My Last Day in the City of Temples

I woke up a 1/2 hour before my 7:00 am wake up call, thinking I had a pretty restful night despite not taking my NyQuil meds. I guess my cold is gone!

I Reach for my iPad as I did for the last 2 weeks. What news do I have from Rob? Did anyone like my FB post? Any comments from the photos I uploaded? Then I sneak a few screen pages from my book, Mountains beyond mountains by Tracy Kidder. I love Dr Paul Farmer! Visionaries and clinicians like him come few and far between, I am so glad Tracy wrote the book the way he did, because he had to make sense of the Man. I struggle with inequity myself and my work in Nepal is so fulfilling yet I feel I am not doing enough... My life is now devoted to healing the world!

I woke up alone today since Rose was in Pokhara. It seemed surreal, like I was missing part of myself, I was missing my friend. Being such a time keeper, I portioned out my last few hours, shower and change, settle the bill, have a nice breakfast at the Pumpernickel Cafe, maybe do last minute shopping then head to the airport! It couldn't have been more perfect!

I ordered boiled eggs, toast and milk coffee plus an omelet sandwich for the old man begging at the front steps of the cafe. He didn't need a sign to say he was hungry unlike the sign carriers back home explaining their misfortune. You would not know by looking at their physique and at the way they dress. Ask and who shall receive.

As I sat there with the Republika, reading the carousel of articles about the government's inability not govern, or the parties' inability to agree on a course of action for the future of Nepal, my mind wanders to the conditions of the rural deaf school we visited in Dankhuta. I hear the words of the blind students from Sanjiwani Model School saying they need Braille books for English grammar. I see in my memory, Sima and all the experiences we shared in Dharan. I miss Rob in this incredible journey of just 2 weeks and I have a difficult time making it all add up.

I recognize I am happy! In what we are doing to better the lives of children marginalized by their own community and government.

I was just not ready to leave quite yet, my newspaper went blurry. Tears ran down, my little drop in the bucket of injustice will have to do for now. Goodbye for a few months. It's going to be a good year for fund raising!

Gina Rose

Pruwanchal Deaf School- Hope in the Sea of Silence

Deafness may be congenital or a result of a childhood illness like Measles, meningitis, high fever or any infection that goes untreated. In Nepal, there are families with multiple children with deafness and more often than not they are diagnosed much later than they would have been in a developing country. There is a school in Pruwanchal that serves the wide terai community by offering standard classes from grades 1 to 7. The children soon learn Nepali sign language, lip reading and audiology training for those with some hearing. This is total communication, as developed by Indira Shrestha, the founder of the Nepali Sign Language with the Welfare Society of the Hearing Impaired (WSHI)!

The principal of this school is Renukha, her passion for the welfare of these children show in the children's enthusiasm for learning, for supporting each other and for dreaming of bright futures!

TRIFC sponsors 17 children today for about 4 years now and they showed their appreciation by presenting dramas, dance and their offerings of flowers to us during our visit !

The parents spoke their deep gratitude towards their support and they are proud of their children, we hope they brag about them to their community because with the education these children receive, they can seed the attitude that children living in silence are capable of a productive fruitful life!

Speaking to the founding chairman, Mr Suba, he has big dreams too! He dreams of building their own school and expanding to class 10 and eventually 12 as the new education policy expands schooling through + 2. It also has an entire floor dedicated to a girls and boys hostel plus the kitchen which is getting pretty cramped as well. There's a long list here as well which will require much deliberation and thought!

Gina Rose

Valentines Day with Naxal Kids

Our Valentines day was spent with the sponsored students for the Naxal School for the Deaf! they were our first sponsored deaf students for TRIFC. That must have been about 6 years back and they are now almost competing their schooling. The eldest is in Grade 9!

The challenge here began when the Maoists joined the government about 3 years ago and then the management of the school fell into cronies with no compassion for the students academic quality at all. We are hopeful that the new management committee will shore up the level of teaching and provide the children their just education.

Sometimes we are helpless in the process the system needs to go through to improve. It is evolutionary and political battles are not ours to fight. With patience, and resiliency we will not abandon the children. We are with them as well.

God bless Nepal, its government and its people because they are about to embark on a transformational journey with much cost....

Today we are children playing at the park, tomorrow we are leaders continuing the fight for justice!

Gina Rose

A Homecoming

The flight to Biratnagar was extra special for Sima, our sponsored child. She's twelve and had been born blind. She attended 1st and 2nd grade at the Pruwanchal Blind School and she was going to be able to be with her good friends, Asma, Monika and Kumari.

To top it all, this was her first plane ride! Her father met us at the gate of the airport, she was dressed in her one and only dress kurta with a plaid fleece jacket on. She looked ready to travel!

As we walked into the airport and went through a series of security checks, I was telling her in as much detail as I could what was happening and why we had to go through these steps. We rode the bus that took as to the steps of the plane, walked up and found our seat numbers. After my cursory instructions, she was locking and unlocking her seatbelt, tightening and loosening it and feeling everything around her.

We taxied and then prepared for take off. The sound of the propellers and engines were pretty loud so we covered her ears and she could sense we were at flight the moment the plane ascended. She enjoyed the sweets and the glass of sprite they served. She even wanted to check out the toilet, we did that too!

After 40 minutes, we arrived at the Biratnagar Airport and we walked down the steps and on to the Tarmac.

At 2:00 that afternoon,we arrived at the Pruwanchal Blind School and the entire student body lined up and say their Namates and we bowed and greeted every single one! They proceeded to honor us with a PE exercise drill, Nepali singing and dancing, yoga exercise and bird and animal call interpretation! We had a hand off ceremony for the MP3players and Braille paper that the college kids need for their studies and a new TV and DVD for the Girls hostel. They were very excited and thanked us very many many times!!!

Gina Rose

DHC Sweet Sweet Home

Amrit cares for 12 children with physical disabilities and through Jackie Garces, we've folded DHC into TRIFC's program! They range from grades 4 thru 10th so they are not young kids anymore and they share and act like brothers and sisters! All because Amrit runs a tight ship, studies come first before anything extra!

It was fun memorizing their names! Rose particularly loved drumming with them!

DNC Party...Party...Party

It was a coming together of everyone who cared about the organization! Some DNC Board members, donor organizations like Nepal Children's Trust, The Rose International fund for Children, Kaghendra Foundation and family and friends, alumni students and the entire crew of DNC!

For the children, we've come together to discuss challenges and plans for the future! There was forum in the morning, then lunch of momos and chow mein! We visited with the children, handed out presents and discovered an entire load of presents were left at the hotel! I will have to go back before I leave of course!!

These children have had corrective surgeries supported by TRIFC. We provide funds for additional nutrition and an educational fund for higher education. Every child has taken advantage of this and they are all doing well in college! 3 are in University already! How fast time flies. I love these kids as they were the first kids I met in 2004 when we had a program with Rotary and Computers for the World!

Awesome journey that never ends!

Gina Rose

Sanjiwani Model School Hostel for BVI Students

Yesterday we spent some time at this center with the Rotaractors from Dhulikel! TRIFC has been supporting this group of students with Food and recently have provided funds for renovating their living spaces plus improving their kitchen and dining areas with new kitchen utensils, propane gas tank and burner.

The students have not been supported by the School Management Committee in the past several years and their conditions were degrading and unhealthy.

We passed around some chocolate treats, toothbrushes and toothpaste and had a nice visit with both the girls and the boys. We have a long list of needs which were shared by the New Management representatives, the Resource teacher and the children themselves. There is hope since these 3 stakeholders have not come together in the past.

The Rotaractors are our main connection the this school and they have made it a point to focus on the welfare of the BVI Students! There is a need for Braille books for English, not to mention that the school has asked the Braille resource teacher to teach regular classes as well. Funds have been supplied for supporting the BVI hostel for Food and sponsorship for the BVI students moving on the +2 classes! The Rotaractors will provide us a report on these needs and any stop gap options that may serve our students!

Gina Rose