Another week of work very satisfying to the soul….

She sits every morning outside my kitchen window squatting in a lean-two shed next door that is little more than a 4×6 cubical made of tin and block. A man nearby hacks every morning and I am told that he has the lung disease called TB. I am not sure about this as everything is a “gastric stomach” issue that has anything to do with ones abdomen. A cement floor covered in layers of soot from previous fires and a piece of board are there to meet her. Crumpled bags made of plastics and fiber form a wall at one end, red, yellow and white greet my eyes. Three old bricks elevate a flat pot that she cooks on blackened with years of wear with the wooden handle pocked from previous spitting fires. She is old ( I think) but one cannot tell as thin grey smoke billows past her into our kitchen window in whiffs that wakes me up. She shoos the chickens out as she enters her cave. She does not sing but stokes the fire with little twigs gathered earlier from the parched field across the road. A black and white crumpled piece of cloth is wrapped around her head and she is overtly dressed in things that do not match, a bluish skirt, with multicolored strips and layers of cloth surround her body down to her ankles. A red sash ties everything together. None looks clean . At 5:30am a cock crows, in dismal light filled with smoke and mist, during this cold winter morning and I wonder how this old woman does this! Upon her feet are battered flip flops that in a previous life were red. Her toes peek out from under her skirt which are bare and stained. She is constant and has done this since the first day I was here. I am not sure what she is cooking but a large light brown cow and her calf share another small shed that is attached. The overall space is cramped between two walls and buildings and down a slope made of cement that is narrow and a water drain. This is Nepal.

January 25 – Trip to the Bankariya people

Another 8 hours of rough roads up and down mountains, through flat lands, over metal and sometimes wooden bridges that creaked as the jeep went over and thru small rivers to bring rice and blankets to a people displaced from the mountains. The team was up at 5:30 am to get ready, blankets were assembles and we waited for the jeep. Sher and Kalpana, Sandip and Saru, I and Rajan got into the jeep and all the blankets were on top. We began our way on another very cold morning in Kathmandu. I don’t think my nose has strayed this cold for years.

January 17, 18, 19 – children’s ministry classes – Kidz at Heart

This week has been full of wonderful opportunities to learn about Childrens Ministry and place it in Nepal. A group originating in Arizona ( so funny) is here with team members from different states they are doing such a wonderful job making childrens ministry appropriately encouraging and engaging for all ages. We went with Kidz at Heart and helped them deliver warm clothing and evaluated this village and the people for further work in Dhading while another team went to Dolakha and delivered book bags to 100 school children who lost everything and Sandip and team went to a village in Nagarkot to deliver blankets to a small village of 20 families we heard about.

Saturday night we separated 200 blankets from the bound 40 piece bundles that were delivered. Sandip and David tied rope around 12 at a time and mounds of blankets were everywhere. Dani at 5 saw them as a challenge to climb and fall on! The blankets were close weaved wool which will be good in all types of weather for the Chepang people.

Sunday morning thick grey fog was swirling around the building as we woke up at 4am. We waited for the micro bus to come around 5am to excitement in our hearts. It took us an hr to load up all the blankets even with Sher Lama, his wife and two teen boys helping. WE piled in at 6am, the eight of us and began our 6 hr journey in the pitch black crowded conditions but content. As short as I am my knees still cramped and the seats were narrow and hard. Traffic is better this year because of the shortage of petrol. Petrol is available if you wait in long lines ( we are talking lines of cars and busses parked for days and a mile long) or purchase on the black market. And so the streets are not as crowded. People can be seen everywhere surrounding little trash fires to get warm. Smoke fills the air as we fly by. Busses wait curbside waiting to be over stuffed with people to make their journeys across Kathmandu. We drive slowly thru Kalanki Chowk ( cross roads) to start our journey up into the mountains, then down again and up and down numerous times. Thick fog surrounds us as we slowly wind our way around the various loops in the mountains, upon bumpy gravel roads and pray we don’t go off a side cliff. I am glad it is dark outside. Construction is being done to widen the road which I am told will take ten years to complete and lots of “stopped” traffic for travelers. WE were blessed and were able to drive at a pretty steady pace. We stop at several places to use the restrooms which can only be described as overused and cleaned once a day after hundreds of uses. I roll my pant legs up and pray. On our way again after some noodle soup. I purposely drink less than I should for obvious reasons.