Street Kids Introduction
I went to bed around 8pm last night, woke up around 2am, went back to sleep around 4am and finally got up at 6am. I dressed in my sari today since we were going to be visiting a school for street children and an orthopedic hospital. I got lots of comments from the Nepalis about my sari. One elderly lady near some temples was so happy to see me in a sari that she hugged me a very long time and kissed my cheeks (and yes, I did make sure she didn’t pick my purse, but Earle said that is extremely rare here). Another man on the street thanked me for wearing Nepali dress. It was a big difference from yesterday where everyone was staring at me as if to say “look how awful she’s dress” (I was dressed all in black). A holy man put a spot of vermilion on my forehead, too.
Anyway, we first went to a school for street kids. The program is set up so that the kids have to attend two hours of school in exchange for breakfast. I took some video of the kids singing for us. One of the older boys showed me his artwork and he’s quite talented.
Next, we went to the hospital. A tour had been arranged for some of the teens that are in school and sponsored by Earle’s NGO (non-government organization). The kids were learning about different occupations in the hospital besides doctors or nurses.
After the tour, we went to Arun’s house. Arun and his mother, Parvity, live in the basement of a newer apartment building. They have two rooms and Parvity does a great job of keeping it clean. Earle taped me interviewing Arun (so he could practice his English). Parvati served us keir (not sure of the spelling), which was the best I’ve eaten. Oh, but the time we got to their house, my sari was unwinding itself, so Parvati and one of her friends helped me rewrap it…much differently from the way Sunita showed me. The way they fixed it, it felt more comfortable and didn’t slip.
Tomorrow we are going to Pokhara for a couple of days (driving), then Earle and Som will drop me off at Chitwan. I’ll spend a couple of days there before flying back to Kathmandu (they will continue driving to different villages to deliver sponsor letters to the children).
