Thursday, September 10, 2009

A Visit with Friends in Kathmandu, Nepal

It is always fun to catch up with friends who I haven't seen in a number of years. Here is Aysha and her mother in their kitchen with Shanti's daughter Pricilla on the left. I wasn't able to visit them two years ago as their grandmother had just died and they were in the middle of the funeral.
Shanti (Pricilla's mother ) in the kitchen area. Apartments are tiny by any standard and are usually terribly neat. I can't imagine the chaos otherwise. In the kitchen area was a two burner propane stove and the obligatory huge water bottle. There is no running water in the tiny two room apartment. This larger room was probably 10 feet by 12 feet. This room also held a small bed (your sofa during the day) a small metal wardrobe, and a refrigerator (many apartments don't have one of those). The other small room (the size if the hall) is a bedroom. The apartment was on the third floor up two steep dark flights of stairs with no handrails. The running water is in the courtyard where you shower (fully clothed outside) and is the location of the shared toilet.

Pricilla is almost two.
Aysha is 7 and small for her age.
Shanti and Pricilla. I met Shanti and her family when a women named Rose and I were sponsoring both sisters in a local school. That stopped after a couple of years due to local issues and I am now assisting her in getting proficient in English so that she can obtain a good job...impossible in Nepal without that skill.

I took the girls some velvet dresses and coloring books and colored pencils. There are almost no toys in Nepal.

Aysha is in second grade and doing well in school.

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