Saturday Last post this trip.

We have just returned from church this morning, and it was really cold in the big building.  On Thursday night,we went to Tusal to meet some of the new arrivals.  There was the usual singing and dancing  to make them feel welcome.  We had a special dinner cooked for us of fried chicken pieces , omlet, papadums , and of course, rice and dahl  The kids consumed mountains of rice as is their habit.  One or two were a little overwhelmed but the next day, all seemed to be well with everyone.  Yesterday, I photographed any new ones, about 23, and today will , with an interpreter, get as many of their stories as possible.  Some are too young to get much out of.  There was one little girl there who is only 5, and a tiny little thing.  She cuddled up beside me, and I held her hand, and it was so hard and work-worn and rough.  Her little face was dry and scaly  from being out in the weather.  I wondered how hard this tiny little thing has had to work.    One of the young women who is a helper came and asked me to pray for her and her family/.  She is studying, but her mum is one of two wives and I think life must be  pretty tough for her,  The mother is a Christian.  This young woman knelt in front of me and put her face in my lap and sobbed her heart out as I prayed for her.  All of the children were surrounding us, watching every move  The older girls here are so mature and help all the little ones, and serve and cook, and always eat last once everyone is fed.  They are only 14 or so.  Grahame had to give a little talk on Thursday night to the new arrivals, and he praised the older girls for their mature and servant attitudes.  Afterwards, a little 15 year old, who had been rescued from India,  came over to Grahame and threw her arms around his neck and was weeping uncontrollably .  When she composed herself, she said she had such terrible memories to live with, but when she received his praise, she said she was crying for joy because she remembers where she has come from and she was so thankful for God's blessing on her life.  The other thing that was wonderful, the two teenagers who have been saved from India were up in front leading these little new ones in songs of praise, and they also take devotions with the young ones.  Can any of us imagine how  amazing that is.  They would never in their wildest dreams have believed that the life they are now living would have ever been possible.  But, now it is time to pack up and clean-up.  I'm looking forward to walking down the footpath and not having to negotiate spit and cow pats.  Also, to have 24 hr. electricity But we will miss these lovely people and their hearts full of joy.  God is everything to them in spite of many hardships and to watch them worship is awesome.    W

Thursday, our time almost at an end

Finally, we seem to have everything sorted out at the Transformation Guest House.  The carpet man came and laid the carpet in the lounge.  An old fashioned style, with roses,which I like.  We went out and bought a lot of board games, badminton sets and volley ball sets, also some leggo type things for the little ones at the Tusal hostel.  It is so much easier to provide these things now that all our girls will be in one place.  It will be very full and Grahame is arranging for four more toilet/shower rooms to cope with the large group.  We are having dinner with them all tonight.  There will be more to come tomorrow as it is a big job relocating children from all over the city, especially as there are exams on at present.  By tomorrow, they all should be in one place.  I hope to see more of my little sponsor girl now, as she was in one of the other hostels.  Raju is in the Philippines at present, but we had a call from him as he saw a story in the paper about a lady who burnt herself to death.  She had a baby, an 18 month old and another under 3, and couldn't cope with the hardship.  Raju wants his people to follow it up and maybe they will be new little ones for the Miriam centre.  The old grandmother currently has the children but cannot care for them.  When some people can barely manage one meal a day, life can be pretty overwhelming.  Our landlord has moved out from upstairs but we don't officially take over till early in February.  I hope I get a chance to get a better look at our upstairs accommodation.  I have to interview quite a few new girls for their stories before we go back.  As we leave on Sunday, tomorrow we have other things we need to do to finalise everything before we go, so it leaves Saturday afternoon.  Grahame and I have an invite to a special event at 5.30p.m. on Saturday, but I don't think I will be able to go as the stories are the most important , for the sponsors.  Raju led two people to the Lord the day before he left.  Where ever he goes,there is someone coming to Christ.  It is amazing.  The young couple who are houseparents at Tusal do a fabulous job.  He is only 28 and they have a little baby.  They are both doing studies, and will be looking after almost 100 girls.  He is also very involved with the church and is also Raju's " go to" man for all the running around.  He was saying he wants to spend the next 5 years learning as much as he can from everyone, and then he wants to do something great for the Lord.  Grahame told him he is already doing great things for God.  He is so humble, he thinks what he is currently doing is not much.           Robyn

Moving - continued

On Sunday night we were so exhausted, and Raju says we are going out for dinner.  It as the last thing we wanted as all we wanted to do was flop into bed.  Anyway we dragged ourselves out.  It turned out it was a church member who was just opening up a lovely new Chinese restaurant and we were invited as guests on the opening night.  The story about these people was great.  10 years ago they were washing dishes in a chinese restaurant.  Raju met them and over quite a long period, taught them about the Lord.  They came to Christ 8 years ago.  They were married and then got better jobs as cooks in the restaurant and now they are opening their own.  They are church leaders in one of Raju's satellite churches and have two little ones.  They don't open on Saturday because they honour the Lord for that day.  It would be their big trading day, but God has blessed them.  They are such a lovely couple, smile all the time with such gentle natures.  The carpet man will be here shortly, will write again soon.  Am looking forward to 24 hour electricity and some warm weather

Robyn

Tuesday - New Guest House

It has certainly been a full few days.  We packed up on Saturday afternoon, and on Sunday a big truck  came, doing five trips to transport  all our beds and furniture and boxes of everything.  I was a bit worried as they loaded the truck to capacity  with all our stuff looking very precarious, but three guys jumped on top of everything and held it all together as the truck wound its way through narrow streets narrowly missing his side mirrors.  When people rent here, they take all the curtains, and carpet so we had to pull up all our carpet from the other place and bring it with us.  Unfortunately, all our stuff arrived and then as we got the carpet man to relay our carpet, we had to keep emptying out each room and reshuffling everything and repeat the process for each room.  We have one final room to do and that is the lounge.  We are getting a new carpet for there and gradually we are getting things into place. All the beds had to be taken apart, and Grahame is currently reassembling them all.  The kitchen was thick with fat, so we scrubbed the kitchen for hours to get it clean and then on our hands and knees scrubbed the terrazzo  floor to get off all the dirt.  It is quite a lovely floor when it is clean.  Everything runs on gas because of the power shortages.  We have had a further cut so we can't keep much in the refrigerator.  We had no hot water here so yesterday, a man came and installed a direct gas water heater.  It was so good to have a hot shower.  We went a couple of days without a shower.  The people here are funny when someone moves in.  They just come into the house and look around and see what is going on.  They don't knock or ask if they can come inn.  A little lady who does the cleaning for the people upstairs just wandered in, looking around, and I think asking if she could be our cleaner.  If she was the cleaner for the previous tenants, I don't think we would want her services.  Then grandma from upstairs wandered in.  About 4ft.6in. with hardly any teeth, smiling and talking wildly, gesturing frantically in a vain attempt to make me understand what she was saying.  Then grandad turned up, plus a little girl.  Then the electrician came, as most of the lights didn't work, and a carpenter doing a few touch ups.  They were fascinated to see Grahame on his knees scrubbing the floor.  I am sure no Nepalese man would be seen dead doing that.  One of the young men from the church sorted out our intent, hence the blog . Will continue on next blog

Robyn

Moving Guesthouse

Robyn and i are on our own now for the next week.
I still have some things to do catching up with Leslie from  KICS and Bimala from Higher Ground as well as the registration for the Vocation Training Centre.
Today is the day we move. We are surrounded by boxes and the beds and curtains are all stripped.
We are expecting a bus load of people to help after 10am because in Nepal life begins at 10am.

We are expecting to be off line for a couple of days due to the change in location and the need to set up the Internet and Wifi in the new place.

Going from one floor to four floors is a bit of a leap of faith but there is every indication that we will need the extra space to accommodate the growing number of teams who have expressed interest in coming later this year. We pray that the extra use will defray the extra cost.

The Bottom floor of the new Guesthouse will be the Vocational Training facility and will also provide a cafe for guests.

A Young couple from the church will be married soon and will move into one room to be the caretakers.

There is enough ground to enable the Sychar ladies to cultivate vegetables. The Half-way house is only 5 minutes walk away.

The Vocation Training has already commenced at the half-way house and Tusal hostel and the equipment from both these venues will be moved during February.

It is an exciting new phase for the ministry and one which we believe will bear much fruit leading into sustainable Micro businesses.

The new facility will be called 'Transformation Guesthouse' and the likewise the Voc. Ed Centre will be "Transformation Vocation Training Centre" Raju has really caught onto the concept of Transformation.

Saturday 19th

We have just returned from church.  It was a little sad to see Lyn and Katie saying goodbye to their two girls as they are flying home this afternoon.  Last night we went to a nice restaurant  with the two girls,  and they loved to be a "little bit fancy".  Lyn was able to spend a fair bit of time with Ruth and goes home with a greater understanding of the culture, and has seen where they come from, and to rejoice to how far they have come.   We went , once again, out to Dololghat, the site of our future camp area, church, community centre and school , plus much more, if Grahame has anything to do with it.  It is a lovely drive out there (2hrs) on a winding road, overlooking valleys , all terraced, where at present wheat is growing, and later there will be rice and millet.  The river is beautiful, winding through the mountains.  In the future we hope to be able to take our Badi girls out there for a holiday; as , at present' they don't get out of Kathmandu.  There is a massive statue of "Shiva" , a Hindu god, on the way out.  It must be 70ft. high and stands on top of a mountain for all to see.  Sort of reminds me of Nebuchadnezzar and his great statue. But Shiva will come tumbling down like all other idols, as we see the church growing from strength to strength in spite of opposition.  Opposition is probably what makes the church stronger.  A couple of weeks ago at church, the sermon was about having a Thankful heart; an attitude of gratitude and this week, it was a challenging message on the power of the tongue for good and evil and what comes out of the mouth, shows what is in our heart.  We are having lunch with Raju, before Lyn and Kate fly out.  Then Grahame and I will be here alone ready to face moving into the other quest house.  That is if the tenant has really moved out.  If you don't hear from me in the next few days, it will because of internet troubles and we have to move all that technology and from past experience, I'm not all that confident that it will be up and running.

Robyn

Thursday

 We may have another little baby soon.  Apparently, there are two mothers who gave birth.  One had a little boy and the other a little girl.  Both women claim that the boy is theirs.  They are doing a DNA test to find out who is the real mother. (Solomon would have benefited from modern technology)  But the end of it is that no one wants the little girl so once the confusion is sorted out, and we are assuming the mother of the little girl won't want her, we will take her in with our babies.    Bill Newman was planning to come here in April for a crusade, in the Chitwan district, but it has had to be postponed due to political unrest.  We have been advised by a member of parliament that it could be unsafe and there will be strikes, so no one can travel.  There is also risk of personal injury if we were doing something if we were so overt in the gospel.  It is Hindu and Maoist stirrers  who are very unhappy with the government so we don't want to put our Aussie friends in harms way; nor do we want the people in the church down there to suffer any backlash after we leave.  It shows how unstable things are here still.   Bureaucrats are wanting to pass a ordinance that stops Christian orphanages from preaching the gospel to the children.  It is not a law officially passed but they are trying to  enforce it.  Raju said if they enforce the proposed ordinances,  he will go to the government and say "You take care of the almost 400 kids , if that is what you expect to do.    Lyn, Kate and I went to the school today to show our school and to visit with Ruth again.

Robyn

Wednesday 16th

Grahame, Lyn, Kate, Lloyd, and Kumar arrived at about 9 p.m. last night, weary from their few days out bush.  They arrived with three girls, one that had been out there for the court case I mentioned, another girl in her mid teens,  who Kate has decided to sponsor, and the other little girl. Didsya, if you  know how to pronounce it.  I don't.  The girls have great fun listening to us trying to get our tongues around these names.  There was a very happy reunion as they were back with each other.  Today, I took Lyn and Katie to the half-way house to see the ladies, who were busily sewing some new clothes. There are three little children there, two belong to one of the ladies and one little boy belongs to another.  They are pretty unruly and the poor little puppy gets a bit of a hard time.  We were hoping it wouldn't be catapulted over the balcony on the flat roof top where the children were playing.   We then went onto Tusal to meet up with Lyn's girl as she came home from school.  They look so much younger when they are in their  uniforms and their hair in little plaits with ribbons.  It is hard to believe what she had been through in India.

Robyn

Tuesday 15th

The troups out at Chinchiu have had a very eventful  day on Monday.  I had a phone call from Grahame last night to say that Raju went to visit the family of the young women he had led to the Lord the day before and the Mother and Brother also accepted Christ.  It turns out that the mother, brother and sister are the family of one of the girls in Tusal, Sima, who was in the sewing class.  Apparently, the girls pray 3 times a day for their families to come to the Lord.  They were also able to locate the little girl who did not come in last time, and she will be travelling home with them.  Also the girl who had to testify at the trial of the trafficker will be returning also.  The machinery for the block making was also delivered to the church leader at Garbage river, who will be responsible to begin this little industry.If all goes well, we hope to build on it in the future.

Robyn

Monday

It is Monday afternoon and it is very quiet here.   Miriam is having a nap, as she has to fly out this evening and the rest of the team are 600 miles away in Chinchiu.  I will be home alone till tomorrow night.  I don't feel at all nervous though,  Grahame rang this morning to say Raju has lead a young women to the Lord at the hotel where the team is staying.  He is a remarkable man. This is a regular occurrence   The Micro financing guys are up there, also Lyn and Katie.  Grahame is trying to locate a little girl we thought  was coming in last September, but her father wouldn't let her come.  She is a cousin of the 3 other little girls we brought in.  There is also a young girl , 15, who was kidnapped and taken to India to a brothel there.  She has since been rescued and is living in one of the hostels here.  But she had to go back to her town, as there is a court case about her kidnapping and she has to testify against this guy.  He has been trying to bribe her to lie, so he can get off.  Raju told her just to tell the truth. If this guy gets off, it is a message to other traffickers  that they can get away with it.  It must be a daunting thing for a 15 year old to be in this position, but these girls must be strong or they wouldn't have survived the ordeal they have already been through.  The last couple of weeks has been very full on, but we were blessed with great team members and a great deal has been accomplished.  Our last team members leave on the evening of 19th and we move house on 20th.  I'm glad Raju has arranged for other people from the church to do the heavy lifting.  The double bunks weigh a ton and they have to  be taken down stairs and up again at the other place.

Robyn

Gifts of Gold

When I arrived here two weeks ago, armed with literally kilograms of lessons plans, photocopies and textbooks, I had no idea of the joy this experience would bring. Phase 2 of the Effective Teaching Series challenges all notions of the purpose of Education here in Nepal.  In a system where you are ranked against your peers on report cards, making high marks is the ultimate goal, and where the only strategy to learning is by rote, the truth of each of us having different gifts, learning in different ways and our ultimate goal being to serve him in our own unique way brought freedom that was often visible on my student's faces. I got to return to my primary training roots and played games and sang songs.  At first my challenges to think creatively and ask questions were a bit too much for some, but they took to opening their mouths eventually and were getting the hang of our noisy communicative Australian style by the time the course was through.

For me, I was in heaven teaching these wonderful people who are so eager to learn God's principles, so honouring in their approaches, so invested in their nation's future. Raju is literally equipping his people to be transformers, of this region, this nation, the neighbouring nations and the world.  The degree of vision and taking responsibility for welfare of this land is like nothing I have seen before in my travels. Like many of my fellow presenters, I am leaving knowing that it is I who have been blessed and changed more than I can begin to describe. God brought me here to Nepal to meet people who have poured wisdom and love into my life. They are, all of them, gifts of gold!

Miriam Ham
Lecturer CQU

Saturday Church

Saturday - we went off to another church at one of the hostels and saw some more of our girls.  It was very cramped but freezing.  Then in the afternoon , we went to Tusal for one of our Australian sponsors   who  came all this way to met Ruth.  It was a very teary meeting, and then they sat a chatted for a couple of hours.  Lyn and her daughter Katie have flown out this morning to the place "Garbage River" where the girls come from just to get an idea of how they lived before they came here.  Grahame has gone also with three other men who are working on the micro financing programme.  They will be gone till the evening of the 15th.  So Miriam and I are here by ourselves.  Miriam has worked so hard in the past two weeks, so today we are having a girl day and going into Thamel, the tourist area, for a bit of a look around and lunch at the Garden of Dream  Miriam flies home tomorrow so tomorrow night I am home alone.  I need to start trying to pack up our stuff (there is lots of it) as we will be moving on the 20th into our new guest house, that is if the current tenants have moved ( I know Nepal and how things work)

Robyn

Friday- Ups and downs of Nepal

We only had two 15 min. blocks of electricity in 24 hours, today.  We had food defrosting in out little fridge, I just started the washing as soon as the power came on and then it went off again.  I had to go all the washing Nepalese style, by hand.  These poor women do it all the time.  Then the washing machine broke down when the power came back on again,  We had new people arriving and we were stumbling around in the dark, as they hadn't brought torches.  But on the other hand we took some of our folks to see the girls and the babies at Tusal, and Stephen Fyson taught the kids some action songs  and they really loved all that. During the day it is lovely on the flat roof tops of the buildings here.  The kids have their lunch there.  Eating mountains of rice with dahl and curried veges.

Robyn

Knowing how to celebrate but big!!

What a wonderful and open people they are here in Nepal.

Today we had the graduation and celebration ceremony for the end of this training course.  These people are so open hearted that they applaud for each other for long periods of time (back home in Australia we seem to fatigue in our ability to keep encouraging each other)...

They also think to say thank you in substantial ways to all those who have helped in any way at all.  The cheer that the cook received was long, loud and incredibly appropriate :)

And more than all of this, they express joy, gratitude and hope in our Lord through music and words in ways that stir the heart.  For me, the time here has enriched me in more ways than I can currently put into words.

When I get home I will look again at Grace - because here in Nepal God has used the time of fellowship to remind us of His throne of mercy and grace (you can read about it at the end of Hebrews chapter 4).

God is good...

Stephen J Fyson PhD

From Craig Murison

I am just finishing a week in Nepal with Educate Nepal. I have been teaching on leadership. While I have taught in other third world situations in Africa, I have never experienced a more receptive audience than I have experienced here. The people are really beautiful. They are very hungry to grow. Not just for the sake of growth, but so that they can see their nation transformed by the Gospel of Jesus Christ!

They want to see the nation of Nepal transformed and all the surrounding nations as well.

Seeing the Badi girls, the girls who would normally be sold into the sex trade, just worshipping God brings great joy to my heart. We visited the hostels and the half way house where these girls, and women, are given the chance to live lives free from fear and abuse. When they sing praises to God they really lift the roof. They know God's grace. They really know God's grace.

I have been left in awe of their hunger for more of the Christian life.

As always, I have been changed and impacted far more than any impact I may have had through my teaching.

As  go back to my school in Australia I pray that I might take even just a small measure of the humility and hunger of the Nepali Christians.

The work of Educate Nepal, facilitated by Grahame and Robyn Kerr, is making a very big difference in this amazing nation. God is alive and well in the shadow of the Himalayas, in the shadow of Mt Everest.

Thursday

Today, my doll making class finished and then we had a party.    They were all giggly and excited.  I bought a cake and lollies and we had and great time, then we all danced together.  They are so great.  The conference also finished today, and the graduation ceremony was after lunch.  It is difficult to describe the atmosphere, but there were about 115 delegates and they are all so appreciative of what they have been taught and they just soak up everything.  At the beginning they played Nepalese music and some of the lovely girls came out the front and danced in their graceful style.  They are so honouring of all the trainers.  It is so refreshing how the show such respect.

The trainers say they have been so blessed and feel they have learned so much from these lovely people here.  Once people have been here, they always want to come back.

Robyn

What a Privilege!

Imagine what it is like to travel about 10,000 kilometres to meet people who are mostly strangers, live in community in a home in a street in the back of a foreign city, and then spend your days working with translators while you teach teachers.

That is one way of describing this week of privilege that I have had as part of the teaching team here in Kathmandu at the Educate Nepal conference.

The other way of describing this is that it is a sweet experience of unity and fellowship in Christ.  It is inspiring to see what brothers and sisters in Christ are achieving and hoping for in the face of adversity and with so little (compared to back home in Australia).  It is transforming in the way it renews hearts and minds as we consider and learn together about the impact of God's grace on our lives - both personally, corporately, and professionally.

So I give great thanks to God for the opportunity for this privilege.  May God continue to bless those who work so faithfully in organising these opportunities - especially 'Papa Grahame and Mamma Robyn'!

Shalom,

Stephen J Fyson PhD

Tuesday8th

We went to sign up for the new guesthouse this afternoon.  At present there is a carpet factory on the ground floor.  They were cutting out patterns in the carpet with scissors.  I have never seen anything like it.  One man was cutting out rose patterns with no pattern and it was really beautiful.  The first floor will be our new abode, the second floor will be for mission teams and then on the top of the building there is another few rooms that we will probably have some caretakers live permanently to keep an eye on the place and work in the vegie gardens.  It is older than our present digs but it is quite nice.  It seems like a rabbit warren to get there through narrow winding  little lanes but Grahame tells me there is a shorter way.  With my sense of direction, I will probably get lost.
The training is going really well and all the delegates are really appreciative. The Keynote addresses have been complimentary and this is the first year we have had ETS 1, 2 & 3 running.Together with that the leadership teaching has been a high standard and Kumar started on Micro Credit today. I sat in for most of it and was very encouraged by the answer to the question Why we do MC. To help the poor and build the church. We have had two men come to Christ yesterday and a young intellectual young man breakdown this morning when trying to tell the impact the conference is having on his life.
Another women told of how she has wanted to come to conference for years but had been hindered and was so glad to be there and how it was helping her so much. She is the house mother at the Sychar Halfway House and said that she has been scolding the women for not doing things right. She has now learned that she needs to relate to them as equals. Only God knows what a difference that will make to the power of her witness. There is a man who has been working in Saudi Arabia for 6 years and through the teaching he has learned what his purpose is for being there which is more than to earn money for his family but rather to witness for jesus. There are 40,000 Nepalese working in Saudi Arabia. Also fas a direct result of the conference Raju is now including sending in his mission statement as he has been challenged by the Lord for Kathmandu to be a centre for training and sending missionaries to Transform the surrounding nations as well as Nepal. We have been so blessed by the presenters and the responsiveness of the delegates.

Monday 7th January

Another lovely sunny day here in Kathmandu.  Very cold at night though.  I hear it is very hot and bad bush fires in Tassie and Victoria.  My girls in the doll making class were a bit tired today, as they were out till 10 p.m.on the final day of shooting on the movie.  But because the three I had yesterday were a long way ahead of them, they really worked hard.  We were putting faces on the dolls of three girls today and I am absolutely amazed at how good they are.  Binu, who has never touched a machine in her life, is remarkable.  Her hand sewing is so neat and she is instructing the other girls.  All during the class they want to know if my marriage is a love or arranged marriage.  They are dreaming of love marriages just like any young teenagers.  As one girls was stuffing her doll she said she wanted to make it fat like Mama ( that's me)  A little demoralising. I am sorry to be only talking about me side of things, but when the trainers get home, we have dinner and then they are preparing for the next day.  I will try to get them to write some comments because they are so impressed with everything and it would be nice to hear from someone else other the me.  Dr. Steve Fyson arrived last night at 11 p.m..  It always falls to poor Grahame to go out late at night to the airport.  Grahame is on his way to the airport now to meet another man, Kumar, whom we have not met, but he is coming to train on Community Development.  We were anticipating another man, Lloyd Dunlop as well but he had to have a minor operation unexpectedly, so I think he will be arriving on the 12th.  On the 11 th, one of our sponsors arrives with her adult daughter, and they will be here till 19th.  Then we move into the new guesthouse on the 20 th.  As you can imagine, I'm ecstatic (not) about moving all this furniture and equipment and "stuff".  Fortunately, I'm sure there will be many strong young men from the church to do the heavy lifting, leaving only the organisation at the other end. Grahame and I will be here till the 27th to make sure all is in place for the next team at the end of March.

Robyn

Sunday, Inverter Heaven

What a relief.  After a week and a half we finally have an inverter operating.  It charges our computers and phones etc. during the power outs but most importantly it runs the sleep apnea machines while the power is off.  Two of our gentlemen  snore like bullock drivers and it will be great to have some silence tonight.  It has taken all this time for the "experts" to work out what was wrong and we were also very happy to find our warranty as it was going to cost at least $200 for a new battery.  My sewing class was very small today.  Only three were there at class.  The others were out  being extras in a movie that is being made about the underprivileged  in Nepal.  They were very excited.  Doll making played a very poor second to being in a movie.  Never in their wildest dreams would they have imagined they could do anything like it.  We are thrilled, as it draws attention to the situation here.

Robyn

Saturday5th

What a big day.  We left this morning at 8 a.m.  with 5 team members to a village church about 2 hours drive from here.  David Coates was preaching.  It is a magnificent drive through the mountains.  All the terraced hillsides, and snow capped mountains.  The Church is in a loft in a tumble down little building.   They are simple country folk but they always appreciate visitors.  We also walked over the land where we plan to have a new church, community centre, campsite etc.,  It is on a slope leading down to a beautiful river surrounded by mountains.  We  have put down a deposit and are trusting the Lord for the balance.  We have seen so many wonderful things happen here since we first came, so we look forward to seeing what will happen.  Two team members went to  other churches to preach.  Each of the new team members are enjoying their time here and are blown away by the beautiful people here.  We are on the go all the time and we all fall into bed worn out each  day.  But it is a nice feeling after a full day.  Yesterday, I was at the Miriam Centre and saw the little babies having a massage with mustard oil.  It seems they do this instead of bathing.  They are as brown as berries, and  putting on weight.  We went to all of the hostels and also the half-way house also.  The women at the half-way house look so wonderful.  They are so changed, much softer looking, and so happy to see us.  Out comes the lovely ginger and pepper tea for all.  They also have a little puppy to look after and it is being loved to death  We have another team member arriving tomorrow, and another one the next day.  And three  more in a few days.  Will write again tomorrow

Robyn

Friday

It is 5.45 a.m. and five team members have just left for a plane trip of the Himalayas.  It is an hour flight.  They are all very excited about being up close and personal with those magnificent mountains.  Our two new members arrived yesterday and what delightful gentlemen they are.  One is a school principal and the other is a church pastor who is the chairman of the board at the school.  Craig is teaching christian leadership.  Ted and Steve leave at lunch time and tomorrow another man arrives.  There are many comings and goings.  We have acquired the new guest house and we move in on the 20th.  It is quite near the Tusal hostel and closer to the little vegetable carts that come out each evening so buying the fresh  veges will be a little easier.  Raju is also planning on  moving all the Australian sponsored children into one hostel instead of them being in other places.  That will make visiting and keeping up with our girls so much easier.  The doll making class is a big hit with the girls.  I am getting photos, Jill, so you can show your doll group.  I am out to lunch today with some of our girls.  Friday is always a free day as the church spends the day preparing for their church day which is Saturday as in Nepal it is the day off.  So there is no conference today, but it commences again on Sunday, which is like our Monday.  I am always confused about what day it is when church is on Saturday.  This afternoon the team will be visiting the hostels and the school, though it is holiday time here, and the half-way house.  Last night, we took the team out for a meal and afterward we were surrounded by a tribe of street kids.  Stephen took them all to a cake shop and bought them all a big slice of cake.  The shop owner was happy, as he almost sold all his cakes.  But it was so cold out at night, and these kids were not warmly dressed.  Some would only be 9 or so.  They will probably curl up together somewhere to keep warm.  Life is pretty tough here.            

Robyn

January Conference Plus

Dear Friends of Educate Nepal who faithfully follow and pray for the team.

The Conference is now in full swing and the presenters are first class. It is the first time for Miriam and Stephen and they are first class. Their are around 80 delegates in the Effective Teacher Training and Training Christian School leaders classes and 10+ in the Governance class. Then Robyn is teaching 12 girls how to make dolls.
Due to the projected growth in the number and frequency of teams as well as the encroaching recycling depot that is now on our doorstep we have been seeking a new Guesthouse. WE have located a suitable building where we can treble the amount of beds as well as commence the  TransformationVocationalTraining Centre. We hope to finalise the lease this morning. It is much more expensive than where we are currently but we need to move on if we are to service the needs of the ministry.
Yesterday we were able to purchase a mini cultivator for the Chinchiu ministry. It will not only enable the easier cultivation and irrigation of our agricultural plot in Chinchiu but our chosen operator will be able to contract out and thereby build bridges for the Good News into the community. This machine was donated by a generous donor.
We did a whirlwind tour of the four of the hostels, the 'Miriam Baby Care Centre' Transforming futures
and the Sychar half -way house Transforming Lives yesterday afternoon and evening after the teaching program. By the time we arrived at the Half-way house it was dark and there was no power so we met the ladies by candlelight. They were very pleased to see us and sang and danced by candlelight. Ted and Stephen were really impressed by the obvious transformation in the lives of these liberated slaves.
There training and counselling is on going. They had an all physical disagreement last week and Raju took them to the Zoo for the day and brought them lunch at a restaurant. Once the new Transformation Community Guesthouse is secured and the Voc Ed set up there the ladies will walk there each day for training and this will improve the situation where they never get out of the houses training has been done in the half-way house to date. This will also make room for more ladies.
Our original intent was to have the Voc Ed at Tusal but due to the locating of the Miriam Baby Care Centre there we are increasing the number of girls to 90 or 100 there. We are now hoping to move the training kitchen to the bottom floor of the new guesthouse so long as we are successful in our negotiations today.
We have been trying to get the inverter fixed since we arrived and found out last night that it is the battery that has failed and it will cost around $300 to replace. God will provide.
I am picking up Craig Murison and David Westbrook from Mackay at lunch time today.
Dr. Ted and Stephen Trew leave tomorrow. They are taking an Everest flight tomorrow morning before they fly out.
I picked up 100 Educate nepal T Shirts today in Black or White let us know if you want to purchase one at $20 and we will bring it home for you.
We are going into town for Dinner tonight to farewell Ted and Stephen.
The power is on until 10am today which is luxury as we are normally in the dark for breakfast and you cannot use the photocopier when there is no power.
That's it for today. Have a happy and fruitful New Year. Grahame



 

Wednesday

Back on line.  Internet troubles again.  Sewing classes are going very well  except  only 2 machines out of 5 are working properly, one has a hissy fit from time to time and two others are not working at all,  But I  am having a wonderful time with the girls.  Raju wants me to do another training with the carer's of the little babies.  Apparently the babies were having an oil massage in front of the fires  today and they were all very dreamy and enjoying it.  Tomorrow, 2 new team members arrive at lunch time..    Our trainers are very pleased with their classes at the Conference.  I am taking out to lunch my little sponsored girl, Bimala, and also Juna, Kalpana and Binu, who are sponsored by family and friends.  We will go out to the Bakery Cafe, where all the staff are mute, except for the little manager who is a dwarf.  We always like being there, and have a lot of fun playing charades.  Will write soon.

Robyn

Tuesday 1-01-2013

Happy New Year

I wonder what the new year will hold.  It is again a beautiful day here.  I actually got the washing dry on the balcony.  Last year. it was hanging up for three days inside because the weather was so bleak.  I had a wonderful day with the girls today.  We emphasised ONLY 10 girls and in true Nepalese style 12 turned up.  Now that I am a bit more used to how things work around here I had cut out 12 anticipating this would happen.  They just loved the morning.  It was of course quite chaotic, especially with the language barrier, but finally we got all the body parts assembled in the right order.  The new sewing machines were there. Not the ones we ordered, surprise, surprise.  Binu, a young 13 year old who we brought back from the village in September was in the class.  Her english is so good.  She was helping translate while the other translator was busy with others.  She is quite tall and is going to be a real leader.  Even though she is new at the hostel, she is already taking charge.  Yesterday, I was so thrilled to see two other girls from the hostel doing the training.  Raju chooses those who will be the leaders of tomorrow and takes every opportunity to train them in all sorts of things.  Grahame had a look at the new prospective guest house, and it would be ideal, but we have to work out how to pay the rent.  As we have 4 school teams coming this year and one will be here at the same time as we are in September, we need much larger accommodation.  Power is about to go so must finish off.

Robyn