts and they have a store where I bought way too much. We took a tour of the building and met few of the patients.

Afterwards we walked to Pashupathinath, one of the more popular temples. Hindi families placed their dead wrapped in woven sheets of fibrous material and flowers on the funeral pyres to cremate them. We looked on as the smoke encircled the entire temple area. Thin Brahmins with dreadlocks and painted in holy colors lounged and waited to collect money from tourists who wanted to take their pictures.

We then walked to Boudhanath, a Buddhist temple in the outskirts of Kathmandu. Gillian and I did a few koras around the temple after taking pictures on the second floor. I ran into Tony, from the Tibetan tour, doing some koras as well and he took me back to the hotel where Jan and he were staying. Kris and Jan weren’t able to go out the previous night because Jan was sick which was sad as Kris left that morning for Germany and we didn’t say goodbye. Jan was napping when Tony and I woke him up. We made plans for the next morning to have breakfast together before Jan left for Germany. That evening, Gillian and I walked to my cousin Will’s filmmaking friend, Tsering’s house for an incredible Tibetan dinner with his wife Tenzin and his daughter Uma.

The next morning, Jan, Tony and I had a great breakfast in Thamel on the rooftop on one of the tallest buildings in Thamel. We took some pictures and said goodbye. Those guys are great and I miss the times we had. I hope to visit Jan and Kris one day in Germany and see Tony again as he travels the world in search of enlightenment.

The next evening, I attended a goodbye dinner to Gillian at my favorite Italian place in Nepal, Fire and Ice. Strangely, Michael, the med student I met in Pokhara, was there as he just returned from his five day stint in the field repairing cleft palates.
We moved to a bar that just opened in Thamel and were served a ton of free appetizers and did its best to recreate the Western night life vibe.

That day, three bombs went off in the area where Gillian and I used the bus to get to Bhaktapur. There are over 50 ethnic groups in Nepal, and every one of them wants to be heard. I don’t remember exactly why the bombs were placed and exploded, but I think it was an anniversary of the Nepalis that were hurt in the Middle East a while ago and the country of Nepal retaliated by trashing all the Gulf airline offices in Kathmandu.

The next morning, I moved back to Bruce’s place. He returned the day before from Mustang after narrowly avoiding landslides and dealing with the heavy rains of monsoon season. I left from his place with the ladies who ran RHEST. They drove me about an hour outside of Kathmandu to see two schools where some of the girls, who are given scholarships, attend. The first school was an elementary school where many of the girls were going to school for the first time. They were incredibly shy and innocent, but seemed to be happy that they were in school. Their parents probably agreed to send their girls to school because it was free, but might have had some hesitation. The second school was of girls who been RHEST scholars for many years. Their confidence level was that of an American girl and possibly even of greater magnitude, as they understood the power of their education and the future that it would allow them to enjoy. Many of them wanted to be business women and I was surprised to find how many wanted to enter the military in Nepal. Their happiness gave me much hope for the girls I met earlier in the morning and great satisfaction with the RHEST project.

Raju, Bruce and I visited the 24 kids Bruce supports by paying for their room and board, their house managers, and their schooling along with two other donors. Bruce’s kids adore him and were very affectionate with him immediately upon his arrival. Not only is Bruce a father-figure to some of the kids that AHF supports, he is also a solid paternal figure to these kids outside of work. Most of them have parents who live very far outside of the city and can’t afford their education.

Afterwards, Bruce took me shopping to his favorite jewelry and scarf shops where he knows the owners. I got some great deals on some of the most beautiful items I have been searching for, for years. Thanks to Bruce and Gillian, Christmas shopping was done in September.

I spent my last Wednesday of the trip with Sarah Dachos’ friend from Monterey, Izumi. She and I walked around most of the touristy areas of Kathmandu in the rain, got some great Japanese food and walked around the spice and food market. (Nothing replaces a good rain coat and Chaco sandals in the monsoon.)

While I stayed at hotels in Thamel, I passed by a paper and lantern shop many times a day. One time I decided to stop by a shop and met a young man named Manoj. He and I became friends as I was intrigued by his lack of an accent when speaking English. He invited me over to his house for a traditional meal of daal bhat his mother made for us. It took an hour to ride in the taxi from the shop to his house, which leads me to believe that commute times are the same in any country.

My last full day in Nepal ended with a wonderful Indian dinner where I said goodbye to Tony, Izumi and Manoj. I was also able to spend a little time with Luigi, Francesca and Davide, the restorative magicians who have spent their past few summers in Mustang, to restore gorgeous murals for AHF. This wonderful project is called Mustang Restoration; I recommend you visit the website or call for more information on this wonderful project as the before and after pictures are amazing.

Bruce had another guest, Jeremy, staying with him while I was there. Bruce knew Jeremy from the small circles of English speaking Ex-Pats in Nepal. Jeremy is retired in Bali and I had a great time talking with him while we were at Bruce’s and our way to Bangkok, as we took a flight together from Kathmandu. Thankfully Jeremy was with me as he knew the protocol of the Kathmandu airport and dealing with Thai Air (again). Thanks, Jeremy, for the great advice.

It was bittersweet leaving both Tibet and Nepal, as the trip was a wonderful way to end my time at AHF but I didn’t want to leave it behind. I look forward to helping out more at AHF in the future, and going back to both countries. While I had a great time, I was looking forward to starting business school.

Thank you to Bruce, Tsedo, Michel and Raju for taking care of me and making the trip so extraordinary. I will forever be grateful.

Please check out my pictures on Picasa for a true taste of the trip as it’s easier to get a sense through pictures rather than words.

Thanks again to all of my friends and family who introduced me to the great people I spent time with in Nepal and Tibet. This trip was an incredible experience that I was able to live through first hand and I will never forget, as I have this blog and my pictures to ignite memories. I’m so grateful to have worked for a non-profit that changes so many lives in such a wonderful way as does AHF. If you are not sure where to give in 2007 to help your tax bill, please consider AHF and some of the projects that I have mentioned in this blog. As always, please feel free to contact AHF if you have any questions about these projects or any others.

Thanks again, for reading this if you have gotten this far. Namaste. KP.