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

Tuesday 9th, cooking can be dangerous

 

Gloria had quite an experience today.  She had just put a batch of patty cakes in the oven and there was a loud explosion.  The glass on the inside of the oven just exploded and shattered into a million pieces  like a windscreen.  The cakes were covered in glass, so we had to throw them all out.  So now we are up for a new oven.

 

These two girls have not done the doll making before, so they were a long way behind the others.  I was so impressed with Srijana, on the right, because she stopped what she was doing and spent her time helping her friend, putting aside her own interests to help another.  I thought what a servant attitude for a young girl .  She did it so willingly.  

Robyn