Nepal, birds, and confessions

Nepal is devastatingly beautiful and I’ve fallen in love with Nirmal, his wife Binita (Binita means beautiful in Spanish and she is), and their eleven-year-old son, Nischal. I met them and some of Nirmal’s other family members today on my first day here. Sunil, Nirmal’s 20 something nephew, will be my interpreter. He calls me ‘Grandmother’ and actually his Grandmother, who I also met, and I are the same age.
 

 And Ann, your comment about Nepal being the ‘most dangerous airport in the world’?

Funny thing, today, as the plane was beginning its descent here, it suddenly shot up!  A short time later, the Captain announced that we were flying back to India where we would land at Lucknow because ‘birds were causing a disturbance at the airport in Kathmandu.’

I looked a question at my seatmate, wondering  if, perhaps, I had heard correctly? She said in a very UK accent, “I think he said something about birds …”

In the end, it all worked out, the Captain got the green light and landed in Kathmandu, where I saw one bird …  

I wonder …

Anyway, we landed, and I found Sunil, Nirmal’s nephew and then I met Nirmal. Sunil and the driver presented me with flower leis – two of them and quite beautiful.  I feel honored.

We drove maybe an hour to Banepa, Kavre, on the outskirts of Kathmandu, first, to meet Binita and Nischal and have a delightful cup of milk tea and, second, we drove to Nirmal’s mom’s house, where we had black tea, which was wonderfully hot and sweet.

                                                                                                                                                                        

                       

Now comes the confession:  In the face of such poverty and need here I feel inadequate and wonder how I thought I could possibly make things better for anyone, let alone boys with muscular dystrophy? I am humbled.

I can only do what I can do.  So, one step, yeah?

Tomorrow I will meet the boys!

Before I go,

THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU GenMed! 

Especially thank you Joseph Lin, and also my sister, Terry.  Because of you I’m going to be able to buy blankets and warm clothes for Nirmal’s boys.

As there is no heat in the hotel, I think it’s a safe bet that there won’t be heat in the houses.  And just to give you perspective, Petey, my son with muscular dystrophy keeps his room at 70 – 75 degrees and he wears a heated blanket and layers of clothes when he goes out in weather that I find tolerable but stops him in his tracks – literally.

In a couple of months, the village will be covered in snow.

That’s it for now, More tomorrow.  And more pictures – by the time we got here it was dark and they turn off the electricity for a couple of hours to conserve.

We’re starting the visits at 10am!