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…