Work

Time for an update! We have now been at work for almost a week, and have nearly gotten used to being covered in considerable amounts of spit, pee and the occasional dose of throw-up at the end of every day. As you can see, our daily routine has changed a bit since I last wrote, we are done with Nepali lessons in Jawalakhel and have started work in Jorpati.

As lovely as our job sounds, it’s a little exhausting. Six to eight physically and mentally disabled children are kept in one room all day, with, until now, one teacher and one didi (responsible for washing and cooking). Several of the children almost require one adult to watch them 100 % of the time; I have no idea how Mana, the teacher, managed by herself... I guess most of the children entertained themselves a lot of the time. One of our main goals for this year is to teach a couple of them to read – they have been capable of learning, but there has been noone with the time to teach them. Mana is excited about this, I can only imagine how frustrating it must be to work full-time with these children, seeing the potential and knowing she just can’t possibly meet all their needs; the widely varying diagnoses make it even more difficult to give each of them ideal treatment. For some of them, learning how to read and write will be absolutely crucial, possibly giving them a shot at a normal life.

Most of the others are less fortunate. According to Mana, many of them have improved their communication and cognitive skills a lot since they came to ABBS, but some still seem to be completely oblivious to the world. Sometimes I catch myself wondering what they might have been like, had they not been neglected and isolated for many years.. But this only makes me want to kick things, so I try to stay focused on the job we actually can do to help them now that they’re here. The sad truth is that there are still a lot of disabled children out there, with parents either not able or not willing to make the effort of bringing them to a center like ABBS. At the end of the day when the parents show up, we may cringe at how a father slings his blind daughter over his back like a sack of potatoes, and wonder what these kids really go home to. But the fact remains that this little group is priviledged.

On the not-so-depressing side, the tired feeling at the end of every day is a good, very satisfied tired. The kids are so happy to have us there, and those who don’t need constant attention (those able to feed themselves, walk and talk without danger of falling over) still very much want it. Playing games, reading (well, sort of) and running around in the sun is always popular, as well as turning the Hindi-music up till the walls shake and dancing (again.. sort of). :)

We are making good use of our limited Nepali at the center. Or should I say, parts of it. For instance, we are getting very good at phrases like, ”have you peed yet?”, "what color is your hair, do you remember?" not to mention ”be careful!”

Well, I must be getting back to the world (sigh). Right now I am floating in a sea of prayer flags on a rooftop, with the sun almost setting behind the stupa, and the distant sounds of talking, chanting, barking and hammering. Soon half the horizon will be taken up by the Himalayas... After a blog post, a bowl of soup and about 4 cups of tea here at Saturday cafe i can escape from the world no longer, and must go home to make dinner. :)

Sentence of the day:
”timilaai dukhkha laagyo?? (with emotion) ke bhayoooo??”
(Are you sad? What happened??)