A Stranger
Monday, January 21, 2008
Namaste everyone. I got to Katmandu today! The bus ride took 20 hours and was absolutely horrific. I'm about to unleash so bear with me for a minute. There were 7 people in my row, where there should have been 4! My seat was broken, my window was stuck open and it was absolutely freezing. The roads were awful and in the first two hours of the ride a man in my row threw up EVERYWHERE. It REAKED. I definitely wouldn't have made it if it weren't for this Nepali woman who was sitting next to me. I really wouldn’t have. She stayed with me every time we got off the bus and wrapped her shawl around me when I started shivering to shield me from the wind coming through the window.
There has been some unrest in the country, so every hour there was a military check post where a soldier got on the bus and strutted down the aisle, like a macho hot shot for an “inspection” which basically just meant feeling every bag and shining a blinding flashlight in our faces. Do you think they could really tell if there was a bomb in the bag just by touching it?!? Ughh transportation in this country is so frustrating. I’ll have to write a blog entry another time about my donkey ride across the Nepali border from India with all of my bags. It’s a crazy story.
In our city, we have a boy who I think is around 12 years old and is completely mentally disabled and blind. He drags himself around the street and looks like he is on the verge of starvation. He seems a lot worse now than he was 6 months ago when I left. He is covered in flies and open sores and constantly pees all over himself. Right before I left, I bought him some clothes and have been feeding him but don't know where I can put him just yet. My dad sent me a video on youtube of Orlando Bloom in Nepal (too bad I missed him) and in it, there was a clip of him visiting a school for blind children. I am going to the UNICEF h.q. tomorrow to look into some different facilities. I’m just not sure how I feel about taking him so far away from what's familiar and can’t seem to get the full story on where he comes from. I definitely don’t just want to throw him into some awful institution though.
Other interesting news. I convinced a man with 6 children from a distant village I visited to get a vasectomy. After an hour of me explaining the procedure and what would happen, he decided to go through with the procedure. It was yesterday and everything was totally fine. His wife who struggles to feed their 6 children, none of whom have had the opportunity to go to school, is the happiest of all. I talked with the local doctor and he said he would be willing to do all of these surgeries for FREE to help promote awareness in our area. Most men won't even think of doing this because there are all these ridiculous village rumors of what will happen. But I just wanted to share the news that Kopila Valley has officially started to promote a little bit of family planning. Hopefully, word will get out a bit and we can continue on with this.
Today I want to appreciate friendly strangers and thank the woman who helped me get through the bus ride from hell. Like the quote says, sometimes strangers really are friends we have yet come to know.