Red-spadition Oct 2012

It was once again a last minute decision (4hrs notice due to seat and hotel availability and also off days on my schedule).  Yes, it all looks good. I shout .. "Yolande" !!! my voice echoing around the house, "get packing because we have a couple hours to catch the flight to Kathmandu to help the kids". (Thats usually the way it goes in our house .. lol)
We grab RED and anything else we can and head to the airport. We don't have a lot of time and must maximise every minute. just a 2 days trip and we have allot of to do. Its a labour of love.

There is our little RED for this trip.. getting ready for his adventure

Bon Voyage RED

We are almost in Kathmandu

RED arrives at the hotel just after midnight and knowing we must get up in 5hrs to start a very bust day.. RED needs a good night rest ;-) Note his own sofa-bed

Ok, lets get to work ;-)

Our day typically starts with putting the logistics together.. drivers and connecting with the guys who supervise at the orphanage. Once we travel the distance to the small village close to the orphanage we then organise a little truck to haul the goods up to the children. That being done we get to work assembling all the goods the kids need on this trip. It's no easy task mainly because we do not speak Nepalese but thats part of the experience as well and we enjoy it. In the end we get it done and all the things required are there. On this occasion we mainly purchased non perishable goods that will keep for a period of time (like rice, toiletries, etc). We also realise that kids need veg as well, the unfortunate thing is these are perishable goods so we cannot buy a huge supply, so get a decent amount.
This trip was in the middle of the school season so uniforms and books we're not required this time, that made it easy for us to concentrate on the other needs. 
The children in Nepal have rough terrain to negotiate on a daily basis, this is true when in the city and in the rural areas alike. For that reason, every time we visit we head down to the local market and buy the shoes required at the time, sometimes its school shoes and sometimes its just basic foot protection. We do what we can and thanks to the kindness of others we were able to go that extra mile and do what seems like a little for us but it's allot for them.

Yolande and a girl (Sunita) from the orphanage negotiating a large purchase from a small local vendor.

Once we got the purchases organised it is not long before we find some guys to help and get our things loaded on the truck

It took a couple of hours and we've got a decent supply of goods to haul up to the children

Following the truck thru the village towards the orphanage

The road up to the orphanage is not paved and very steep.

Time for us and the 42 happy kids unload the stuff

They sure have a good time getting the work done

Some of the kids here are very young. They all take good care of each other

Boys school shoes

One of the many girls here, as well you can see the Kathmandu valley in the back ground

They are always very thankful for every little thing

These kids enjoy simple things

Normally after our initial visit we get a list of all the things the kids might require, then we head out to the city of Kathmandu to get the goods (a whole day of shopping). Its allot of running to do from place to place and bargaining.. lol!.. it's good fun.

Looking for the right size shoes.. allot of shoes ;-)

The orphanages have no heat in winter so Sheets and Blankets for the cold winter months are required. 

Some balls and board games for the kids 

After we get what we need in Kathmandu we bring the stuff back to the children, our visit is short before we see another group of kids and elderly in another orphanage in Kathmandu city

RED.. another successful mission

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 The 2nd orphanage we visit has a bit more donations available from local people in Kathmandu because they are tucked away right in the city and not in rural areas like the other kids. They have a satisfactory (in relative terms) supply of cloths and rice as well as some other dry goods, but they lack many many other basics. We tried to do what we could with what we had left in funds and time. Of course the important thing is that the kids eat so we headed out to the markets once again and got some food, again, because it was mostly perishables we were restricted on the amount we could buy. 
On our next trip we will concentrate on helping to improve the sleeping and other facilities here. The small kids sleep 5 to 1 single bed and the older 3 to a bed.

Just a few of the kids and elderly sitting for lunch (rice and potatoes)

These kids do a good job taking care of each other.. they have no other choice.

At the market bargaining for stuff again ;-)

We are glad we can get some nice fresh stuff for the kids

RED is hard at work fitting in with hundreds of kilos of food stuffs .. lol
This little car is truly a german tank in disguise, man o man its a tough unit

Kids gathered together in the evening to and sing for us

You would be astonished if we told you how many people sleep in this unheated, unlit room (The light you see is from the camera's flash)

12c degrees and no shoes in their room on cold concrete floors, but they are such good happy kids

The smartest little girl i have ever met. About 1 year ago she was found abandoned down by a polluted contaminated river. She was severely malnutrition and hypothermic. Some one found her and dropped her off here where the lady who looks after this house tried her very best to bring her back from the brink of certain death. As you can see she pulled thru and is a living testament of the human endurance. They do not know how old she is or where she was born, she has no record of birth. it is assumed she was born in a shanty town by the river and discarded. We assumes she must be about 3yrs old and the happiest smartest little girl we have ever known.
After Yolande and I met her our hearts weighed heavy, because we know we could do so much if given the chance.

Her name is now Binita.. no last name.

Our last Day of this trip

On the last day we had just enough time to gather a few more things for the 2nd Orphanage. As we walked to the Orphanage Yolande spotted a small street vendor and wanted to contribute not only to the kids but also to the local guy doing his best at the roadside, so we managed just a bit more green veg. 
We also bought them 4 propane gas cylinders for their cooking needs. Gas there is extremely expensive and for the most part they cook on wood, but thats also more polluting, expensive and hard to find in the city.

This guy was doing his best on the side of the road so we decided to make his morning a bit more profitable.

This lady is the selfless angel that opens her own home to 54 extremely elderly (over age 70) people and nearly 50 orphan children.

These are just a few of the kids (the boys room) at the 2nd orphanage, the rest were attending school. This morning it was 13c degrees and the kids sleep up to 5 in one bed, there is no heat and no lights, they did not even have shoes on the bare concrete floor.

This is little Red.. making it back home and ready for another big adventure in the near future.

Yolande and I would like to Thank the contribution from the Belgium group in Qatar who helped with a monetary donation on this trip as well as Dan (The Ho), Jean's clan and Elizabeth.

Below is a rough tally of what we were able to give on this trip.

500kg - rice
200kg - legumes (Dry type)
200kg - sugar
150kg - potatoes
100kg - green beans
50 ltrs - oil
50kg cauliflower
50kg - soya beans
50kg cabbage
5kg - milk powder
5kg - spices for cooking
10kg - garlic
10kg - dry chillies (part of a normal diet in these countries)
10 - boxes of Noodles

10 - boxes of Biscuits

30 - bed sheets

80 - tubes toothpaste

1 box - laundry soap bars

4 - large propane cylinders

2 - basketballs

2 - volley balls

2 - footballs (aka soccer balls)

2 - chess sets
Diaries for the older girls

40 pairs of children shoes (crocs)
Clothes donated from Doha
School stationary supplies from Doha

Thank you very much for your help.