Strikes and Babies
Trip Start
Feb 24, 2009
1
6
31
Trip End
Aug 19, 2009
Bhaktapur, Nepal
Saturday, March 14, 2009
There are 23 children at the home, anywhere between 5 weeks and 3ish. The younger ones just need changing and feeding etc, and while they are cute, not really that much fun, but there are 9 toddlers who all want to play all the time, and who are much more exciting. The language barrier is a little bit tough as my Nepali is still pretty poor, and it is difficult enough understanding adults, let alone small children. I have managed to get them to say my name, and OK, and how are you though, which they think is hilarious.
Most of the children at the orphanage come from either the hospital or the police, and a lot are abandoned because their mothers can't afford to feed them, or are unmarried, a huge social taboo here. The two social workers who run the home (and live there 365 days a year) are incredible dedicated to looking after them, but as with almost all aspects of Nepali life, they lack the resources to provide the level of care we would consider standard in the west. The children have all of their material needs catered for, but there are just not enough pairs of hands to play with them all individually, or pick up ever baby who is crying.
Took a mini holiday yesterday evening, Alex and I took a taxi to the city of Bhaktapur, which is about 10 miles about from Kathmandu, and stayed there overnight. Having spent two weeks in Kathmandu, it was nice to escape the city limits and do something completely for ourselves. We even splashed out on an expensive hotel room, with a TV and a matress which was more than one inch thick! We did all the really touristy stuff, drank beer, payed stupid prices for a meal (I mean, seriously, 3pound 20 for a steak? Thats just daylight robbery) took lots of pictures of the pretty temples and medievil houses....all good fun. The one big mistake was deciding that it would be a good idea to sample the local rum. Ouch.
Valley Bundh tomorrow, which means a strike in the whole of the Kathmandu valley. This essentially means that you can't go on the roads in a vehicle, or the protesters get cross and break said vehicle. Normally this isn't too much of an inconvenience, you just stay at home, or walk, but Alex has to go to the clinic tomorrow to get his second Rabies vaccination (pesky street dogs) and we have to collect someone from the airport. Apparantly western people are allowed to break the rules so hopefully we will be able complete our errands, otherwise it is a VERY long walk to and from the airport.
Then I should be off to Pokhara on Tuesday (strike dependant, man they love their strikes!) for a couple of weeks working at a small boys hostel there. You can see the mountains from Pokhara :-) and hopefully the air will be cleaner and I might be able to shift my smog cough.
