I have spent the last ten days at the most beautiful place in the world (so far as I’ve seen): a home for women and children rescued from the sex trade and from the streets called Asha Nepal. The cool Nepali air chills my bones pleasantly as I wake up every morning and head to the roof to read my Bible and take tea. On a clear morning, I can see the Himalayas from up there. But there is more to see than just the landscape.
Asha is the Nepali word for “hope,” and that is exactly what Asha Nepal is providing for these people. Most of these children have no parents – they were killed in the recent civil war or simply abandoned their kids. But you would never know it from looking at these little balls of fire. They go to school, they speak amazing English, they are frustratingly sneaky soccer players, they play jokes on us and teach us Nepali words for the food we’re eating. They’re happy; they’re blessed.
It is amazing to see such grace and humility from people who, in the eyes of our western, affluent culture, have little about which to be happy. But they’re teaching me so much about being gracious, about community, and about the faithfulness of the Lord.
- We have devotions with the children almost every day, and they sing children’s worship songs in English and Nepali. When they sing “This is the day that the Lord has made,” I have never heard a song sung in so many different keys simultaneously, and I have never seen anyone as excited about lifting their voices to the Lord as they are.
- Everyone loves playing soccer here, and I have come to love the game as much as anyone else. They always ask me to play keeper (probably because they have become aware that it is the only position I’m any good at), and they like the I can throw the ball forty yards down the field directly in front of the opponent’s goal. While I play goalie, these three little kids stand behind me and chatter in Nepali, throwing in recognizable phrases like “American football” and “rugby,” most likely describing that my unique (read: “hideously unorthodox”) style of play is not something they’re used to.
- We went on a field trip of sorts yesterday to what is referred to as the “Monkey Temple” by tourists. It is literally a Buddhist temple filledwith monkeys. Also, shrines, but those didn’t seem to be the main attraction. I wandered around, hoping to feel something, but realized that nothing about that place felt sacred. Man can’t make a place sacred. But what was sacred about that place was the presence of the little boy hanging on my right arm and the little girl hanging on my left arm the entire time we were there. There was more of God’s sacredness and holiness in the spirit of those little ones than there was in any incense-covered shrine.
- We eat our meals with the women and children, and in Nepali culture, it is considered a sign of very high praise and love to eat a meal with someone. I love that simply by doing something I love doing (eating delicious food!) that I can bless these women and children. There is such stigma against women rescued from the sex trade. To say, “I came from Mumbai,” almost literally means that the individual will be shunned and treated as an outcast. But when we sit to eat with these women, we affirm them and say, “You are worthy and blessed and special enough for me to share the same food you are eating.” If “You are from Mumbai” means “You are tainted,” then “Let me share this meal with you” means “I love you like a sister.”
Asha Nepal is a beautiful place; be in prayer for its leaders as they seek to work with the government to obtain proper citizenship papers for the women and children. Be in prayer for their ministry, and be in prayer for the amazing American missionaries, Richard and Mary Faber (richardnmaryfaber.wordpress.org) that have been working here for the last two months.
The assistant director of the home, and our contact, a man named Bhuvan, is trying to change what the idea of leadership in Nepal is like. Culturally, the leaders are to be served. But Bhuvan told me strongly, “We are not here to be served. If you want to be a leader and you believe you are to be served, then you are notqualified for leadership.” He told me that his job is to serve the youngest little baby here, Angelica, to the oldest resident, an eighty-year-old man they affectionately refer to as “Papa.” “From Angelica to Papa,” Bhuvan said. “We must serve them, and not insist they serve us.”
Our Lord Jesus Christ loves these women. Let us love them, too. Let us pray for them and petition our God on their behalf, that he would provide abundantly for them.
