Days 12-13

Days 12-13 (March 12-13)

Day 12 began as a windy day. We enjoyed a slow start with Miriam and Aparna as we talked with them about spiritual matters. During these conversations, the two children who live here – a girl of eleven years and a boy of nine – interacted with us. They are very friendly and have adopted us as aunt and uncle. The little boy has a pet rabbit and Ute asked his mother if the little white rabbit could be let out of his cage so he could run around for a while. The mother said yes and so Ute and the little boy freed the rabbit so he could run in the garden.

The boy told Ute that they previously lost three rabbits to a dog that lives in the neighborhood and this is why they are careful now. They only let the rabbit out infrequently and with supervision. Outside in the garden area, little chicks roam around. While we were watching the chicks, the neighbors started shouting. When we looked at them, they were pointing to an eagle circling about. The little boy told Ute that the eagles are very fast and catch the chicks easily if they are out in the open. Here is a conversation Ute had with the little boy:

Ute: Does your family kill the rabbit for meat?

Boy: No! I don’t like rabbit meat. Do you?

Ute: No. What meat do you eat?

Boy: Chicken, pork. What do you eat?

Ute: Chicken, sometimes cow … (oooops)

Boy’s eyes grew wide in disbelief: You eat COW??

Ute, realizing her mistake: Sorry, you don’t eat cow meat in Nepal, right? You just use the milk.

Boy: Cow is sacred, is the state symbol. What is symbol for America?

Ute: The eagle.

Boy: A bird???

(note- eagles fly around here like vultures in the US – the people shoo them away because they could eat livestock)

Ute: Yes.

Boy: We sometimes eat eagle.

Ute: We don’t. The eagle is sacred in America and you are not allowed to kill it. (Touché)

Later in the afternoon, two engineers from Kathmandu rode their motorcycle here to survey Aparna’s land so they could design a small community center for single women and children. We were told by these engineers that the government had recently prohibited any public construction until April 25^th. Unfortunately, this time of year marks the beginning of the Monsoon season, which will make all construction more difficult and more expensive. It is frustrating to watch the government, which has done very little to help its country rebuild from the quake, create arbitrary obstacles for those here trying to help. This edict means that those foreigners who have come here to help have to now either leave or pay for their upkeep while waiting for the arrival of an arbitrary date. Not surprisingly, we have been told that millions of dollars donated for relief have been wasted as it was used for NGO administrative bloat or bribes to local officials to get paper work expedited. Of course, this inefficiency and corruption is not exclusive to Nepal.

There are bright spots too though. Sonam’s NGO is doing yeoman’s work helping the poor with young people leading the way. We are considering helping Aparna obtain the same human powered brickmaking machine Sonam’s NGO uses. In addition to being inexpensive, it is small and can be hauled to remote areas for use since it does not need either fuel or electricity. This would give the local villagers the opportunity to help themselves instead of waiting for outside intervention that may never come. On Monday we are going to a place in Kathmandu where we can observe the machine in operation. This machine is consistent with the principle of teaching one to fish instead of giving fish. If the locals have access to such a machine, they can assist in the building of homes, schools, and hospitals for themselves at significantly reduced costs. An added benefit is that the bricks could be sold by Aparna thus helping her on her mission of helping others.

With any construction now stalled, we are headed back to Kathmandu in a day or two to visit a cancer hospital, an orphanage, and some of Kathmandu’s sacred sites. We may even visit an elephant sanctuary.

Day 13

On Day 13 we hiked up to a Hindu temple dedicated to Kali, the goddess of destruction. Aparna told us that in 2003 or 2004 there was a massacre at this temple when twelve people were killed. A military man was flirting with a local girl and the local men did not approve and sent him away. The military man was enraged at being ousted and came back with his weapon. He went into the Temple while the service was in progress and randomly started shooting. He was able to kill eleven before another military man shot the shooter. We sent out a prayer for those souls because we could feel their pain lingering at the site.

When we walked down from the temple hill, we saw a big, multi story building. We asked Aparna about this building as it looked empty. She said the land was donated by Tara and Prakas Uprety to ‘Om Shanti’ as a sacred place and this order then build the multistory structure as well as a three story school building. Now, though, only 2-3 people live there. Since we had been discussing how to create a community center in the neighborhood as quickly as possible, I asked her if she knew the people who lived there and whether they would be open to hosting a community center. Aparna said those who lived there were very private and had strict rules on who could come inside the compound. They required all entrants to dress only in white and no one who smoked or drank was allowed in. They also prohibited all children. After the earthquake, this facility was undamaged. Literally hundreds of those who had lost their homes could have been helped had they opened the compound but this center kept its gates closed – despite the WELCOME sign in front.

On our search for earthquake resistant and price effective buildings, we encountered a local construction site where they were building a house out of bamboo. There structural pillars were made of 3-inch square hollow metal tubes that had bamboo stalks tied to them. The walls were comprised of bamboo stalks that had been split in half and then tied in vertically. Once the walls were finished, the inside and outside of the split bamboo was plastered with a mixture of mud, cow dung, and hay. Even if the house lost the plaster during an earthquake, it could easily be re-plastered.

In the afternoon we allowed ourselves a little treat and went to the village to get a massage at the hotel that caters to foreign tourists because you can see Mount Everest from their balcony on a clear day. The hard beds we have been sleeping on have taken a toll on our bodies. On our walk back home, we stopped by a house where a family that has real needs lives. The mother gave birth to seven children but two have died recently. The eldest son is mentally challenged and is treated like an animal by his father. Unfortunately, the father is mostly absent because he is an alcoholic who spends what he makes on himself. This means the mother is left to care for five children without help. She soldiers on without complaint because she has no choice. Her main interaction with her husband is when he gets drunk and passes out on the side of the road, she has to go and carry him home. These people are really tough. They have nothing and most overcome their depression and anxiety because self-sufficiency is their only option. Despite their poverty, they brought out little stools for us to sit on and wanted to offer us a meal. In our experiences in the third-world, the poor are always wanting to share with others what little they have. We declined for we did not want to take away from their limited resources.