My normal professional schedule can sometimes be fairly busy and leaves me little time to do those things i would like to be doing. I guess just abut anyone who reads this blog can say the same.
So on this occasion i used the opportunity of having 2 days OFF to quickly take a flight over to Nepal and catch up on some things, it was unfortunate that i also had to deal with some corruption from individuals i extended a helping hand, but this is a 3rd world environment and its precisely why i travel here to do what i do personally. in this way i know for certain where every cent of money goes exactly where it should.
as usual the kids were happy to see me as i was just as happy to see them, I managed to take care of many stationary issue for their school as well as paying for all their text books. In the next few weeks i'll have to make another trip out to Nepal to take care of the high school kids funding for their schools well.
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| RED and a few his friends are getting ready to head out the door for yet another expedition to help, fully loaded with all kinds of things for the kids. |
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| Like RED has done a million times before.. he leaves behind his friends to be checked in while RED meanders thru the airport as a privileged carry-on bag |
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| Kathmandu, like many other capital cities, is a very crowded and over populated city, bursting with activity as well as poverty. Many people from surrounding villages come from afar thinking they can find a better life in the city, only to realize life is just as hard or sometimes harder than what one would experience in the country |
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| Due to some corruption issue i suddenly found out that one of the orphanages I used to frequent no longer existed and many of the children were displaces all around the city, making it nearly impossible to find them all. But i did find some. After a lengthy investigation i found some of the kids slightly outside of the city limits in a building (back ground distant right) that was not completely constructed and even lacked some exterior walls. I was so appalled by what was happening to these kids and so involved with sharing my thoughts and emotion to the people responsible (those of you close to me can only imagine how that may have sounded echoing down the Kathmandu Valley), I did not take any pictures of the place they now reside. Probably better not to see it and keep the levels of frustration to a minimum for now ;-) |
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| In a nearby village I found the school 25 of the former 48 children could be found. The school itself took it upon themselves to assure the children were properly enrolled just days before my arrival in hopes a sponsor team (like RED) would arrive to help fund the children on going education. I had a look around and was happy with what i had seen based on local standards and RED managed to take care of all the years stationary and books that the children needed. |
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| The school is basically a newly built house (after the earth quake) that was modified into a school for over 200 children it was clean and well built |
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| During my visit I watched as the children worked thru their daily curriculum . Its not often a foreign man comes into their rural school. I did pose quite a distraction, but a pleasant one and all the children were very enthusiastic about my visit. |
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| We met with the school accountant and Principal (not in the shot).. we worked out a proper price to assure the kids get the right education this year ;-) |
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| During one of the school breaks i managed to round up the kids RED directly funded. We are happy we could help make positive strides forward for these kids, but in the back of my mind my heart still goes out to the other displaced children who we did not yet locate. |
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| After the earth quake and the huge loss of life associated due to poor construction techniques and little or no regulation inspections. I was a bit concerned about the new building the kids were in. I did some investigating, and now i know what to look for. Any building that is used for commercial purpose must now have this large green emblem on the built, showing that there building had been inspected and met with the standard set forth by the government agency responsible , so the kids are in a relativize safe building. to some of you it might seem like a to little to late story.. but during my visit i felt 2 small earth tremors of no more than 5.0 on the richter scale. the earth is still moving around. |
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| There had been many ancient temple and monuments that have been destroyed due to natural disasters in the region. Although i'm not personally religious, the fact remains that it is very nice to see some of these temple and historic religious sights still in tact. |
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| In Nepal as in many countries, the hindu religion abounds, its easy to notice based on the cow factor, yes, the cow factor.. funny but true. Cows are considered a sacred animal and is not to harmed. For that reason the cow is everywhere, walking the middle of the city, hanging around temples checking out foreign men .. LOL |
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| The first orphanage I started to help back in 2006. It has come a long way from shanty city rooms to this rural home out side the valley. Although it suffered greatly during the earth quake, thanx to a lot of help, its back to its former state.. with some great improvements. |
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The kids are no longer living in tents and all the construction crews have long gone, they have some solar panels for light as well as warm water, they also have a garden to help grow their own vegetables .. a Job well done ;-)
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Not all the kids could be here for my short unannounced visit but some of them came from the school a few kms from here to greet me with a traditional greeting.. great kids here ;-)
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Due to the fact that it is rainy season, the car could not make it to the orphanage due to washed out roads. so we had to walk a few kms to get RED where he needed to be
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While at home, I had someone drop off a large bag of pencils, pens and other colorful pencils. Ramesh the guy i have know for ever was happy to see the needed school stationary.
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| After leaving the orphanage home we ventured down the the next village and the high school some of the kids attend, We managed to negotiate a deal with the schools again and during my next visit in July, RED will take care of all the school fees for these high school kids |
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it was a fast trip in and out and ALLOT to do in terms of locating kids and negotiating deals on education in 3 different schools.. but .. success prevails once again .. lol .. RED will be back very soon for more.
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