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Published: September 26th 2009
Godavari Village Resort - Just a 10 minute walk up the road from Ama Ghar is the Godavari Village Resort, complete with a famously delicious breakfast menu, conference rooms, relatively lush accommodations, and an outdoor pool. It was the last Monday before the big Dasain Holiday break and the younger children didn’t have to go to school; so Pell and I agreed to take them swimming. Not much arm twisting was necessary as the weather here is fairly hot and humid when it’s not raining. Many people, when they think of Nepal, think mountains, snow, and cold. They often forget that, even though we are nestled in a valley at 5,000 plus feet, just south of the Himalayas, we are still in the tropics and so summers here are still very, well, tropical. The point being that a dip in some cool clean water was sounding very appealing to all. But not simply clean water, for there are varying levels of clean here depending on who you are. For example, what is clean drinking water for the children and all the other permanent residents of Nepal is, for foreigners like Pell and myself, a long and terrible date with the toilet.
Their bodies are used to the bacteria in the water and so it is harmless for them. Not so much for us. As we got ready for our wet and wild outing with a side of potential digestive discomfort (to put it mildly), in the back of our minds we two strangers to this land were hoping desperately for a ‘foreigner-clean’ pool. But first…there were instructions.
Bonnie informed us that none of the children can swim. Really? Well that does throw a wrench into this
swimming outing, doesn’t it. She explained to us that the policy is that there be only one child in the pool at a time until they have all had their individual swimming lesson. Absolutely no one is to go into the deep end until they are capable of swimming the width of the pool on their own. A good policy, I thought. Excellent. My new friend Pell and I are now swimming instructors.
Bearing our new titles proudly, the Swimming Instructors set off with the children down the road. When we arrived at the desk up the stairs from the pool Pell and I looked at each other and released a sigh of
relief from our concerned bodies. A white board hung next to the desk, proclaiming the pool water’s temperature, PH level and, to our delight, its chlorine level. Ah, sweet chemical, bacteria murdering comfort.
Everyone changed into their suits and made their way down to the pool which had a 4-foot end and an 8-foot end, as well as a detached 2-foot deep smaller pool. Pell and I jumped into the shallow end, ready to give our first swimming lesson…to no one. All the children had made a mad dash for the 2-foot pool. It seems they are all terrified of being in water over their head. Eventually we coaxed them in, two at a time since there are two of us, highly qualified instructors. Our very professional swimming lesson consisted of supporting them while they thrashed wildly. This wasn’t getting us anywhere. I attempted to teach a simple dog paddle, to no avail. Most of the children would get three strokes into it and then digress into their oh-so-ineffective thrashing. By the end of the session Pell and I had two or three of them swimming. Sort of. Not drowning would be a more accurate description. For the most
part, everyone was permanently attached to the wall. Even the ones who are tall enough to touch the bottom were reluctant to let go. We pointed out this fact to them and they just smiled, ignored us and maintained their kung fu grip. Slowly but surely we manage to get the littlest ones to push away from the wall and ‘swim’ (thrash madly) to us, but the moment they reach us they are clinging tenaciously to our bodies like parasites with no intention of letting go. Each child does all of this while maintaining a grin on his or her face, stretching from ear to ear. Despite being terrified of leaving the safety of their precious wall, they are indeed having a blast. As are the Swimming Instructors.
After an hour or so of utter aqua delight, there are ten shivering towels-with-heads huddled under the covered area. It has begun to rain. All of us grab our things and head for the locker rooms where the children make good use of the hot showers. After a divine 30 minutes of indulging (I’ll admit, I too took full advantage) they finally emerge, happy as clams. Pell and I made a
note of this oasis of comfort that seemed so out of place in the impoverished village of Godavari, gathered up the contented and tuckered out children, and headed back to Ama Ghar. It’s good to know that we can treat ourselves to a swim and a hot shower whenever we feel the need, though I doubt we will enjoy it as much without the screams, laughs, smiles and thrashing of our little brothers and sisters.
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brayntea
bryan
Many Much Thanks!
Thank you to everyone for all of your encouraging comments! I wouldn't be having this experience if not for the support of you, my awesome friends and family. High five!