Advertisement
Raju and my favourite shop
Raju (the little one on the left) is the father of the two children I am sponsoring. He is 30 believe it or not. I feel that so much has happened since my last blog that I hardly know where to start. I always try to keep text down to a minimum as I know it is so much easier reading a story through pictures and everybody loves looking at photos!
So, where to begin? Firstly I am simply loving living in Boudha and shall soon take some photos of the lovely little guest house where I am staying and the environment around it.
I have managed to get a micro van to school and back and even went into town and had to change once. Might not sound much to you, but these vans hurtle along while someone hangs out the door and yells the destinations, all in Nepali of course. There are no stops either, you just flag them down if you hear where you want to go. Micro vans are a bit like minivans for 10 that squeezed in 20! The cost is 10-15rp (22c) for a 30 minute trip. So the price is right but the trips are bone jarring as the vans suspensions are shot to pieces due to the cavernous holes in the roads. Anyway, something
more I have mastered and feel happy about.
I have worked a few days at the school and unluckily for me each time it has been hot as Hades and the power has mostly been out, the norm for Nepal. The children are great, but like India, are used to being told exactly what to do, learn or write and have trouble thinking of ideas and questions for themselves. I am getting there though and at least I get some laughter out of them. My favourite class is 10B, surprising really considering I am primary trained, but I feel that they understand my logic in teaching differently. They have asked if I would do some teacher training and development, which I am happy to do but it is hard when they have 30-40 children crammed in a tiny airless room and only a blackboard and chalk for resources. Even if they did have more resources, there is no room to use them! Oh well, I will think up something using smoke and mirrors!
Two Extra Granchildren!
Raju (young man who works in the local shop where I have bought lots of gifts) invited me to see his
children’s school and you can see the lovely photos. I decided that I wanted to sponsor both of his children at school, so organised everything with the principal. He cares so much for his children and although isn’t poor in the sense of the people living in the slums, he still does it hard and worries about his children. I know that he will do his best to support them and make sure that they get a good education, especially with my help. And it’s not a huge amount of money.
So if any of my lovely friends out there don’t already sponsor a child or two, think about it. Just walk past Carla Zampati or that beautiful shoe shop in Burnside Village instead of going inside and you will have saved the money to pay for a child’s education for one whole year!!! Seriously, think about it. I can guarantee that you will feel a lot better for a lot longer by sponsoring a child instead of buying a pair of shoes. If you want details, email me and I shall send you the information from Sunrise Orphanage. O.K. I’m off my high horse now!
When I
got a micro van back to Boudha, it started to rain, then really, really rain. The drops were splashing back into the air about 20cm. When I jumped off the bus, you have to, they don’t give you much time, I had to wade through a deep puddle then I shot into a doorway with a few other people. I waited for about 45 minutes and realised that it was not going to stop and that if I didn’t leave soon, I would be walking through dark alleyways to my guest house. So I left and got wet, but I am waterproof. I did manage to take a few photos before I made a run for it. It rained solidly for about 3 hours too, a taste of the monsoons to come!
Advertisement
Tot: 0.137s; Tpl: 0.015s; cc: 9; qc: 50; dbt: 0.0526s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb