Reality Bites

Hang on, I’m in a foreign country and I am going to work! Surely there’s a mistake here. Luckily when you put the sentence together it looks and feels totally different. “Going to work in Kathmandu” now that works well!

Part of the charm is the indifferent approach to hot water for showers. Not enough that there is only 1.5 metres headroom and a hand held shower…the water is lukewarm at best. Now that will sort the men from the boys (I suspect real men wouldn’t have bothered, as the outside temperature is somewhere between cold and bloody freezing).

Now the time is here I am having a quiet worry about just what I can do to help Childreach in the short term and what information I can possibly pass on in the longer term. These people are the ones to admire; they live the reality of helping these poor children all the time and I am just some fly in on a brief sojourn.

We’re off to a good start though…work doesn’t start until sometime between 9.30 and 10 and then goes through until 6ish. Very civilised.

Today was Orientation day..met all the staff..and had morning tea. Two tips..hiking boots are just great to walk around very uneven streets but they are a pain in the neck when you have to take them off and put them on as you come in to the office; Tip 2 –Meetings are held while sitting around on cushions on the floor..not a good place to be for long periods of time when you’re not used to it. I think it will be better after a month of practice..or I’ll never walk straight again. My knees hate me anyway.

Tshering Lama is the Country Director. Amazing background, from village through school, scholarship and fundraising to go to uni in the UK (Northumbria) completed undergrad, post grad in Public Health and now has just submitted thesis for Phd in Telemedicine..and found enough time to start up Childreach in Nepal. A slight over achiever.

All the staff (5 of them) speak good English with two, Tshering and Simone, extremely fluent. We talked all day about the things we would like to achieve and just how long it will take to put all these in place. This will be fun although I may need to stay for 6 months..ah well ya do what ya gotta do

There’s a terrific feel to the office, very friendly and busy. The workspace is very fluid. Tshering doesn’t have an office, he just parks on a spare desk or piece of floor and works or talks to people. There is a more formal room for ‘proper’ meetings but the majority of the time it is much more relaxed.

Survived Day 1 without any major issues…including the death defying dink on the back of a motorbike back to Durbar Square.

The Hindu temple was all lit up with candles for evening prayers..spectacular sight over 4 storeys with the background of the prayers being chanted to music. It is extremely moving.

 

Had dinner in an old wooden building that looks all the world like a wooden ship..complete with the wooden shutters on the portholes. Usual head trauma as I wended my way around endless narrow stairs up to it. Another  ‘you’re not in Kansas moment’. It takes a few days but I am very good at this travel stuff…although definitely need much more experience.

Not quite so sure about the potential for huge raging parties here though, arrived back at Newa Chen at 7.30, just in time for the power to go off and then sat in the darkness (meditating of course) for the next 90mins. As I left the restaurant just before 7.30 they were busy closing up after the party animal who stays up soooooooooooo late on a Friday night.