Nepal

OK, my wifi gets me all excited by opening a website...and then disappoints me by shutting down, but we'll give this a try!

We're now two days into our time in Nepal.  We had an uneventful drive here, despite dense fog leaving Delhi in the morning, and the frequent surprises of people, stopped vehicles, animals suddenly in front of us in the road.  Ashok, our driver, was unflappable.

We made it through customs at the Nepal border (which consisted of two men, a dusty computer, a logbook, and a very tired stamp pad).

We are staying in Tikapur, Nepal with Madan, his wife Sophie and 3 kids.  They wear many hats which all kind of fall under community development.  They oversee a couple of schools, have provided for at-risk kids, are very involved in the church community.  (My head is ready to explode right now.  There is so much to tell you about the past two days and so much more they do, but I know I need to keep it short!).

They have a really nice home with a second floor used as a guesthouse, so that's where we're staying.
We were welcomed on Wednesday night by a group of probably 50 family and friends.  They presented us with flower leis and performed 2 traditional dances (and one very western dance!) for us.  Once again I was reminded of my lameness in the area of hospitality.

Yesterday we visited their kindergarten/preschool located in their backyard.  The kids began their day lined up, singing songs and doing exercises.  After lunch (did I mention what amazing food they've provided for us?!) we visited another school a few miles from here that provides schooling for ex-bonded slave children as well as others in the community.

So many things have impacted us:
1.  The Christian faith of Madan and his family, in a country where that is not popular.  He and many others have chosen to leave family and everything they grew up with because they've said they love Jesus more.
2.  The statistics.  Teachers at these schools earn $2/day and families pay $6/month for tuition.
3.  More statistics.  Trafficking is a big issue here.  Nepali girls are taken across the border (open border) into India.  9000 girls get trafficked each year, and some are sold for as little as $600.  Madan and Sophie have taken a couple of these high-risk girls into their homes, so it makes it very real how different their lives could have been.  And it makes it very real when I look around at my 4 girls who are all similar ages.  At the border I had noticed a "storefront" with a sign in English talking about rescuing trafficked girls.  I asked Madan if they were there to help, but he told me they work WITH the rescuers.  They pretend to provide rescue, but instead are keeping an eye out for girls and are the middlemen between them and the traffickers.  And actually, many are middle-women.  It was a group of women sitting outside this place, and they are often involved because the girls will go to them and trust them.

Today we'll be heading out to see some other places that they're involved with.

Last night we were treated to a goat roast!  They invited some friends, built a fire and roasted goat kabobs over the open fire.  They do this a few times during their cold season and around the holidays.

And speaking of cold, we're not feeling too badly for all of you snowed in people.  It's down to about mid-30s here during the night and the homes are not heated.  We're piling on all the layers we brought!  But they have these amazing thick comforters, so once we go under the covers we're toasty warm.