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.