Kia Ora

Phutung, 19th October 2008

This little old lady is Nana Lamichhane, Ramesh’s mum. She recently broke her arm so Ramesh and I travelled to Gorkha to bring her back here for a bit of respite. (She’s listening to Cradle of Filth on my mp3 player). The little girl is a neighbour’s kid who pops in for biscuits and cuddles.

I came over all National Geographic this morning and took my camera when I went for a run. This is a view from the Northern end of the Kathmandu valley. Home is down there in the mist, somewhere.

I thought I was doing well to drag my arse out of bed to go running, but these ladies would have sorted the kids, got the fire going, made tea for the household and then started on the crops. It’s still only about 6am.

Phutung, 8th October 2008

Sarala performs a seed-planting ceremony to kick off dashain. If the seeds sprout well it means we’re in for a bountiful year.

It’s nice to be back with my family at Nandumaya. It’s as though I never left – within 5 minutes the kids had commandeered my camera, stolen my passport and plonked a silly hat on my head.

It’s dashain – which is a very bad time to be a goat in Nepal. Though I’ve avoided the gore, those who are particularly squeemish or animal lovers (Trace, I’m thinking of you) might want to avoid the accompanying post.

Also, in keeping with my practice of inventing new and unpopular sports (viz. Rice-Paddy Wrestling and Naked Cat Hunting, the latter co-authored with Jon Pickford and Josh Boardman)  I’ve taken of late to Village Trail Running. This involves getting lost on a morning run through the surrounding villages. Due to the lack of roads and my terrible sense of direction it’s basically a cross-country sight seeing tour. Essential equipment includes a pair of cross-country running shoes and a small backpack containing a bottle of water and a copy of Lonely Planet’s Nepali Phrasebook, bookmarked at the ‘Where the hell am I?’ and ‘How do I get home?’ sections. Optional extras include toilet paper and a stick to fend off the village dogs. A current rabies vaccination is recommended. I get a few odd looks in the outlying hamlets, where they are as likely to see a recreational runner as they are a unicyclist, but it’s a great way to see the country.

Home soon (visa and money both expiring very shortly), hope everybody is well,

Vaughan

Pokhara, 25th August 2008.

Well, I went to Chitwan this weekend, to check out the National Park. Had a great time. There are plenty of pics of elephants in the accompanying post I head to the new orphanage tomorrow and am looking forward to meeting a new bunch of kids.

Hope everybody at home is well, take care.

Vaughan

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Sunday, 3rd August. Kathmandu.

Well, I had a little send-off from Nandumaya yesterday. We were going to celebrate on Friday night, but there was a solar eclipse that day – “God is not happy” – and it would’ve been tempting fate to have a knees-up. So, bright and early on Saturday morning, Sarala and I went shopping for party food, including goat meat, prawn crackers, poppadoms, chips, chocolate and fanta. Lunch time arrived and we had ourselves a proper feast, then it was music, dancing and general tomfoolery until my taxi arrived at 5 to take me to town.

Here’s the whole gang.

The beauty of a digital camera is that you can let the kids go for gold. In between the many blurred shots of carpet, stray dogs and extreme close-ups of nostrils you find the odd gem.

20-odd kids and six litres of fanta make for a great party.

Denish, strutting his stuff. I helped the kids make a cd of their favourite music, so we were gettin’ down to Rhianna, Bob Marley and ‘Woolley Bully’ all afternoon. Well, in-between power-cuts we were.

Power cuts led to innovative party games. Here’s me making an attempt on the record for Hanging Small Children From A Pole. I would’ve made it, too, if it hadn’t been for Arnish. Curse his malnourished, weak little orphan-arms.

Another favourite was to shut ourselves in one of the rooms and see how loud we could all scream. Er… I mean, the children seemed to find it amusing. Doing it by themselves, that is. Without me. In fact, I try to discourage that sort of nonsense…

Me, Ramesh and Sarala.

5pm came and I said my goodbyes. Sarala smeared tikka paste all over my forehead – as a blessing – Ramesh gave me a 5 rupee note – for luck – and the children inundated me with pictures they had drawn and flowers they had picked. Wandering up the road to the taxi, I looked like I had burgled a kindergarten.

It was a lovely send off, and more than a little sad. It would’ve been a heart-breaker but for my promise to come back in October.

Well, I’m now in Kathmandu for a couple of days to check out some temples and fend off tiger-balm sellers, then it’s a bus to Pokhara for the next chapter. Hope everybody at home is well, talk to you soon.

Vaughan

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Hi, everyone. It’s my last week at Nandumaya orphanage, so it’s a little farewell party on Saturday, then I’m off to the city of Pokhara for a little R & R by the lake before I join another orphanage there. I’ll be sad to leave here, but I’m coming back for the Dashain festival in October (an invitation extended and accepted over a few glasses of raksee – the local hooch. Dashain is the biggest Hindu festival and it traditionally involves the sacrificing and eating of a lot of animals. Somehow I wound up promising to return with a goat. Now that’s going to be an interesting purchase. At least I didn’t promise a buffalo).

The local kids have taken to calling me ‘Stone Cold’ (and then running away as I roar and beat my chest), so I thought I’d complete the look.

Other highlights of the week:

A new batch of 500 chicks for the chicken room. Only a few days old but they’ll be ready for sale after Dashain (about 2 months).

Susma and me. (It’s an old one but she’s a cutie).

I intended this shot to be of the computer I bought for the home, but it serves to highlight one of the unspoken tragedies of poverty in Nepal – children aging before their time. Govinda (standing with his back to us), is displaying one of the worst cases of ‘old-man pants’ I’ve ever seen. Later, I was to overhear him retelling old war stories and complaining that his back was giving him gyp.

Take care, all. Missin’ everybody but in good health:-)

Vaughan

Hi everyone. We had a visit from Paula and Bruno this week – Paula is a dentistry student from Portugal – who came to inspect the kids’ teeth and give ‘em a good soak in flouride (above).

And here’s the gang post-clean, showing off the pearly whites.

We’re all well here, hope everyone at home is ok. Missing NZ but still finding myself useful here:-)

Take care,

Vaughan