Thankas and thanks.

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During my shopping expeditions around Thamel I have become friendly with a lovely young man, Raju, in one of the local shops. I have bought a few gifts for friends and family and a couple of silk rugs there and now whenever I pass the shop I am invited in for a cup of chia (Nepali version of chai! )

During one chat over chia I mentioned that I would love to buy a traditional mandala Thangkas and Raju said that a friend of his paints them.

So we went and visited Sonam Lama, a very good looking and talented young artist, and there I succumbed to buying one and commissioning another.

The one that I have ordered will take two or three weeks but I intend to be here that long anyway.

After we had vsited Sonam and I had taken some photos, Raju invited me back to his place to meet his family. You can see them all in the photographs. They live in one room with one double bed, a sofa, a gas cook top, a coffee table and 2 cupboards. Raju and his son sleep on the bed and a mattress is rolled out for his wife and daughter. They share a bathroom, which I think is just a toilet with families on two floors. Unbelievable.

They are truly lovely, hard working people and it made me think, most of the children that I have met in orphanages are better off than the average person here. I could see no toys or books anywhere. Even though the rent for the one room is only about AU$30 a month, to Raju it is high and with school fees too, he struggles. He works 15 hours a day, 7 days a week, what more can he do.

Please don’t think that he was “coming on to me”. Believe me I have met people like that and he is not one of them. I thought of my children and my grandchildren and all that they have and the injustice of it all. But for the grace of God as they say.

I am helping them out a little as I think the most important thing is that the children stay at school and for me, the school fees are minimal. So for all those people who sponsor children and I know that a lot of you do, you are doing something wonderful. I have seen it first hand and know the difference it makes.

Today there was also a national strike, something to do with a group wanting autonomy from Nepal, which is why Raju and I had to walk to Sonam’s and back, no taxis. On the way we passed tyres that had been set alight as a protest. We also saw men stop a man on a motorbike and let his tyres down as he shouldn’t have been driving anywhere! They did the same to bicycles too! An interesting day.

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