Musings for Week Six

The price of entertainment and shoe repair:

The other day I bought breakfast, took the bus to Kirtipur, wandered around the town, bought lunch and took the bus home. All for $1.30. And the day before that I had my sandal fixed for 10 cents. I love this country! Breakfast was two samosas for 30 cents. The bus ride was 15 cents, lunch was a plate of mo-mos for 40 cents. The bus ride home was 30 cents (I took two buses instead of one). A full days entertainment and food for a dollar thirty. :)

As for my sandal, the leather strap broke. I took it to a shoe man and he sewed it back together, for 10 cents. :) I couldn't buy a new shoe for 10 cents!

Left-handedness:

I've noticed that a few of the boys write with their left hand, but they still eat with their right hand. I'm guessing that has something to do with the 'eat with your right, wipe with your left.' I've also noticed though, that when some of the boys use my camera, they look through the view-finder with their left eye, which must be rather awkward. I haven't asked them why they do it.
*I remembered what else I was going to write here* -I've noticed that when they play cards, the boys hold their cards with their left hand.  I figured the right-handers would hold with their right hands, but I guess not.  

Wallet, what wallet?

Most Nepalis don't carry a wallet, or if they do, the money isn't stored in any orderly manner. At the market, where Suban and I go every Monday and Friday, most of the stall managers keep their money in a cloth/plastic bag wrapped around their waist (for the woman) or in a bucket or a drawer of a small table. When Suban pays for the veggies, he pulls a wad of cash out of his bag and searches through it for the correct change. :P

Sponsorship Letters:

A vast majority of the kids in Umbrella have sponsors, whose contributions make up a large portion of Umbrellas income. Every other month or so, the kids write letters to their sponsors, letting them know what's new, how they're doing in school, etc. The big festival of Dashain is coming up, and most of the kids are going home to their villages for a few weeks. The volunteers were asked to get the kids to write their sponsors a letter before they left for Dashain. It's been a right nightmare. 29 boys, 38 letters to be written (some kids have more than one sponsor). The letters have to be written on white paper, with black ink, so they show up when they're scanned. Of course, the boys only have blue fountain pens and their copy-book paper is flimsy recycled stuff. So I have to supply the pens (of course I only find 4 or 5 in the volunteer house) and I have to nag the tutor to find some proper paper. Then there's the boys, 'Sister, I don't want to write a letter.' 'Sister, I don't know what to write.' 'Sister, read this.' 'Sister, you bring black pen. I don't have black pen.' 'Sister, Sister, SISTER!!!!' AAAAAAAAAWWWWWWW. And then there was the photos. Sponsorship letters come with three photos of each boy. Three DIFFERENT photos. Which I have to take. It's making my brain explode. That said, there have been some good bonding moments when I've been helping the boys write their letters.

On their families

The other day I got to talking to one of the older boys and learned two things. 1) His family was found only three years ago. 2) One of the youngest boys in the house is going home for Dashain for the first time this year. He hasn't seen his family since he arrived in Umbrella, 6 years ago.

Mac found notes from meetings held by Umbrella staff in the early days of the foundation. He printed them off for us volunteers, so we could peruse them at our leisure. There's some interesting stuff in there about the beginnings of Umbrella, how many kids were rescued each week, how many were re-united with their families, the purchase of more houses to house the arriving kids, etc. I found the names of two of my boys in there. Kumar arrived in Umbrella when he was 9 years old, after previously serving as a house servant for a wealthy Nepali. I learned that he's one of the kids mentioned in Conor Grennan's book 'Little Princes.' The other boy, Surya, arrived when he was just 5 years old, and he's the one who's going home for the first time ever this year. Crazy. These kids are amazing.

Dashain

Dashain is a HUGE festival here. It's like the equivalent of Christmas back home. I've been told that the city will be virtually empty in the coming weeks as people travel to their villages to spend the holiday with their families. Most of the Umbrella kids are also going home to their families. For many of them, it's the only time during the year that they get to see them.

I'm sure there was something else I was going to write about....but of course I don't remember what it was. :P Oh well. Until next week!

I remembered!!  I wear a face mask when I'm biking around the city, the dust is pretty bad.  When I bike I often smile at people, especially when they smile at me, and then I remember that I'm wearing a mask and they probably can't tell that I'm smiling. :P