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.

January 20 – trip to Dhading

The minivan picked us up on the way to Dhading with Sher and Kalpana and the Kidz at Heart team. Traveling again on these windy roads reminds me of the time it takes to just travel short distances here. We arrived in Dhading to find out we could not take the van past a certain point because the incline in the hill was too great and so we enlisted the help of a jeep type vehicle to take us up the rest of the way to the temporary village of the Chepang people. The minivan was full as there were 9 of us and or mascot was Dani who is five.

An old lady squats by the side of the road washing dishes as we pass, children walk the long the narrow road with traffic whizzing by to get to school and chickens run wild looking for anything to eat. A rooster crows in the background and the fog lifts as we make our way to the Chepang people. We disembark in Dhading and across the tiny street a woman sits with her grandchildren. A blue cloth is wrapped around her head and an old shawl of grey and pink covers her shoulders that has seen its better days. A wisp of grey hair hangs from her blue crown . She seems as if time is just passing. I ask if I can take a picture of her withered face and I stoke my face and tell her she is beautiful and her eyes glimmer for a moment and she smiles, slightly.  9 of us then pile into and old jeep…and an extra driver. 3 women and two men in the back two tiny little bench seats, three women in the middle seat and the driver and Kidz team leader in the front. To say we are stuffed in an understatement. Up we go on a very dusty road for about 3 or 4 miles to the temporary village.

Children gather around and several are sitting on a yellow empty rice bag with a string tied to it. Four boys pull them along to squeals of laughter and then the string pops…more laughter. Distribution begins to the anxious faces of many. We pray out loud as the children wait, names are called and faces change from weary to joyful. Each child received a warm outfit from baby one piece heavy duty sleeper to hoodies for the older children. Distribution is done in and hour and a half and then we begin to walk down the mountain. The path is long and steep, fields lie in front of us terraced and full of life, behind us are tents made of metal and plastic. It is cold in Nepal and very difficult for these families. CFH intends to return with blankets later in February. We come to a hanging bridge that jiggles and shakes and sways. I chose not to look down after I saw so many pins missing from the cables. Hurriedly I crossed and pressed thru the town of Dhading that has not had many earthquake effects. Animals abound as the fields are turning yellow with mustard plants to produce oil. The hills have fallen in so many places with displaced people living in tin shelters provided by different large orgainzations, mean to last a few months and now one year will pass in a few months.

Another team for ChangeforHpe went back up to Dolakha to deliver books bags to children who had lost everything in the earthquake. Again a long trip on a bus and then walking down dusty roads. Every child in the elementary school ( over 100) received a book bag. Rajan and Simon lead this group to the joy of the children.

January 22 – trip to Nagarkot

Sandip, Saru, I and Kalpana heard of a small village on the mountain of Nagarkot. 20 homes had been ruined by the earthquake and were in desperate need of blankets. We decided we would go after a woman called Sandip and said she had heard about our distribution plans of blankets.

We traveled in a white minivan for over two hours thinking we could make it the whole way when the road abruptly ended into a gravel road full of ruts and holes. Nagarkot is a famous place for people to see sunrises and sunsets as it is high up a mountain. This village was on the back side of the mountain another two hrs down and around. A truck was picking up fire wood and told us very casually, while inspecting the balled tires,that there was no way we would make it down 5 miles to the other side of the mountain. Shortly a battered white truck with metal open sides came aroaund the corner carrying water barrels, and Sandip offered to pay them to travel down the mountains. They agreed and in the back with the milk jugs and black barrels we jumped in. To say the road was rough is an understatement and the two hr ride was breathtaking and “interesting” to say the least as we rounded bends on these roads, dipping to the left and seeing valleys thousands of feet away seemingly only inches away. I closed my eyes several Emoji times. Mountain homes can be seen everywhere in broken states. As we traveled holding on to the rails, sitting on the white clothed mound of blankets, I often thought about the people living here. Such beauty in the picturesque hills cultivated with steps, green and lush forests surrounding us, a patchwork of greens, yellows and browns in the vista. We traveled for two hrs this way trying to reconcile beauty with devastation. WE stopped suddenly to a man in the road motioning for us that this was the place. Up a path we walked to a small village where every house could no longer be lived in. All upper floors had caved into lower rooms which were now being used for storage where they could. 5 men carried the white bundle up full of blankets (44) and we handed them out to men, women and children. Each family received two blankets. We were offered many cups of tea! It was wonderful to know that this night they would sleep better. Old women came and thanked us along with men and children. A harsh life for them as they attempt to rebuild using much of the materials that are now in heaps on the ground. We departed to the truck waiting and retuned up the hills and around the valleys without the use of the bundle of blankets to make our bottoms feel slightly better in the jostling of our bones, the sun setting and the cold moving in. God is good and we accomplished another goal in bringing hope and the Good news to people. A withered woman with a large smile said goodbye to me with a hug….