Monday 29th. ESL, cockies, and dolls

 We have been overrun in the kitchen with little cockroaches in the cupboard.  Every time we get out the plates, we have to brush off the black sprinkles from everything.  I decided it was time to clean out.  As there is no such thing as cockroach  baits here, I took out everything and sprayed with insect spray.  All the disgusting little creatures were hiding  on the top of the inside of the cupboard. Well it was really raining cockies.  I was feeling pleased with myself.  The next day,  black sprinkles back on the plates.  Guess we will have to live with it.  It is said that new missionaries who find a fly in their tea, throw out the tea.  After a few months, they take out the fly and  drink the tea.  After more months, they drink the fly in the tea.  Peter above , with ESL class of keen young people trying to master english.  Below the girls in the last stages of doll making.  Robyn.

Sunday 29 September

Not happy Jan

KFC Nepali style  Read the sign carefully

Please Sir

   Little beggar boy begging at the windows of cars while waiting in traffic.  There are  5,000 street children o the streets of Kathmandu.

 Trish meeting her sponsor girl for the first time.  Very cute.

The team went to Durbar Square, Bhaktapur, an ancient city, and enjoyed seeing the old buildings, pottery being made, and other arts and crafts.  In the afternoon, they went to  Swayambhunath, the monkey temple.  There are many great photos of monkeys taken by everyone.  Some were not so friendly, snarling and baring their teeth, other were very cute, keeping everyone amused.  There was actually an artist shop with paintings of the mountains, and the artist  is a Christian lady, with Bible texts on the paintings.  What a great place to have a christian witness in the middle of a hindu temple.  Tomorrow, everyone  will be going in all sorts of directions doing their specific tasks  This is the most diverse team we have had.  So many different things on the go.
Robyn

Friday 26th. Building relationships

  

 

Everything in Nepal is about relationships and community.  All our training and activities are driven by becoming a family with these lovely people.  Trish  is with her girls , Nepalese style,  preparing them for work.  It has been wonderful to see the "light bulbs" going on, as Trish opens up new avenues of thinking.  Hannah above after having her face painted by one of her trainees.  And below, is Danielle, assisting some of the girls working towards english speaking.  The team arrived last night quite weary, but full of stories of their experiences out in the West.  They know they will never be able to fully explain what they have seen and done.  Mike and Frank loved doing training of the pastors, and everyone has seen the places that some of our girls come from.  It is quite confronting.
Peter is teaching ESL and I will get a photo of that in the future.  Today  is   team day off, so we are going out together this afternoon.  The ladies who arrived last night have been washing all morning in the little twin tub mating.  They had mountains of washing.

robyn

Tuesday 23. Going west

Today, 10 team member boarded "Buddah Air" and flew 1 hour to a town called Nepalgunj and then travelled 3and a half hours , winding through mountains to Berendanagar, where they are staying for a few days.  Mike and Frank are already out there, training young pastors from the district.  It is out in the west of Nepal.  It is good to go out there as it gives another whole perspective on life here.  They will all return on Thursday evening.  Trish began her training in "work readiness" for the young women who come here for all sorts of training.  There is a lot for them to learn about applying for work, being a good employee, servicing customers, ethics, and having a vision for what they can be.  They enjoyed their class.  There was also more training in hospitality, doll making, and our balloon experts have been causing great fun wherever they go.  Tim is assisting them while some of the team are away.  There is ongoing  educational instruction at the school, in various ways, and Craig is teaching 42 students in the Bible College.  Six 50 min sessions a day, with an interpreter.  That is hard work.  I have no pictures today, sorry.  This is such a great team.  It is the biggest team we have had, with a big variety of ages and skills, but there is a great spirit between everybody.  Each night after dinner, we get together and share our highlights for the day.  As most of us have entirely different things to do, it is nice to hear how others got on.   Each one here is impacting many lives, but we also are being changed by these beautiful people, who are so grateful and warm and responsive to anything they can learn, and responding to the love shown to them.

Robyn

Birthday party, toenails and cool dolls

 

Today, was Trish's birthday.  66 today.  I'm sure she won't mind me telling you that.  The ladies doing the training and the girls , made this lovely mud cake, plus pikelets, mars bar slice, cupcakes, scones etc.  It was a great party.  Trish and I  went to the Hyatt for lunch also to celebrate her birthday, so all in all, it was a good day.  Above, is a picture of one of the housemothers with a balloon hat on, and Lyn painting the little girl's toenails at one of the hostels.  Also our first completed doll.  The others are coming.  We only have 7 of them all together, and we will be selling them when we come home.
Robyn

Sunday 21, Clowns, Face paint, Dirty nappies and games

 

Finally , I have been able to get back to the blog.  We have had a very full few days.  The team from our old church arrived, 11, and really filled the guest house.  Then today, Trish arrived.  So we had 24 in residence.  WE have been deluged with rain the last two days.  Our main  road was a river and nearly impassible.  I'm sure I saw the animals two by two.  Anyway,  it caused  the power to go out so we were 28 hours without power, except for one half hour in the middle.  A couple of hours after the team arrived we went to church then out to dinner.   They were very weary.  Someone said it was sensory overload.  They have enjoyed every minute.   The team was divided into three, each one going to see different things.  Some of the ladies went to the Miriam centre to see our babies (toddlers now) and enjoyed playing with them.  Then they offered to help with anything and to their surprise they were offered the opportunity of washing the dirty babies nappies in cold water, by hand.  Now if that is not a servant heart, I don't know what is .  Aaron and Hannah visited two hostels and did their balloon art and face painting.  It was a huge hit with the kids.  The third team visited another hostel, and played games with the kids, which they joined in very enthusiastically.   Tonight, we found trouble finding places to sit and eat dinner, and then in the lounge room later, the young people  are sitting on the floor playing cards.  It is really quite nice to sit here and listening to everyone interact sharing all the highlights of the day, and teasing each other.  Anyway I'm off.  

Robyn 

Thursday Party time

 
 
We had our party time today and we had great fun.  Above is the beautiful afternoon tea and the girls cooked all the food.  Then it was on  with the fun.  The rule is that you have to hold your mouth right, squeeze that balloon between your knees and go for your life.  Also passing a tennis ball from one to another under the chin caused great hysterics.  Lyn in the blue dress doing her thing, and right at the top, we were doing the Hokey Pokey,  (you put your bottom in, you put your bottom out, etc. etc.).  Also, the girls putting some finishing touches on their dolls.

Robyn

Wednesday 17th. Hob Nobbing at the Hyatt

 


How cute is this little girl on her way to school.  Gloria took a photo of her this morning .  Gloria, Danielle and Annette decided to just wander into the Hyatt, nearby where we live, and have morning tea.  All along the street, and down the driveway, were about 50 riot police, with assault rifles.  Apparently, there was a conference there, with important people from a number of nations.  So the three of the ladies, just went in, made themselves at home in the restaurant, sipped home made lemonade with mint, and pretended to be the upper crust for the morning.  Of course, it was short lived, as they had to join the real world and get back to training.  I'm jealous.  I must try to get there  myself, as I have never been that daring.  I always thought you had to be a guest to be there.  Tomorrow, we are having a little party with the girls, as it is the last day for our classes with this group.  We plan a few funny games and definitely some dancing.

Robyn   

Tuesday 16th, Living dolls and ones in progress

 


 Danielle and Emma showing off their beautiful new Nepali outfits, just arrived  from the tailor.    They are looking forward to a reason to wear them now.  I guess they will get all dolled up  for church on Saturday.   Also, my lovely girls very intent on the job at  hand.  They sit there working and singing.  Life is pretty  full for them nowadays.  They are learning so many new skills.
Tim began today. He repaired a scooter in a couple of hours, that the bike shop was unable to be fixed.  He also had 11 boys in his training this afternoon, training in bike repair.  He has no interpreter so communications are quite difficult.  Tim hopes  to download tutorials to show the boys how things work.  Tomorrow Lyn and Kate arrive at lunch time.  Team is growing.

Robyn

Monday again. New arrival

No! Not a baby.  Tim arrived at lunch time, and also Raju and his wife from Singapore.  Kate arrives on Wednesday and then the 11 team members from VACC on Saturday.  No photos today. sorry.  I didn't have my camera on me when the cooking team were doing the Hokey Pokey in the kitchen.  One of those moments I wished I'd been here for.  All training is going on well, and the Aussies are enjoying building relationships with these lovely people.  Tim is a first class motorbike mechanic, so he has lots of work ahead as everyone has a motorbike, and he will also train some of the young men in maintance.  Emma and Josh continue to assist in school, and also with the self defence.  The dolls have all their body parts together and  are now being adorned with hair.  Saris are next on the agenda. Some of the ladies on team have bought gorgeous material and are having  lovely outfits made at the tailor.  The grand sum of about $5 to make an outfit.  I'm sure that will be a photo opportunity.  It must be time for bed, as all the dogs have woken up, and are starting to bark at everything that moves.  There are at least four or five barking in unison right now.  Motorbikes are passing under the window and big metal gates  to each house are being dragged shut and locked up for the night.  Most houses have  high brick walls around them, with broken glass or nails or metal spikes on top, and then large solid metal gates locking out the street.  Thankfully, the locals go to bed reasonably early, but they are early risers, and begin walking and talking under the windows from 5am, which, of course, sets off our four legged friends once again.  The weather is beginning to cool off a little, thankfully.  Still rain in the afternoons.

Robyn

Monday 15th. Another great ride

Yesterday, after my morning class, I needed to go to do more interviews with the girls.  It is always a bit of a juggle, finding a suitable time for an interpreter, when it suits the hostel parents and when the kids are not at school and when I am not in a class or shopping for food.  Anyway, when the time came it was raining and I was being collected on the bike.  I was really looking forward to it, as I enjoyed it so much last time.  Having no rain gear, I wore my winter coat and a broken helmet to keep my hair dry.  So we made it, in the rain, through potholes full of water and the mad traffic.  I still have more interviews to do so I will have another chance to ride through the streets of Kathmandu.  Yahoo!!!!!!!!!

Saturday 13. my girl, hairdryers and groovy sax player

Met again with my lovely girl, all dressed up and looking beautiful.  It is so good  to give her a cuddle.  I caught Gloria sitting on the floor near to the power point to blow dry her hair, taking advantage of the electricity while it is on.  Graig, one of our trainers, in church this morning, playing his sax with the boys in the band.  Yesterday, we spent doing a little shopping and seeing a little of the tourist centre and had dinner and then home in the pouring rain with grumpy taxi drivers.  It absolutely poured on the way home,  the street overflowing the gutters.  I rained hard all night.  It has been lovely today and a little cooler.  Training again tomorrow and more interviews for me all afternoon.    Robyn

Thursday11- Master Class

Today was the final day for the self defence class for this group.  So is guess you could say  it was graduation.   I just had to take a photo of Josh and our tiny Manissa.  She is such a cutie.    So just a few shots of the girls in action.  Next week, the cooking class and the self defence class swap over.  We had a new stove installed today which is a bit more modern than the last one (modern for Nepal).  Gloria and Danielle had a great week.  Danielle is giving Gloria some instruction as we speak, how to post a photo on the phone and install an ap.  It is good to have some  techno. young people for the more senior members of us who have no clue.  The dolls bodies and heads are made and next week we concentrate on drawing faces and
putting on hair and making clothes.  I don't know if we can accomplish this in 5 two hour lessons as they are not too good at the drawing part.   Tomorrow in team day off, so we will be going into Thamel for the afternoon to see the tourist area, and then have dinner in town.  Two new team members arrive tomorrow lunch time, only overnighting, and then out to Surkhet , 1 hour plane ride, and 2 1/2 hour drive to the region where the girls come from.  Graig is training the pastors from the surrounding district, about 60, I think, and Lyn is doing training of teachers in our school there.

Sorry for the set up with the photos but don't know how to put them on the page properly.  Never mind.  I'm sure you get the picture
Robyn

Wednesday, 10th. Landslide in Nepal

Here are some photos of the landslide.  You can see how the landslide has blocked the river, and the water will be building up behind it.  I wouldn't want to be on the downside of the river.  The blocks of houses have been washed into a pile like matchboxes.  You can see the concrete foundations have just been pulled up with the houses.  Also the rescue of a little boy, one of the lucky ones.  Cholera is also a big worry.  Clean water too is a problem and lots of displaced people.

As far as the training today, pretty much as the day before.  No explosions or anything.  It is still the wet season, so we get storms every afternoon or evening.  It is a blessing, as it keeps the dust down and everything is cleaner.  I'm sure it keeps the germs at bay.  There seems to be less sickness, so far.  Please pray for those people at Dologhat and that a way will be found to release the water in a slow way so there is not another disaster.

Robyn