Friday, 22 August 2008

• Currently Reading Pedagogy of the Oppressed By Paulo Freire see related

  The strangest things...

  Sometimes I'm amazed at the bizarre things that I see and hear here in Kathmandu.
  
  Right now I'm sitting in a coffee shop checking email and watching the USA men's volleyball team play against Russia. We've spent a lot of time outside in public places that have TVs lately in hopes of catching a bit of the Olympics since we don't have a TV at home.  It's funny because I still think of China as half way across the world as I watch. But in reality, sitting here in Nepal, the border of China is only about a 5 or 6 hour drive away from here! Haha.
  
  
  
  
  Also crazy... in front of me there are two guys having a conversation at the moment about their "climbing clients." I think guy #1 is a lawyer that is setting up expeditions for people climbing Mt. Everest and Mt Cho Oyu (the world's 6th highest mountain). Guy #2 is a Nepali Sherpa maybe?  Can't really tell. He's definitely a professional mountain climber though. So fascinating.  They're discussing getting oxygen tanks, climbing permits, and weather conditions for their climbers.  Again, something I would probably never hear sitting back home in Kansas drinking coffee. :) It's pretty bizarre to know that I have walked down the street with so many famous climbers, but would never recognize a single one.  Well, maybe Sir Edmund Hillary, but he passed away recently so I guess I'll have to familiarize myself with some more famous climbing faces. Great quote just now from guy #1: "We may be able to cut costs on Yak expenses..." classic.
  
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  This last week our community had a week of prayer together... We got together three times a day for an hour, 6-7am, 2-3pm, and 6-7pm to pray for unity as a community and to seek God about where our community's focus needs to turn in the future. It was a really good time... kind of hard at times to push through the sheer number of hours. But I feel like it really broke through in some areas and allowed God to speak. It's a very strange feeling having community things together without the West family being with us.  They have been gone for about 2 1/2 weeks now, and seem to be settling into their new life in Omaha well.  It's strange to feel like we know them and their children so well... and to now be so far apart. We really miss you guys Kim and Silas!!
  
  So as we prayed this week I really tried to focus in and listen for anything God would have had to speak to us regarding where our community's focus needs to move towards.  As I didn't feel anything real specific I tried to look back over the week and think about what I encountered outside with people and there seems to be a relative theme within that at least.
  
  1) I spent a morning at the police station trying to figure out how to speak into a situation regrading a little baby that used to be in our children's home.  Over the course of the 1.5 hours I spent talking to the police I found out that Nepal actually has NO laws whatsoever that would protect a child in the case of an abusive family situation (nor does it have laws to protect women).  I am so used to American life that it is shocking to think there could be no legal way to have a child removed from a bad home situation. So that was heavy on my heart.
  
  2) I went to the maternity hospital twice this week with a young (15 year old) friend who is very close to giving birth to her first child.  So sad to watch such a young girl becoming a mother far too early on in life, with a husband who has no interest in working to support a family. When I asked the girl if she had anything ready for the baby, or had chosen a name she simply responded, "Oh no, my husband and I haven't really even thought about this baby at all." Which I interpreted as, "my husband hasn't given any thought to this, and I'm terrified." After they were married last year they got pregnant right away, but aborted the baby. Fortunately they have at least chosen to keep this one.
  
  3) On Thursday as I was crossing the bridge between Thamel and my house I saw a large crowd of police and people watching something. It looked at first like they were just staring at a wall so I asked a lady close by what was going on and she pointed to a pile of trash, and there lying on top was the tiny body of a dead infant. I was horrified to see something so terrible in a place I walk by 3 or 4 times every day.  But I also know that this kind of thing is very common here in Kathmandu. A family can't raise a child; there are so few other options, so... they throw the baby away in the trash piles that line the rivers.  I mentioned that I had seen this to another Nepali friend the next day and she told me just days before another woman had taken her twin 6 month old sons down to the river in the same area and had left them there. Fortunately someone else found the babies and took them in before anything too bad happened to them.  Then yesterday I mentioned this story to Pawan and he told me that he was just in the same place near the river 3 days ago and also saw a dead baby's body. There was a crowd, and several police men that were trying to stop a pack of dogs that were destroying the baby's body. Horrible. 
  
  4) On a positive note, the wife of one of our Nepali staff members found out that she is pregnant with her 2nd child this week! Such an amazing contrast from the lives of those others around us who have to throw away their babies because they simply can't take on having another mouth to feed.
  
  So, at the end of the week to say the least the children of Nepal were heavy on my heart.  I know that God has such a great plan for this generation of children, and of course Satan is working overtime to keep their destinies from being fulfilled. So pray that God would show us if there would be any way for us to be involved in this situation.
  

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