Our time in Nepal is flying by. Hard to believe we have less than two weeks of ministry left at Asha Nepal, and just over six weeks now before we return back to the States on Dec. 3. Nepal has been one of my favorite countries on the World Race. This country is filled with beautiful scenery and beautiful people. Here's a few photos taken from our rooftop. On clear days you can even see the gorgeous Himalayas in the distance.
Asha Nepal houses about ten women and fifteen children. Approximately 200,000 Nepali women and children are trafficked around India. Many of the women here were rescued from brothels in India, and one was taken from China. Oftentimes if the women contract HIV, they are less employable, so to speak, so it is easier for them to be rescued from the brothels. Not all the women here were trafficked or even involved in prostitution. Asha Nepal is a place where women or children that have nowhere else to go can come. Some of the children belong to the women who live here, and others are oprhans or were taken from abusive parents. Asha means “hope” in Nepali, and that’s exactly what this place provides.
Monday through Friday we work with the women and children here at Asha Nepal. We lead Bible studies, play with the kids, clean up around the house and help prepare dinner. Two of the little girls are HIV positive and not allowed to go to school, so a few of the women on my team help teach them, while a few of us teach English to the older women. This week is a holiday week so the kids are out of school. Yesterday we took them on a field trip to the Botanical Gardens. I was disappointed in the Gardens' lack of flowers, but the kids were perfectly happy with the chips and soda we bought them at the end.
One of the girls' favorite hobbies is fixing our hair. This is a snazzy little hairdo they gave me one day last week. My hair had a particularly hard day this day, as I had gotten a bad haircut for $.60 that morning. In hindsight the price should have been a clue it would have been better just to wait seven more weeks, but I figured what the heck. While I was at the salon I decided to spring for the $1.20 massage as well. We were apparently not on the same wavelength though, as the stylist dumped half a bottle of oil on my head and preceded to pull my hair and roughly hit my head for the next 20 minutes. It really hurt but it was also quite humourous so I let her finish and then raced home to wash my hair multiple times, laughing hysterically with Erica the whole way.
I love these little girls almost as much as I love their hairdos.
Saturday is the holy day in Nepal, so we go to church on Saturday mornings. On Saturday afternoons we usually take the kids to do something fun. The first week we took them to the swimming pool and this week we had a movie night.
Sundays are our off day this month. It takes about an hour to an hour and a half in public transportation to get to the touristy area of Kathmandu. We love to go in to the city for Mexican food and souvenir shopping.
But by far the coolest thing I’ve been able to do this month was to go on a short flight through the Himalayas to see Mt. Everest. It was breathtakingly beautiful, and left me so in awe of God’s creation.
Getting ready to go on the Everest Express with two of my favorite adventure buddies, Nicole and Bethany W.
Below is a video my teammate Kathryn made from our Everest flight. Enjoy!
