We woke up at 4:30 in order to avoid traffic at Kulunki Chowk, a madhouse of busses, cars, animals, taxis and people waiting to travel.

The travel time was only 5 hrs ( one hr saving in time) as Sandip wove in and out of traffic as on coming busses were narrowly avoided. This is Nepal and the way driving is done. Many times I just closed my eyes and prayed :O)

We arrived in Makwenpur to the busy streets around 11 am. Dusty roads met us but no rain…and we were glad as we have to navigate the river by a bus right out of a Mad Max movie. WE checked into our accommodations (it could be called a less than adequate place with the sink that had no water and barely hanging on the wall, a toilet that did not flush, beds….well bricks to sleep on) that we would have for one night. It served its purpose for us. We quickly found Bishwa and proceeded to our bus that hung in a line of battered giants. The stood in rows and one could see that long ago they were beast of beauty with bright colors adoring the sides, front and tops. Now retired to run the river taxi service. Five men began to load the blankets…100 of them was no easy feat. Ropes were strung around the great white bag, one man on top quickly became two men while three pushed it up. Grunts and HO HO were heard and others standing around helped to push and pull. Finally loaded on top of the bus we began our journey to the place were would feed and distribute to the poor.

About 5km down the river we can to a “wash” area strew with boulders and rocks. This area a few years ago was hit by a horrendous flash flood, I was told, that turned the river RED.

There sat over 100 men women and children from 5 small villages. As we walked up we could see the large grey pots being heated with wood to cook the food. Chicken, fruit, spices, water, rice and lentils were removed from the bus as men clamored on top and dumped the bag of blankets. Bleating was heard in the distance where goats of various colors were fastened to poles eating leaves that had been gathers for them. And so cooking began. Bags of rice were poured into pots that were boiling…green leaves and a carboard box as placed on top as the rice was cooking and filling the pot. It was a marvel to
watch the precision of this cooking. I thought for sure the rice would burn, but the man and woman cooking knew exactly how long to let the rice cook and reduced the wood under it. Lentils were cooking in the other pot…wonderful smells as everything was spiced up. Then came the plastic bags of cut up chicken ( bone and all) placed in the third silver pot with cut up onion, garlic and spices. The smells from the open fire mixed with the spices was wonderful. The stirring continued with large wooden paddles at least three feet long until all was cooked.

We sang and prayed and gave thanks and ate a wonderful meal and had wonderful community. Six widows sat quietly as we began to decide how to distribute the goats, blankets and bitten rice (a snack rice that has been flattened). Name by name we called up the widows to present the goats to them. Each woman received two goats for breeding this year. We informed them of our desire to breed for selling income as most are living on less than $10 a month and are subsistence farmers with small gardens. Some have children who try to help but very hard for everyone. A woman, with a nose ring dressed in a ragged red wrap, a blue top and a red worn scarf on her head came to receive her goat. She was the same woman who prayed so wonderfully with passion in 2017 when I was in Makwenpur. Upon her feet were old flip flops that had been held together in various places with black thick thread. Her face was filled with joyous tears as she told us she had been praying for over a year to somehow get enough money together to purchase one goat that she could breed -She received two goats and one was pregnant as were several others we gave that day. Her future can be better.

As a note ( a goat of medium size can be sold for around $75- but many of these goats have three babies at a time and so produce good income). We only give female goats as males roam villages and take care of the females! This area is lush so the goats will do well with eating much that is available naturally. So one by one they came. Dressed in their best, flip flops on their feet which were worn down to almost nothing by months of traveling over the rugged rocks. Feet so worn and often covered in sores and dirt. Next we delivered to 100 family’s blankets and the bitten rice in an overcast day that kept the heat away.. I asked God to bless each one as they came up to receive their gift…. Mothers with small children, old men and women all received and your contributions helped with this.

We have evaluated the situation and will do a medical camp in 2020 (hopefully I can get people to do this) and bring sewing machines to the villages to begin businesses.

Feed a man a fish he eats for a day…teach him how to fish he eats for a lifetime.

Our bus did not return so we climbed a 100 foot hill to reach a narrow dirt road to catch a tempo that ran along a cliff top. 5 of us piled in with the driver as we navigated along the cliff…when a bus came along in the opposite direction… I closed my eyes and prayed.

In His Name
Pam

From the Top of the World. Rain and chill has filled the air for the last three days. Grey clouds are filtered with light only when strikes of lightning are seen. This is most unusual for this time of the year. Snowcapped mountains, mist hovering half way up, greets me this morning. The skies have cleared a bit ( Saturday here) and occasionally the sun will peek out behind it veil of mystery of what is coming.

We managed to slip out for a few hrs and purchased the two computers for Mercy Childrens Home in Pokhara which we will deliver Sunday. Rotary Club of New York has been gracious enough to supply these and with the extra funds from the donation we will purchase educational supplies and perhaps a ping pong table for the children to play on.

After we returned with the computers, Sandip ran out in the rain to purchase three heavy duty sewing machines so that women in a local womans group can sew and sell things for an elderly home that is being prayed for. The land has been purchased and now the funds are being raised for a building. Nepal like many other countries has lost some of it traditional values by abandoning their elderly. Unlike America where most have some income, the elderly in Nepal have little income if any at all. My host family informed me of this need and we found the funds to buy these machines. Less than $300 and all three were purchased and are now set up in the church building. Bargaining is part of the purchases here and we got a very good deal.
Tomorrow we leave for Pokhara. More to come after our trip there…..

Mountains met us at every turn with incredible sites, from about 20 km into our trip. Majestic and white as if painted in the skyline with terraced slopes filled with a Kaleidoscope of colored crops growing. The muddy river rushes over rocks and debris meandering past little city after little city…then up and up and around and around another curve. Busses pass as do cars and motorcycles without apparent concern for oncoming traffic. There are some rules I cannot comprehend and decide to only open my eyes periodically. Heheh… after 7 hrs we reach Pokhara. A breath of fresh air and the Annapurna mountain range is a clear as I have ever witnessed it to be.

The next day we went shopping for Mercy Childrens Home. Sandip and Kalpana worked with the shop owner for 3 hrs in order to get the educational supplies needed for the 14 children at the home. Bargaining is always part of the culture. God once again blessed this time and we were able to get an entire years required curriculum for the 14 children and also purchased other Educational books a new white board and a world map to enhance the children’s learning. Along with the two laptops we purchased in Kathmandu that were loaded with Math, English and Science, the children are set for a year. The day went by quickly and we drove into the country where the home is located.

We got to Mercy Childrens home around 3:30 in the afternoon and set up everything we had purchased in the Study Hall before the children arrived at 5. Sher announced to the children that there were some new things for them…and we opened up the study to reveal the items. Of course we also got play items including soccer balls, a basketball and volley balls ( a pump too), rackets to play bat mitten with, a ring toss game they play and other smaller items. After 30 mimutes the children were still looking at books and really loving it. Of course the boys immediately went to pump up the balls. We are currently looking into having a cement ping pong table built, which will be a project, hopefully before I go.

A never ending parade of shoes for all occasions greets me in Nepal. Shoes for outside but once you step in the door you must put on another pair of shoes to walk in the house with. Please don’t forget to take those off those shoes and slip on a pair of rubber sandals to wear in the bathroom that are often wet from the previous user who washes their feet by pouring a small bucket of water over everything. Clean and efficient? Forget wearing socks to enter those frozen halls of concrete to use the facilities!

Stepping out of the bathroom you again slip on your inside shoes…..bedroom slippers can be different too….all in a day in Nepal.

The six hour drive took us from Kathmandu to the Terai region where it is warm and humid. Jungles abound as one enters the area after traveling up and down mountains and valleys. I had my first glimpse of the snowcapped mountains as we were into our trip by about an hr.

Terraced fields of cabbage and other cool weather plants grace the hills as we travel…little towns dot each area that has a flat expanse along the river. In the distance one can see the “slips” of land that the earthquake caused in 2015 and because of soil erosion. Huge cranes along the riverbanks supply the endless need of gravel for the cement factories. There is a never ending need as cement buildings are being made in Kathmandu. Women carry baskets on their backs filled with rock they pull from the rivers also. Children scamper precariously near the edge of the road as we careen around hairpin turns. I pray.
The Terai region is very different from Kathmandu. Warm and moist, chilly at night but very sun drenched in the day.

A barren inner courtyard meets us. Brown grass and withered bushes. Monsoons are yet to come. The “A frame” to a swing set without swings sits as a reminder of what is not. Classrooms with small round tables and mats on the floor are a reminder of needs. Broken chairs and visual aids hang lopsided on the dirty light green walls that greet us at the door. These children are of a very low caste in Nepal. The Mushar people. They are forgotten.

We came to visit this small school. The children here are all in K-3 class and very impoverished. Children of all sizes in ragged clothes met us with curriosity and some in fear but most in wonder.

Faces that reflected little hope. A little girl, perhaps six years old, dressed in what appeared to be blue pajamas sits on the ground with her only booklet of paper firmly under her leg. Another child grabs at it wanting to take it away she cries out…I sit down among them. Little do they know that the book bags we are about to give them contain 6 booklets of paper, new pencils, an eraser and a sharpener! We sit and I show them some English words. In a matter of seconds I am surrounded by 38 children all wanting to learn something. One little boy is frightened of me and stands back with his nose running and hair sticking up all over his head. He must be around 4. Luminous brown eyes look me over but he still stands back.

Our presentation lasts about 30 minutes. Sandip interprets for me and I ask the children to pay attention in school and ask several what are your dreams to be when you are older. There are no answers as if they have no idea of possibilities. I encourage them with words to learn and grow and become what they wish for later in life. We hand the book bags out with the supplies and each child gets and orange and banana. So little is met with joyous smiles. A first bag for many. The little boy who was frightened runs and grabs his bag but never comes close.

Homes of mud and stick meet our eyes with rejection of the possibility people can live this way. The families each have little fields in front of their homes. This is true subsistence farming. And this is tiger country.

We leave then go to a small church CFH helped to build many years ago. A place of sanctuary for many. Some of the school children attend small programs during the year that enhance their lives. They learn songs and get treats for a few hours. As we drive away I watch two 5 year olds carry large round disks of dung into their field. Piles dot the barren land as the first planting is about to take place. One child is showing the other child how to dump this precious material! Two five year olds working, just amazing.

As we continue I see a father trying to help his 6 year old son carry his new book bag. The young man cries out in terror and keeps a tight hold of it. The father waves to us with a great smile and allows his small one to continue down the dusty road hanging on to his precious new prize.

Always in His name….
Pam

The flight was long but good. It ever ceases to amaze me flying into Kathmandu.

Buildings upon buildings creep out of the small squares of land everywhere. Green, pink, blue homes seem to rise up 3 or more stories along the narrow unpaved roads. Some never completed after years remain as bones of cement. Rentals abound as only the rich can afford homes now with a small plot of land (342 sq feet) costing more than $20,000…so rentals abound with owners not responsible for any repairs of any kind. People are lucky to have a place to live I hear. The homes build up to rent lower floors and owners live on the top. This is the city of Kathmandu in Nepal. A faith in the Christian community is maintained against all the odds. Inspiring.

The van slowly follows traffic to take me to the Hotel for two nights. A small child wrapped in blankets of various colors squats on the street as dogs bark and growl at each other. Coldness is everywhere as little fires add to the air pollution but needed to keep warm. Fires made of anything- glowing in small round metal disks…..children squatting close with hands hovering to keep warm. Rain causes a deeper cold among the people who run with anything they can find above their heads. So cold.

Our mission is to go to rural areas where we can help the poor in villages, we will attempt to deliver goats to widows,facilitate a medical camp, deliver blankets, book bags full of needed supplies to children who have none , take two laptops and school supplies to a childrens home I have worked with for 5 years now, Mercy Children Home. And wherever we need to go and have the time.

We will start next week by going to the Terai – with an 8 hrs plus drive (warmer there I am told) where we have heard of a small village school where the children cannot afford any supplies. This school has 75 children below grade three. Our goal is to supply them with book bags, pencils and tablets of paper so that they have a better opportunity to learn. This will be my first trip there so I will evaluate the needs for the next trip. This is where CFH helped to build a church some years ago. In the past we have helped teachers with desk top computers loaded with learning materials to enhance learning for all in Babare. I will evaluate this trip to see if it is possible to bring computers to this school also next year.

This trip brought me to my knees., already. The temperature has hovered at night around 37 degrees. Thin window panes and no heat has allowed me to view life very differently. I have been here when cold before but this year it has also rained and the damp cold is bone chilling. I have spent two days in bed with stomach cramps (thank God that was all) reading scripture and leaning on the Lord for deliverance from this and motivation for this which I have been sent. My host family are wonderful and were concerned but I awoke today ( Tuesday in the US) feeling refreshed. God is good.

Dogs bark throughout the night, birds chirp with the morning sun. There is NO silence in Nepal. Streets are crammed with bikes,motorcycles, taxis, cars and various animals as always and the sounds of never ending construction. I have found my rest here in the hands of the Lord….he has forgiven me much and has graced me to be used. To give is the greatest pleasure to see a moment of joy in the faces of people and children here…such a blessing.

We are limited now outside of a church setting to preach the Gospel. India has applied a lot of pressure and now a government that opposes Christians is on the move. Arrests have been made again and so the pastors I work with are cautious. We know that God will work through our aide and know the pastors that have churches near by…as in Babare the church grew from 12 to over 50. God works in so many wonderful and mysterious ways in His great compassion.

In His Name

Pam