Defying Description – Disabled Newlife Center Trip to Chitwan National Park – Final Installment

DNC Chitwan Part 5

The days activities had totally worn out both the kids and the volunteers….everyone was ready for a good night’s sleep. The nighttime symphony of jungle sounds were augmented by RR’s loud snoring in the bed next to mine. At least, I hoped it was snoring and not a tiger sitting outside my window! The best gift I have ever received was this trip with these kids. Those were my thoughts as I drifted off to sleep.

The previous evening, RR had suggested that we have a late wake-up call, a leisurely breakfast and a relaxing boat-ride across the river before getting back into the two busses for the long ride home. After waking up and showering we packed up our belongings and headed out for another excellent breakfast with our group. The other guests at the lodge were very curious about our kids and some of them had expressed an interest in wanting to help out in some way. A group of visitors from Greece gave me some art supplies for the kids that they had planned to donate elsewhere in Nepal and a nice young woman from the UK was interested in volunteering at DNC as she was teaching in Kathmandu and had Sundays off.

For me, this jungle-trip was the grand finale of a truly phenomenal five weeks in Nepal. Launching the National Braille Library, being a part of working on the Rotary Disability Awareness Campaign, setting up a Massage Training program for the Blind/Visually-Impaired, visiting all of our sponsored kids in Dharan, Rimwa, Sanjiwani, Kavre-Banepa, and taking the Kathmandu children with deafness to the zoo for the day were just some of the highlights! How can this trip ever be topped? My sincere gratitude goes out to all of the Rotary, Rotaract and TRIFC.org friends, supporters and volunteers who made this such a successful trip.

After breakfast all of the kids and volunteers went down to the river and loaded themselves and all of their things into the canoes. We crossed the river one last time. Laughter and chatter echoed off the otherwise quiet waters. Our many chatterboxes were so excited to experience whatever this day would hold. We had a few surprises left for all of them.

We began our ride home and I insisted that the windows be closed and the air-conditioning turned on! I found out later that the outside temps were easily 110 degrees….that’s too hot! So our ride home was so much more pleasant as we wound our way through Bharatpur, Mugling and past Manakamana. RR’s staff had made lunch reservations for all 40 of us at the Riverside Springs Resort. Right around one o’clock our busses came to a stop in the restaurant parking lot. This was a beautiful location above the banks of the scenic Trishuli river. Unfortunately, the restaurant was at the bottom of many steps. Everyone helped everyone else and when we reached the restaurant at the bottom we sat outside at tables set in a beautiful garden. There was an outstanding buffet with an array of tasty Nepali foods. I’m sure they lost money on us as our kids ate more than any normal person would!

I was sitting with Muna (aka-Little Mosquito), Sunita (the smaller Sunita) and Mansara. We were talking about boys and food and I asked Mansara what her favorite food was. She answered that she really disliked “Gundruk”, the national food of Nepal and that she loved “ice-cream”, the national food of Rob! I was surprised by the fact that she didn’t like gundruk, but the fact that she liked ice-cream gave me an idea. I asked RR if they had ice-cream here for the kids to have for dessert. He made a few inquiries and they had it. We decided to save this for a surprise just before we leave for the busses.

Most of the kids walked down to the river and threw rocks into the swift current. We kept a close eye on them and everyone was very careful. We got our feet wet in the cold river water and took a few last photos to remember our trip by. RR told me later that as he carried Bimala on his back out to the river, she remarked to him, “Sir, sometimes I wonder why are you doing all this for us. We are so lucky to have you helping us.” RR told me later that Bimala’s words really touched him and how it brought home how much this trip really meant to all of the children.

“Okay, time to get ready to head home, everyone head back up to the restaurant!”

We reluctantly left the cool, rushing waters of the river and walked back up the steps to the shady grass lawn of the restaurant. We all sat together and the kids started playing a traditional Nepali game called “Gatta” with rocks that resembles the game of “Jacks”. You have five rocks on the ground, grab one, throw it up in the air and while it’s up in the air you grab another of the rocks on the ground and then catch the one in the air. You repeat this until you have all of the rocks picked up in your hands from the ground!

Then, guess what arrived… Ice-Cream, of course!! In little round tubs and a wooden spoon just like we used to get in grade school!!! Vanilla and Strawberry were the choices of the day. It was very popular and a nice way to end our trip activities.

We worked our way back up to the busses, loaded up and took off for Kathmandu. I switched busses to be with the other group of kids for the rest of the trip. The final leg of this trip can be a long, slow, exhausting journey as we go uphill much of the way. We got behind stinky-truck after stinky-truck. Every one of them was spewing out thick, black diesel exhaust. However, I still had fun playing and chatting with the kids for a while and then one-by-one most of them dropped off to sleep and I could spend my time watching them resting so quietly, so peacefully.

Traffic really started jamming up as we got close to Kathmandu. I finally ended up in the far back of the bus with Sunil, DNC’s budding photographer. We talked about photography for a while and the proper use of a tripod (not an unusual line of conversation for photographers!), when Sunil suddenly blurted out, “My mother called DNC and wants to see me.” You might remember from my third blog-entry about this trip that 16 year-old Sunil couldn’t even remember what his mother or father looked like as he hadn’t seen them in 10 or 12 years. They hadn’t had any contact with him or interest in seeing him over all these years and suddenly there is this call. I asked Sunil how he felt about this sudden development in his life and he replied honestly, “I’m angry”. I thought for a moment and then told him that it was okay to be angry, but to try to keep an open mind about it if he could.

We arrived back in Kathmandu around five o’clock. The busses would take the kids back to DNC and we went in RR’s Toyota to head to our home. We said our goodbyes to the kids and the Rotaract volunteers.

I don’t know how Sunil’s visit with his mother went as I was making my final whirlwind project visits and packing/preparing to leave for home over the next two days. Just think about the monumental event this meeting would be for him…I wondered how it went and I’m sure I’ll find out the next time we get to talk. If it is okay with Sunil, I will let you all know what happened…

Update!!! I just had an email from house-mom- Shanti and she wrote that Sunil had a nice visit with his mother and that he is happy! I think that is very good news!

This was an emotional finish to an energizing trip. I learned a lot about myself, about Nepal and about our commitment to these children. I can try to paint the picture with my words, but being there is magic!

With My Warmest Regards,
-Rob.

Defying Description – Disabled Newlife Center Trip to Chitwan National Park - Part Four

DNC Chitwan Visit- Part 4

I watched as Rotaractor Sudeep Shrestha carefully hoisted Sanjay out of his wheelchair and up onto his back, carrying him down to the canoe for the early afternoon boating trip on the Narayani River. He placed him gently into the boat, positioning him so that he was comfortable. For those of you who don’t already know Sanjay, he is an irrepressible kid with an engaging smile who had always run around with total abandon on the two stumps that serve as his feet. He had severe burns as a young child as he fell into the cooking fire in his home. His feet were so badly burned they had to be amputated. Another of the DNC kids- Dhiraj comes from a similar background, but that had never slowed either of them down… until this trip. I had noticed that Sanjay had been confined to a wheelchair and he definitely wasn’t his usual, exuberant self. Looking at him, one leg appeared to be shorter than the other. I asked Anjan (DNC admin.) why this was and he told me that Sanjay’s stumps were becoming infected. After proper assessment it was decided to further amputate both of his legs to allow him to be fitted with proper leg prosthesis’ so that he could have better mobility over the long-term. During our trip Sanjay was in the midst of this process and was awaiting the amputation of a portion of his other leg to even them out and prepare for his new legs.

When you spend time with these children and find our more about their health and family backgrounds you quickly realize that each one of them has been through more emotional/physical pain and heartache than most of us will ever encounter in our own lives. I am so glad that we have been able to make this trip to the jungle and that they have these special moments to remember always…

We alternated groups on either the elephant-ride or canoe-ride on this hot, breezy afternoon. The wind was strong, but instead of a cooling breeze, it felt more like what would come out of a hair-dryer if put on “high”! I was alternating my attendance from Group Rhino to Group Tiger to Group Crocodile, thus enabling me to spend time with all of the kids as they did their various activities.

The canoe ride felt great, sitting in those low-slung boats close to the cool water. The river isn’t very deep at any point and as you will note, the boatman simply had a long pole to push us from place to place. After the canoe/elephant rides we had another filling lunch and then some rest time. I spent it visiting some of the older boys – Bishma, Sujan, Mahadev, Manav, Pushkar and Bishnu. As Pushkar fell fast asleep on his bed the rest of us chatted about the happenings at DNC and some of their future plans. Most of the boys in the room were going to be finishing their high school next year, so everyone’s thoughts are very much on their SLC (School Leaving Certificate) exams. Some people call it the ‘iron-gate’ exam as if you don’t do well, your future educational opportunities are very limited (the iron gate stays closed!). Eight DNC kids are scheduled to take their SLC exams in the upcoming year. TRIFC.org has undertaken the responsibility of finding sponsors for their higher education or vocational-training (note to readers…please let me know if you have an interest in sponsoring the higher-education costs for one or more of these great kids…it’s not too expensive and you’ll make such a difference in their lives…).

The kids were also excited about their upcoming move to the new, permanent DNC building that is almost finished with a move-in date of July 1st! The land acquisition and building were entirely funded by the Nepali Children’s Trust (NCT) in the U.K. (http://www.nepalichildrenstrust.com/home.htm). Brother/Sister team- Michael and Fran McGowan have spent many years volunteering at DNC and started their own non-profit organization to provide assistance where needed. They provide the funds for schooling for all of the kids in an English-medium school as well as providing for many other needs. I am proud to be partnered with such a great group of people who are there to help strictly because the need is there…

We at TRIFC.org also partner with the local Nepali Board of Directors of DNC and the Rotary/Rotaract Club of Kopundol, who help administer our funds and also plan/participate in fundraising activities for DNC. Having this balance of local involvement and international assistance is a strong support system that bodes well for the future of our children at DNC.

After my chat with the older boys, Naina and I were walking around the grounds talking about this and that. As we walked past the river, I noticed my mentor and project partner, RR in the river with a bunch of kids splashing close to the bank. He called out- “Hey Rob, go get your swimsuit on and get down here asap, we need to keep track of all of these kids!” I hurried back to my cottage, changed, put some suntan lotion on and rushed back to the riverbank. The kids were jumping, splashing around, leaping here and there and generally having a blast! Now, as mentioned the river isn’t very deep at any point, but for the little kids, especially the ones with mobility issues, even one or two feet deep is deep enough to cause trouble! We quickly moved the smaller kids closer to the riverbank, helped some of them try to learn to swim and splashed with the older kids who were having such a great time. One of the older boys- Hari was a superb swimmer and looked like a dolphin in the water. He is a polio victim and also has a congenital hip dislocation and he walks with great difficulty. Water is definitely his element, however!

The water felt so nice on this hot, hot afternoon. Even our volunteers with blindness- Sita and Namrata walked right into the river- fully clothed! Then, some other oversized visitors lumbered across the river from the opposite side and it wasn’t the tourists visiting from Greece! They were…. elephants, in the river, right beside us! The elephant trainers were astride them and the beckoned us to join them on top! I thought about it for a minute and then decided that this could well be the only time in my life that I would swimming in a river next to some elephants….I decided to ‘be bold’ and climb up and on. The elephant lowered itself down into the water, I grabbed an ear (of the elephant), the hand of the trainer and pulled myself up and on top of my large gray friend. It was great fun holding onto the elephant’s ears as she sprayed me with cool river water from her trunk again and again! Then I dropped back into the river as the elephant once again lowered her head down toward the water level. RR also climbed up on one of the elephants (see the photo!) and some of the older kids and Rotaractors followed suit. We felt it was a little too deep for the little kids to ride the elephants in the river, but many got an up-close and personal look at the elephants as we held them up so that they could touch them and feel the texture of their skin.

After swimming with the elephants, we helped all of the kids back up the banks of the river and back to their cottages to dry off and change. We had one more canoe ride that evening with RR1 in one boat and RR2 (that’s me!) in the other and a variety of kids in each boat. As we slowly poled down the river there erupted a major Hindi/Nepali song contest between boats! The Rotaractors in my boat seemed to be human catalogues of songs, but RR was the true master with a song-lyric recall that was amazing. Of course, I’m not familiar with any of those songs, but it was fun to witness as the sun began to drop slowly in the sky. The contest ended in a draw as our canoes came to a stop on the sandy riverbank near the lodge.

We gathered as a group in the shelter near the lodge. Bishma grabbed an empty Sprite bottle to act as a makeshift microphone and emceed a heartfelt presentation about how much this trip had meant to all of them. Sujan and Namrata sang beautiful melodies beside the banks of the river as the sun set. Sunita fondly remembered her past years at DNC (she is in college in Nepalgunj now). As the other tourists at the lodge looked on, our little group reflected on the past, rejoiced in the present and looked to the future.

The last day of our trip will be my last installment. A few surprises are yet to come…

Defying Description – Disabled Newlife Center Trip to Chitwan National Park - Part Three

DNC Chitwan Visit - Part 3

5:25 am…The jungle hummed with activity, it literally ‘buzzed’ with life-energy. I couldn't count the number of animals, birds and bugs who were making their presence known. I wondered what they were saying? Maybe it was something simple like, “I am here, are you there?”. If that is what they were saying, then I fully agree. I am here… at this place…in this moment…with this wonderful group of volunteers and kids. I slowly take a breath in, hold it for few seconds, then slowly exhale. I am completely in the moment…

Our wakeup call came at 5:30am as one of the lodge workers gently knocked on our cabin door and quietly called out. True, it was early, but we had a day full of events planned and the middle-afternoon time was reserved for rest due to the intense heat of the day.

After tea/coffee and biscuits it was time to split into our groups. With the Naturalists provided by the lodge, one group went bird-watching and the other took a nature walk. I went with the bird-group (I later told some of the older boys that ‘bird-watching’ was what they call ‘girl-watching’ in England….they liked that!). The nice thing about bird-watching for our kids was that we didn’t need to travel far to see some amazing birds. We just wandered down a jungle path just past the cabin-area for about 5 minutes and then, looking up you could see so many birds of all shapes, sizes and colors flitting from branch-to-branch, tree-to-tree. Our Naturalist had binoculars and a bird-identification book so he could point out what we were seeing. The kids looked up in amazement to see parakeets, birds of paradise and so many other species getting their morning exercise. As we sat on several benches in a clearing, Bimala found that her prosthetic feet and sandals had collected so much dirt and dust during our short walk it made them difficult to use. We found some bottled water and she carefully rinsed them off, strapped her sandals back on and felt much better.

In some of the photographs, you can see the elephants working in the background. I took one shot where I tried to put an elephant on Sunil’s head…check it out. Sunil is such a nice young man who also has a special interest in photography, like me! We always talk about composition, lighting and other photographic techniques. I think he’d like to do photography for his livelihood and he shows a definite talent with posing and engaging his subjects. Another interesting fact about Sunil is that he hasn’t seen his mother or father in a long time….so long he can’t remember when he saw them last, he can only guess 10-12 years. Since he’s only 16 years old, that would be so long ago. My heart breaks for him….We provide funds through TRIFC.org to send kids home to visit their families, or to bring family members to DNC to visit, but if a parent chooses not to visit…

Today, I gave Muna a special nickname that I chose for her- “Little Mosquito”, as she is always buzzing around everywhere, for which she quickly came back with my nickname- “Big Frog”, for which you can draw your own conclusions! She is so cute, talkative and sharp. Such a contrast to some of the other kids, such as Naina. Naina is a quiet kid whose feet sharply turn outward to the sides. I asked him if he will have surgery for this and he said when he is older, they would do that. Walking is a challenge for him and he works very hard at it, steadily getting where he needs to go. Sometimes he got picked up by a volunteer, but really it is better for him to get that exercise and build strength in his legs for the future. Naina does not demand attention and will just sit-back and watch others be cute or talkative as they get the attention.

My goal was to spend quality time with each of the DNC children on this trip and I was so happy to do that with Naina. He loves it if you give him a hug, which I did often and we chatted about this and that. He is a very kind kid and well spoken. His English is excellent and I know that he is a very bright student. We held hands as we walked around the lodge, surveying the jungle and talking about life…these are priceless moments that happened so often to each and every one of the volunteers and the DNC children during our three days in Chitwan.

After our bird-watching excursion we had another delicious meal, courtesy of Island Jungle Resort! Breakfast was a buffet affair and again the children ate amazing amounts of food. After breakfast we divided into our Crocodile, Rhino and Tiger groups (of kids!) and some went to take a jungle ride on the elephants, others went boating on the river in canoes. This would be the order of business throughout the rest of the morning as we wanted to make absolutely sure that each kid got to do all of the activities.

Most of the children were a little hesitant to climb up the set of stairs leading up to their first elephant jungle ride. Particularly the ones with leg issues and I can understand their trepidation. The stairs lead to a platform that seems to go nowhere, until a friendly elephant backs up for you to clamber onto…beep, beep, beep (I’m still reminded of the UPS truck analogy!). However, the Rotaract volunteers really stepped up (literally) and carried everyone who needed help up the stairs and onto their respective elephant. If you look at the photo of Rajeeb being carried up the stairs, you can feel the excitement written into his expression. Watching the faces of each child as they got on-board to take the ride of their life was such a highlight for me. My eyes moistened (not the first time this happened on the trip, nor the last!) as I thought about the life-challenges each one of these children had been through during their short lives and the opportunity we have to improve their lives through our efforts.

As each elephant filled with kids, it moved off, but stayed close, waiting for the next elephant to fill up, etc. Next, the elephants lined up then trundled off down the path, over and around tree stumps and downed logs, through the brush…

Stay tuned for canoe rides and bathing with the elephants!!!

Warmly, Rob.

Defying Description…Disabled Newlife Center (DNC) Trip To Chitwan National Park – Part Two

DNC Trip To Chitwan- Part 2

The warm, late afternoon sun gave a golden tint to the surroundings on the banks of the lazy Narayani River, where three or four canoes sat ready to cross to the Island where we would spend the next two days.

The kids that were able ambled down the banks and Rotaractors gently carried those who could not walk, carefully placing them into their canoe. Overnight bags, crutches and wheelchairs all went into the boats. The boatmen quickly pushed off. The children yelled with excitement and waved frantically as the boats drifted off with the slow current. The boatmen use a long pole to deftly push their boats across the shallow river on a semi-circular path to the landing on the other side, taking three-five minutes to make the crossing. Reversing the procedure, all kids and stuff were taken out of the boats and with the volunteers assisting made their way down the beautiful jungle path to the lodge.

Butterflies of all shapes, sizes and colors danced in the low foliage as we wound our way to the lodge. It was about a fifteen-minute walk from canoe to the lodge and as we strolled we took a deep breath and smelled the ‘green’ that surrounded us after that smelly, hot, dusty bus-ride. The looks of joy and wonderment to be found on each child’s face was instantly worth all of the time and trouble it took to arrange for this remarkable event.

Arriving at the lodge there was a central gathering area with benches where we all sat down and had a welcome soft-drink. Then we broke the kids and volunteers down into three groups- Group Crocodile, Group Rhino, Group Tiger! Each group was assigned rooms and then they were off to rest a bit, freshen up and return for dinner. The adults were told that they would take their elephant ride right away, to allow for all of the children to have theirs the following day. Also, that way we would know what was required to get the children safely on-board their elephant’s back.

The rooms at the Island Jungle Resort are not fancy, but neat and simple. There isn’t any air-conditioning, just the breezes coming off of the river. And you don’t need any ‘sound-machines’ or alarms to lull you to sleep/wake you up because the sounds of the jungle do that naturally! But to the children, these simple rooms were quite luxurious compared to their regular accommodations in Kathmandu.

As the children rested, the adults walked down the trail to the elephant safari. There they waited- four, very large elephants standing like huge, brown UPS trucks with elephant-trainers on top. Each one carefully backed up to a small tower about 15 steps up where we stood, then we clambered on board in groups of 4-5 per elephant and lumbered off through the jungle. If you’ve never ridden an elephant before, it’s a bit like being on a boat, quickly rocking back and forth on the waves as the elephant’s feet move swiftly through the jungle and over/under tree-trunks and branches. It was so much fun! The elephant I was on decided to take a detour from the main group and careened off down a very small path. I don’t think he realized that there was a group of ‘green’ tourists atop of him and that we were being beaten and thrashed by various branches, leaves and bugs (or maybe he did?)! Eventually, our elephant met up with the others and we worked our way through the jungle. We heard the low whistle of one of our guides….other guides also whistled. As all of the elephants came to a stop, we watched quietly as two rhinos stood before us munching on grasses and perking-up their heads and ears to watch us. We were told not to alarm or startle the rhinos as they could charge. For my part, I was frantically (but oh-so quietly) trying to put a new memory card into my camera without dropping the one with all of my past, priceless photographs on it! I knew for sure that if I dropped it off of our elephant, in the midst of two rhinos, I’d never recover it! It never fails, does it? You always run out of memory (or film, or video-tape) on these things right when you need it the most!!!

Well, we spent a few minutes with our friendly rhinos, then headed back to the lodge. Our trip via elephant was about an hour and it is something I will always remember, and that our kids would never forget when they got their chance the next day.

We returned to the lodge and it was time for dinner. We all sat together, communally at large tables and the typical Nepali food was served buffet-style. Those that could stand, stood in the lines, those that couldn’t waited for their food to be brought by others. It was so nice to see the older, more-able children helping the younger children and children who couldn’t stand up to get their food. This is the ethic we encourage and love to see from our kids! Plus, Shanti, Anjan and the other volunteers stepped in to make sure no one’s plate was empty, even for a second! Shanti wandered around with full plates of rice, vegetables and chicken, endlessly spooning it off on to this kid’s plate and that kid’s plate. I began to wonder if there would be enough food in the lodge to feed these kids- even the little ones ate prodigious amounts of food! This was a special treat for all of them, and the quality and availability of food was superb! Special thanks go to Sabitri and Ranjeeta who were also invaluable helpers on this trip!

After dinner, we had a nature slide show by a park naturalist who went over many of the various animals and habitats located within the park. After that, we trundled all of our kids in their various groups- Crocodile, Tiger and Rhino off to their cabins and off to sleep, to dream of things to come…

Elephant rides, canoe-trips on the river and swimming with the elephants to come in day two of our trip….stay tuned!

-Rob.

P.S. Thank you to DNC friend- Sunil Puri who did some of the photographs for this story!

Defying Description…Disabled Newlife Center (DNC) Trip To Chitwan National Park – Part One

Chitwan Trip Part One

Okay, to be completely honest, the event detailed below was very much a gift to myself. Gina and I ‘blow-in’ and ‘blow-out’ of many children’s lives each year, and we never get the opportunity to spend ‘quality’ time with them. We are so close to so many children- our 33 sponsored children (30 of them hearing-impaired, 2 with blindness and one so very disadvantaged), our young NYOF friends whom we’ve known for many years and, or course the 28 children from the Disabled Newlife Center whom we’ve been helping the longest.

After last year’s Nepal trip we set a goal- to raise enough extra funds to take all 28 kids from DNC (Disabled Newlife Center) in Kathmandu to Chitwan National Park. This is the ‘jewel’ of Nepal’s parks and we wanted the children to get to visit the jungle and experience what they had only read about in their schoolbooks. It finally came together at the very end of this year’s stay in Nepal. We were able to take 27 of them to the park. One of the children- Bikash Dahal went home for a family event, but we had all of the rest of them to enjoy, encourage and take inspiration from for our three-day adventure into the jungle! Also along was a beautiful young woman who had been living at DNC, but is now in college via TRIFC.org sponsorship- Ms. Sunita Dangi. Sunita is a double-leg amputee, but you’d never guess it if you didn’t know…

If you look at the photo albums, I will try to introduce each and every one of them to you. They are all so special to us and their personalities are worth giving insight into.

We were very fortunate to have the logistical assistance from Rotarian and TRIFC.org board member- Mr. RR Pandey (RR). RR provided two tour busses for our trip to and from the park and helped with logistics going and coming. But what really helped ‘make’ the trip happen was another good friend from the Patan Rotary Club- Mr. Santa Kumar Shrestha, who happens to own a lodge in the park- Jungle Island Resort, one of only seven lodges allowed to operate within park boundaries. He helped make all of the arrangements, gave us a very special rate on the rooms and jungle experience, and had the guides ready to help us help all of these kids have a great trip, no matter what their physical limitations were! Thank you, Santa Kumar for your kindness in helping us make this dream-trip come true.

The morning after the kids’ final school exams were over, the busses picked them up at DNC. DNC House-mom- Shanti, DNC administrator- Anjan, DNC assistant- Sharmila and four Rotaractors from the Rotaract Clubs of Patan and Kupondole were also along to assist on this trip. RR, Chandra (RR’s wife) and I picked up our friends with blindness- Sita Gyawali and Namrata Adhikari and her husband Hiralal who had volunteered to help out on the trip. Also along to help was Disability Project Coordinator, Ms. Jayanti Bhatta who was a victim of polio at a very young age. We had a bit of a challenge finding Sita, who had been dropped off by her local bus, but it can be very challenging to find someone with blindness as it’s difficult for them to describe exactly where they are waiting. You have to imagine hundreds of busses, cars, three-wheeled transports, people on bicycles, and so many other vehicles racing around, honking and dropping off/picking-up so many people. You can’t even see the people on the side of the road, there’s so much confusion. Our driver- Bal Krishna managed to track her down and we then met up with the two busses all the kids were on. I boarded one of the busses and we were off!

I want you all to know something about Shanti- DNC’s house-mom. If anyone is a Saint in this world, then she must be one. We have known her for many years and she is one the most patient, caring people we have ever known. How she keeps track of all of those kids is beyond use. I had trouble keeping up with two kids when they were growing up, but 28??? She works 7-days a week with only an afternoon off once a week. I don’t know how she does it, but I’m so glad that she is there for us and those children. We provided a special award through TRIFC.org for Shanti last year and some extra funding, but whatever she gets paid, it’s not enough.

The DNC children (and all of the volunteers for that matter) were so excited with anticipation of this trip! This is a trip that the kids would dare not even dream of, it would be so unlikely to ever happen. We tried to keep it a surprise, but word got out to the kids, then it looked like it wouldn’t happen and they were so sad, but then we managed to pull it together and you could read the joy in their faces as we bounced along in the busses on the road to Chitwan National Park.

The bus ride to Chitwan is about a 5-hour ride, IF there’s not any/many traffic problems along the way. We had been on this same road a week earlier to visit a city called Pokhara and a 5-hour trip became 8-hours due to slowdowns, blockages, a hail-storm and other miscellaneous traffic-related mishaps. This is the only way to get to Chitwan, so you’re kind-of stuck with whatever traffic-karma you get. There are a lot of up and down hills and invariably, there are at least one or two beat-up trucks stuck on the side of the road, or in the road, or that have run off the road! The sign for a truck being broken-down is to put some branches with leaves sticking out of the window, in case you were wondering!

We were to stop for lunch at a city called Bharatpur, about an hour from Chitwan and the park. Guess where we had lunch- Island Jungle Resort, Bharatpur….a small hotel/resort also owned by Mr. Santa Kumar! I should also tell you that we almost never pass up an opportunity to meet with Rotarians and/or Rotaractors and Bharatpur was no exception. We had a meeting with about twenty local Rotarians and Rotaractors from Bharatpur and Chitwan. We gave details about our Rotary Disability Awareness Program and discussed an interesting project that was being proposed by the Bharatpur club. The project involves surveying how/when/why people near the park are becoming victims of wild-animal attack, how people with disability are affected and how this might be avoided. Believe it or not, attacks by elephants, rhinos and tigers on the general population residing near the park are not an uncommon experience.

We had also picked up four more Rotaractors from the Bharatpur club to help us out so we had plenty of assistance for our group.

The closer we got to Chitwan, the hotter it became. We had all of the windows open and the air blowing in was like a giant hair-dryer, blowing in dry heat (Ironically, I found out later that both busses had air-conditioning!). Fortunately, we had lots of water and fresh fruit for the kids (and me!). I later checked the temperature for those days we spent in Chitwan on my computer and it was around 110 degrees….I don’t think I’ve ever experienced that kind of heat!

We left the main road and barreled along a dirt/dust road past small homes and villages, dusting everyone and everything in our path. Adults and children stood by the side of the road to watch us pass by and many waved enthusiastically. Finally, we came to the end of the road. We got out of the busses and read the signboard- ‘Welcome to Island Jungle Resort’.

Low-slung boats awaited us in the river below to cross to the resort, which is located on it’s own separate island…

That is all for part one…

What to do???

Sita's Blog Entry

We had planned to visit Rimwa Janajyoti higher Secondary School on March twenty-first where 13 visually impaired students were studying together with sighted students. Rob, myself, my sister Nirmala and Jayanti Bhatta from the Rotary Disability Awareness program were planning to go.

But two days before that plan, both Gina and Rob became sick and Gina had to cancel her flight for USA. This made all of us sad. Part of my heart wished to cancel the trip and the other part of my heart would say, "Yes, we are in bad situation, but if we cancel this trip when will we get another chance to see those kids whom we really need to visit, who need our help."

Somehow it went positive. Both Rob and Gina felt little better. Gina was able to reschedule her return flight to Seattle and Rob was able to make the trip. On the morning of March 20th, we departed for Gulmi.

We arrived at the Bhairahawa airport after our 30 minute flight from Kathmandu and then drove more than five hours to Gulmi in a jeep which we had hired for three days. As Rob had stomach problems, he barely ate single bite of anything except several bottles of water during the whole drive that day.

The next morning we started out for our trip to the Rimwa school. After two and
half hours driving on the very bumpy, jumpy road, we were able to reach the school. All the school staff and blind/visually-impaired (BVI) students were waiting for our arrival with great anticipation.

As it was my first visit to the school, everything was unfamiliar for me. First, we
introduced ourselves and the children introduced themselves. After introductions, everybody gathered in the main school room, which is both bedroom and resource room due to the lack of space for the BVI students. After a few minutes of informal discussion, Rob started to take individual video interviews of some of the students. Out of 13 students, five were first or second in their class, out of many students, sighted or not! We asked each child if they had any other activities or talents they would like to share and many of them could play a musical instrument and they all enjoyed singing.

After a short discussion with resource teacher for the BVI students, we felt that there is so much need in every sector. With our limited funds from TRIFC.org, we were able to provide money for Braille paper for a year. They game us tika (red dot on forehead as farewell and good fortune) and mala (flower marigold necklace) as is the custom in Nepali culture. Then came the time for us to say goodbye and we left for home.

In the early morning of our third day, we left home and drove to Butwal, which is the major city in this area. In the afternoon, we attended the Butwal Rotary meeting then went to visit Shanti Namuna School for blind/visually-impaired children as the local Rotarians had requested. This school was established with the help of many organizations. Though their infrastructure was better (larger dining room, kitchen and sleeping rooms), all the other problems were same as Rimwa/Janajyoti School had in the village area. It really pinched me and reminded me of my own school as we are facing many of the same type of problems for the visually-challenged students even though it is in Kathmandu, the capital city of Nepal.

After that we left Butwal for Lumbini, the birthplace of Buddha, with many Buddhist temples having been built by different countries around the world. I was excited to go there as it my first visit. We spent that night in one of the local hotels. The situation at those schools for the blind/visually-impaired drew my mind back and forth with worry and concern for the children’s future. The next morning we visited Lumbini and then returned to Kathmandu.

-Sita Gyawali, Teacher of the Blind/Visually-Impaired at Laboratory School, Kathmandu, Nepal and Volunteer for TRIFC.org

To Soo, or Not To Soo (“Soo” is Pee in Nepali)!

Village Dilemma

Okay, I hope you don’t think this is too juvenile, but I ran across a situation that I though would make for an interesting blog post…

Two weeks ago we visited the village home of Nirmala and Sita Gyawali (both women with blindness) in Charpala, Nepal. As you can see from the photos, it is such a colorful home and the surroundings are so green, clean and beautiful. Nirmala and Sita’s mother is such a welcoming host, so excited to see me again (I visited two years ago) and so hospitable. Plus, as is the custom, she always does her best to try to put as much food inside me as is humanly possible!

Now, for the ‘problem’….the sleeping rooms are upstairs. There is a narrow, steep ladder of stairs that go up from the ground floor. All doorways are about four feet high and inside the rooms I can almost stand (I’m 6’2”), but need to be wary of the beams running across. My general inside-posture could be described as ‘early-Neanderthal‘.

The bathroom, or ‘toilet’ as it is called here is a Nepali style one that I am familiar with. It is a very neat and clean affair that is located out the door and behind the house, near to the animal sheds. The toilet ‘bowl’ sits nestled into the cement in the floor…it is also known as a ‘squat’ toilet for obvious reasons which I won’t go into now.

To get to the toilet from my bedroom during the nighttime I must first gather my wits (and the flashlight), half stand up without bumping my head, put on a few important clothing items so that I don’t offend anyone, pull open the one-inch thick small double door to the room, hunker-down some more to successfully make it through the doorway, avoid stepping on other family members sleeping soundly in the next room, get to the narrow, steep stairway, carefully turn around and make my way down backwards, re-hunch once I’m down, make my way over to the main door, pull aside the two wooden dowel-like pieces that go across/lock the door, go outside, find my flip-flops, make my way to the toilet, do what is needed, then reverse the process and get back to bed!

To complicate matters, the weather has been pretty warm and I’m trying to stay hydrated by drinking plenty of water. Last year while in Nepal I had the experience of being ‘fluid-challenged’ and spent the morning dizzy, until I drank three quarts of Jeevan-Jal (Nepali Gatoraid)! So, here in the village I’m both trying to stay hydrated, and trying not to have to get up and pee every three minutes….I bet that you now have a better idea of my troubles!

Well, I can report that during my two-night stay in this beautiful corner of Nepal, I managed to work out the details and only get up once during each night. I even successfully made it back to bed both times too!

Note… Please enjoy the peaceful village photos and faces from the attached album!

-Rob.

Communication Reinvented!

Trip to Zoo

Last week we took a group of thirteen of our TRIFC.org sponsored kids with deafness to the Kathmandu zoo. Along for the ride was our project coordinator and sign-language interpreter Balram Dongol. We were also fortunate to have along nine Rotaractors- five from the Dillibazar Club and four from the Patan Rotaract Club to help keep track of everyone.

I had purchased a hula-hoop, a basketball, a plastic golf game and a small soft soccer ball at the Bhatbettini departmental store and supermarket. You can get most everything at this store. In the grocery section it has more selection than many stores in the US!

Many of these children have been sponsored by TRIFC.org since our formal inception in 2006 and all were so excited to see me and our volunteers! We gathered all of the children in a hired bus and headed to the zoo- about a 20 minute drive… if we were lucky with the traffic.

As we started off I ‘broke the ice’ with a little game of back and forth catch with the soft ball. That started the communication ball rolling, so to speak as both the boys and girls joined in, with laughter and giggles augmenting the traffic hongs, horns and bleats! Unfortunately, I only know a few signs in Nepali Sign-Language, but I do know how to play with kids, so that was what I did!

After arriving at the zoo (or the Joo as people here pronounce it- “Z’s” are pronounced “J” here) we too a quick head-count and determined that we had a total of forty, including the Rotaractors and a few parents and siblings. For all of us to get admission, it was only a total of about $30 – not bad, huh? What a busy, noisy place the Kathmandu zoo is on a Saturday, as that is the only day most people have off from their work. It was sunny and bright as we gathered just inside the entry to make introductions and get a brief sign-language primer from Balram.

After everyone introduced themselves (with sign-language interpretation), we partnered up one or two kids with each Rotaractor (some of the older boys quickly snapped-up the pretty Rotaract girls!) and we began our journey through the zoo (or joo). I was amazed at how quickly friendships were forged as we went from enclosure to enclosure, and how swiftly communication developed through ways other than speaking.

After about an hour of roaming around the zoo we came to what I thought was a statue of an elephant with a bunch of kids surrounding it- until I saw the tail swing back and forth! I did a double-take! All of our kids and Rotaractors gathered to see this giant up-close and personal. Having the Rotaractors spending one-on-one time with these kids was priceless, they loved the attention and I could tell that they enjoyed the challenge of communicating with someone who knew little or no sign-language. The kids were gentle, patient and facially very expressive as they worked to explain whatever point they wanted to make and the Rotaractors were equally patient and kind.

We decided to order noodle-soup for everyone at the little café in the zoo. I think they may have been a bit overwhelmed by the order for forty bowls of soup and forty juice boxes, but they went to work on it! In the meantime, we played an old Nepali game as a group activity. Here’s how it goes- everyone kneels down in big circle and then one person with a hankie slowly walks behind everyone and very deceptively drops the hankie at the rear-end of the unsuspecting individual and then the hankie-dropper takes off running like crazy and they hankie-droppee takes off after the dropper and tries to catch him/her before they get back to their original spot. Not complicated, but a lot of fun!

After my knees tired from the kneeling, I checked on the soup and we motioned to everyone to head to the tables in the café. Guess what the first thing I passed out was- Hand Sanitizer! I’m Mr. Excitement, aren’t I? I don’t think the kids have/use that here, so it was a bit of a novelty. I’m sure we had the most sanitized group there that day!

As the soup arrived and we began to partake, I noted that whether you can hear or not, noodle ramen-type soup is meant to be slurped. My table of girls was very cute trying to be petite and polite, but there’s no way to do that with noodle soup (check out the photos). You know, after you are with these kids for a while you stop noticing that they have any disability….you just play with them like you would play with any kid.

After lunch we had more games of badmitton, soccer, basketball and mini-golf on the dusty zoo grounds with all of the Rotarators joining in. We had a hula-hoop competition and some of the kids were very adept at keeping the hoop “hula’ing” quite well!

It was a very special afternoon for all of us. I had rave reviews from all of the Rotaractors as we dropped our friends off to be picked up by their families. They hadn’t ever had this kind of volunteer opportunity before and they were totally energized by it. One of the them- Mina had just joined the Rotaract Club of Dillibazar that day and it appeared that she would become a member for life after her experiences with those wonderful kids!

Communication isn’t really all that difficult, if you work together and care about the other person. In this particular case, actions were more important and powerful than words. Kindness, patience and understanding provide the medium for true feelings to be shared between new friends.

-Rob.

What Lies Within...

Cerebral Palsy Self-Help Center

Going back in time a bit to March 14th, Gina, RR and I accompanied Dr. Chandra Lekha Tuladhar from the Rotary Club of Kathmandu Mid-town and several Rotaractors to visit the Self-Help Group for Cerebral Palsy.

The Rotary Club of Renton has provided grant funding for the center to purchase a number of custom-designed chairs and tables for the children to use at the center and also to have in their homes. The chairs themselves have been specially designed in Nepal and are built in Nepal. What’s so cool about them is that they can be adjusted as per the individual’s size and mobility needs.

Dr. Chandra Lekha is a person entirely dedicated to helping others through Rotary and who is involved in so many wonderful programs and projects. As we drive out to the center, she relates some of the interesting and high-impact projects she’s participated in. She helped coordinate this club-to-club partner project even though she’s not with the partnering club, the Rotary Club of Balaju- she’s with the Kathmandu Mid-Town club. She really doesn’t care who does the project, as long as it gets done!

She describes a very terrible situation which is all-too-common in the village areas where parents of kids with CP must work all-day in the fields. They don’t have any caregivers and there are no daycare options. Dr. Chandra Lekha said that many times the family will dig a circular hole in front of their house and then they place their child in this round hole and there he/she must stay for the day….rain or shine, through cold weather or in the heat, or in the mud. However, I think people must try to understand, these aren’t bad people, they just don’t have the knowledge, resources or care options that we do.

At the center we visited the various rooms where different learning aids and equipment are kept and classes are given. They even have a computer-learning center and the teacher is herself a person with disability, her own movements limited by her wheelchair. She tells how one of her students works the mouse and keyboard with his feet and toes, as his hands and arms aren’t functional! She is so able, interested and excited to teach computer skills to these children.

What is inside these children’s minds? I watch one of the children move letters around on the table in front of him, making seemingly random movements until I notice that the letters are being pushed into place in ABC order! It seems he isn’t able to communicate much, but when coaxed by a Rotaractor he is able to respond, engage and smile. Is there a Stephen Hawking inside this child, anxiously waiting to be discovered? Only a place such as this with loving, caring help and patience will ever be able to find out…

These funds sent by RC Renton made it possible for this project to happen, for the design to take place and for this critical need to be fulfilled for these children. However, there are so many more children in the same situation who have a need for these chairs. If any other clubs or individuals wish to make a donation for one or more of these chairs, they only cost about $100 to produce here in Nepal. Please contact me for more details.

-Rob.