Desperate Girls

The Badi Girls

Between 7,000 and 12,000 young girls, aged 9-16, are trafficked each year from Nepal; mainly to India. According to Nepal Monitor/On line journal, 2007, there are more than 200,000 Nepali girls in Indian brothels.

The Dalits(untouchables) are the lowest level in Hindu society, and the Badi community, in Western Nepal, are the lowest of the low. As a displaced hungry people group the Badi community has made sexual subservience a way of life. Young girls from this group “serve” other groups. This has become a tradition and means of livelihood. Many girls, even when they are unwilling, are forced to serve as sex slaves. Family members knowingly sell their daughters to traffickers.

Though prostitution is illegal in Nepal, the industry reportedly has links with highly ranked officials and political leaders. Large groups of girls are taken across the border with many police and government officials being in collusion with traffickers and brothel owners.

Traffickers and related criminals are often protected by political parties, and if arrested, are freed using political power. As a result, there is an underlying distrust of police that has led people not to file cases against traffickers.

Domestic action involves activities of NGO’s and other volunteer groups. These groups are playing a major role to address girl-trafficking and sex slaves issues. Some NGO’s are playing a very important role to improve the situation. From creating social awareness to rescuing and rehabilitation, they are providing services (and relief) to those that need it the most – the likely victims as well as the rescued ones. The Lighthouse foundation is one of these.

*See Chandra Kala’s story on this blog site.

Saturday 21 April 2012

Homeward bound

It is Saturday afternoon.  We went to church this morning to say goodbye to our sponsor girls.  It is always sad. We will be back in 5 months, but to them it probably seems a long time.  Then we called into the Tusal hostel to say our goodbyes there.  There was no interpreter, so there was a lot of smiling and awkward attempts at conversation.  But love was in the air, and that is the main thing.    Sameer, the young man who is coming in the middle of the year to do a year at Crossways at Mueller, was our interpreter during the training.  He is absolutely brilliant.  He doesn't only translate words, but he gets every emphasis, every gesture.  He is a fine young man.  Also, Ratchina, Raju's PA, did some interpreting also.  She is a lovely gentle young woman.   Well, we head off tomorrow about lunch time.  We are not looking forward to 14 hours in the plane, plus stopover.By the end of 5 weeks we are feeling pretty weary.  There have been many highs, and many moments  when we were ready to pack up and go home. There is frustration, irritation, joy, moments we will never forget.  I guess it is a bit like labour;  it has it moments, but when it is all over only the great events, the precious people, and the joy remain.  Nepal gets under your skin.  Once you meet these people, see how God is working in the most amazing way, life is never the same again.  I guess most of you will see Grahame and Raju over the next month as they tour around.  If you haven't met Raju, it is worth the effort to meet him.  He is an incredible man, giving his whole being for his people.

Bye for now,

Robyn

Foot washing

One of the lessons in the course is Christ as a servant.  As a visual lesson, we broke the class into three groups.  One with the men, and two groups with the women.  Then we knelt down and washed their feet.  I have done this before in last January's course and it is the most wonderful experience.  Because these people are "untouchables",  for a westener to wash their feet is beyond comprehension.  Some weep softly, some become almost beside themselves, some find it so difficult to let us touch their feet at all.  Then they want to wash our feet also.  The relationship that is built by this simple act is indescribable.  There is a lady called Sarita.   She is a Badi woman, and when she was 14, she was sold into prostitution. For 14 years, she was used and abused.  When the revolution was happening here, she joined a Maoist group, learned how to shoot a gun, and planned to kill the men responsible for her horrific life.  She roamed around at night seeking vengence.  Then she met a pastor of the local church, and he led her to Christ.  Now she works with the church to rescue Badi girls.  She spends a lot of time in the villages caring for them, and telling them about the Lord.  She was at the conference and what a beautiful woman she is.  Her face is so soft and kind, she has such a gentle nature.  It is wonderful to see such a transformed life; a new creation.

Robyn

Beyond expectations

  What a fantastic week we had in the training.  36 people came to training.  They sat cross-legged on the floor and soaked up everything from 8 a.m. to 3.30 to 4 p.m.  Some as young as 15 who want to be teachers, some who have already had training, and others.  There were 2 hindu women there who had been invited by the pastor and for the whole week they heard the gospel several times a day, in a different form.  The course covered 10 chapters from New Hope Book 1, dealing with basis of setting up a Christian School emphasising  Christ as the centre, Bible Based and the the all important community(his people)  They sat in the heat, writing furiously, participating fully and at the end of the week, when we were re-inforcing the whole week, we were amazed at the full grasp they had on everything that had been taught.  Agnes is amazing.  She teaches in such a creative way.  The young people loved the stories,using them to teach points.  They loved this interesting and sometimes funny way of teaching instead of the rote learning they are used to.   After classes we were surrounded by them, lots of kisses and hugs.  By the end of the week, we were a very loving, tight-knit community.  The young people from the hostel are fantastic,  At about daybreak, they are all at the new hostel sight, collecting water, helping prepare food for the lunch time meal.  The food was cooked on an open fire as there are no cooking facilities there yet,and the hostel kids helped in the preparation, then they ran back to the old building to clean up; then they would sit there all day learning, writing, full of questions.  Lunch time they would run and get us a plate of food, see if we needed bottled water, would we like a cup of tea etc.  Then in the afternoon and evening, they hang around, always wanting to serve in some way.  The level of maturity is amazing.  They have to grow up quickly here.  We shed lots of tears as we left.  When we sat in the certificate ceremony, and looked out at these precious people, praising and worshipping God, their hearts so full of love and gratitude, it is impossible not to be changed by them, impossible not to love them.

Robyn

Back in Kathmandu

It was great to get back to our flat; once again in control of what we eat, a blessed hot shower after 11 days of cold water, and a comfy bed. All other team members have returned to Oz.  Everything was lovely and clean and even a frozen meal in the freezer for us on our return.  Thanks, Liat.  Tracing back to our days in Chinchiu.  We moved into the hostel Friday night.  All that night Grahame was violently ill, with vomiting and diarrhoea.  He had been in a village with Raju and had food there, so I guess that was the problem.  He was looking pretty green about the gills, but we had to wander down to the old hostel for breakfast.  He couldn't face food  so decided to go to the little street barber for a shave.  While sitting there, he passed out and vomited all over himself.  The barber sent for one of the hostel people, as he knew that we were associated there.  Raju and the hostel houseparent cleaned him up and changed his clothes, bundled him into a taxi and took him to the hospital, 40 minutes away on a rough winding road.  Grahame was still not with it.  The dear man who travelled with him, cradled him all the way, trying to alleviate the bumps.  One of the hostel girls went also as an interpreter.  He sat in a dirty hospital, right next to a foul toilet, from 9a.m. to 6 p.m..  He had 6 doses of saline and a blood test.  When the doctor came late in the afternoon, it turned out that he had been trained by Dr.Bruce Hayes, who was a good friend of ours years ago in Dalby.  He was quite competent.  He wouldn't  allow him to go home but there was  a room upstairs with its own toilet.  There was like a day-bed there also.  So the two dear people who went with him, curled up there to look after him.  He was allowed home the next morning, but in true Nepali style, there was a bundh (strike) on for four days, so he had to come home in an ambulance, as emergency vehicles and special tourist buses are the only vehicles allowed on the road.  Apparently, the ambulance man was an angry sort of a character.  Our little translator needed to be sick from the winding road, and he almost took off with out her.  She had to run to get back in the back.  Then there was a drunk man on the road, wandering along; he backed up his ambulance, called him over, and punched him in the face.  Anyway he arrived home, still very shakey, with antibiotics in hand but was washed out for a few days.  The night Grahame was in the hospital, very early the next morning, I could hear loud impassioned prayer.  There were two ladies from the church who had come in the wee small hours to pray for Grahame and the Teacher Training.  These people are so full on for the Lord.  They have absolutely nothing, and need to rely on God for everything.  None of them can afford medical treatment, and many of them are ill because of their hardships they live through, so they come for prayer for healing.  God does amazing things among them.  Often these events cause many to follow the Lord.  There is one little baby in the church here who has cancer of the eye, and Raju paid for her to have an operation.  She was in church the other day with one plastic insert in her eye awaiting further treatment.  Some here call Raju "mama" because he is such a mother to them all.  More to come

Friday 20 April 2012

Baptisms



One of the great highlights of the whole trip was the baptisms of about 60 people in the Slum River.  We left in a big, clapped out old bus that looked like a circus bus; only to be held up in the first 5 minutes by a  bandh (strike).  Something to do with  integrating the Maoist combatants into the regular army.  Anyway, it didn't last for long, and we were on our way.  20 minutes out to the River.  We scrambled down to the village, then about another 500 metres down a nearly dry river bed.  Through running water, over boulders then up a steep hill.  At the top many women were preparing for a big lunch after the big event.  They were cutting up onions, the fire was going in a hole in the ground, cabbages, chickens etc.  The local goats were beside themselves with joy.  The cabbage was cut  and in a big basin of water waiting to be cooked, and an old billy was having a lovely feast.  We were hoping the cooking process would get rid of any nasties.    Raju talked to all the people being baptised, we all sang and prayed together and then they all lined up, with the first one carrying a wooden cross make from sticks, advertising to the whole Hindu community around.  Then we had another trek down the river bed to clean water, and sang "I have decided to follow Jesus".  A long winding row of all sorts of people.  To my great joy, there were a number of our hostel girls there, who come from Slum River, also husbands and wives, father and son, and middle aged and also one old lady with an elaborate gold ring in the middle of her nose.  We stood in the river,  and one by one they waded in with the little wooden cross.  The joy on each face as they came out of the water is beyond trying to describe.  It has to be a highlight of my life.  It felt very early Christian, in the river with simple people, with transformed lives, living with persecution, yet filled with joy.  Afterwards, it was time to feast.  Rice, fried veges and boney chicken.  Then time to dance.  In the wonderful Nepali style, the girls danced their beautiful rhythmic way, smiling faces, graceful swaying bodies and hands.  We prayed the Lord would bless the food to our bodies and ate in faith.  Then there was the trek back down the river bed.  Agnes was struggling when we got to  an area of running water getting over the rocks.  Raju offered to piggy-back her across.  Well! It was a sight to see and I have it all on film.  Getting onto his back was a major exercise.  We never know just what our next experience will be.  More to come

Robyn 

Back on Line

Is anybody out there?  It seems an eternity since our last blog.  We are in Nepalgunj in a hotel, waiting till our taxi comes to take us to the airport here.  It is a crusty, filthy place and I am glad we are only waiting for a domestic flight, so we won't have to be there too long.  But let's g back 10 days.  After arriving here, we have a two hour winding trip around mountain sides on narrow roads to Chinchiu.  Saw many buses loaded with people, come on top, or hanging off the sides.  The countryside is very dry as it is the end of the season before the big wet.   We arrived in Chinchiu with Agnes, Grahame . Raju, his wife and daughter and Lalima, the principal of the school in Kathmandu, and me.  Raju had booked the hotel, but when we got there, a group of police wanted to stay, so they just took the rooms they wanted.  So Grahame and I had one room, Agnes and Lalima had a room each.  "Cell" would be more appropriate.  Our room wasn't too bad but the single rooms had one bed and a tiny toilet and shower, no window; just an opening above the door.  Mind you having a window did have it's drawbacks.  Grahame and I were sitting on the bed talking, when a family arrived at the door.  Mum, dad, grandma, and three snotty kids.  They just stood at the door, staring.  We tried to ask what they wanted.  No response, just staring.  Finally, we just shut the door thinking that would be the end of it.  The window we had in the room had no glass, just a wrought iron security bars.  So the family promptly came around to the window.  Six pairs of eyes staring.  Felt like a monkey in the zoo.  There were wooden shutters of the inside.  It was boiling hot, and the power wasn't on, so we couldn't use the fan, so we had to shut them to get a little privacy.  Raju and his family stayed in the hostel that has just been completed.  There was no hot water.  We went for breakfast the next morning.  It was an outdoor kitchen.  They had little balls of dough ready to  cook into flat bread.  You could have mistaken it for sultana bread and all the flies were happily dusting off their feet on the dough.  For once, I was glad I am a coeliac.  The food was dreadful.  The safest option was two hard boiled eggs in the shell.  After 3 nights in the best hotel in town (it is) we also moved up to the hostel.  It has just been completed,  The children from the old hostel (it is really a hovel) have been waiting for two years for it to be completed, and they so graciously allowed us to be the first tenants.  They gave us their beds so wilingly.   We have so much to learn from these beautiful people.  I never cease to be amazed at their humility.  More to come

Robyn

Monday 9 April 2012

Final Blog. It is Monday afternoon, we have had trouble with the Internet again, but seem to be back on, though everything is slow. We have a house full of teachers at present, training with Anges and Viv. Viv has been terribly ill with diarrhoea and fever and running nose. She has managed to drag herself out of bed to do the training. She is such a trouper. That is commitment to the task, We leave the Guest House at 6.30 a.m. tomorrow to fly to Nepalgunj and the two hour rough trip to Chinchiu. Dan and Lilly have arrived and the news about internet doesn't look good. They seem to think that it isn't available. This morning, I interviewed the new girls. Some pitifully shy, and almost impossible to find out anything about them, and others who are full of information. Of course, through an interpreter, one wonders if some things are missed. They are all so beautiful. One young girl, only fifteen, quite tall for a Nepali, sat so proudly, looked us straight in the eye to tell her story. She is very impressive. She already has a sponsor and she is very excited. One little girl said to me, that when I greeted her, gave her a cuddle and a kiss, she said it felt like I was her mother. Agnes is still not well, but the antibiotics have kicked in, and she seems a little better. We tried to post a photo of the four of us in our Nepali outfits, but without success. We will be staying in the local hotel/guest house up in Chinchiu. I am worried about the food. Not sure what the kitchen hygiene will be like. I guess ignorance is bliss. The first time we were a few years ago in a hostel, Grahame went down to the kitchen early in the morning to see if he could get a cuppa, and when he turned the light on, rats scurried everywhere. We didn't stay there again. It is so good having our own flat, and it sort of feels like home when we arrive, and can try to keep everything as hygienic as possible. Saturday, there was a protest by hindu's in a city square with loud speakers, protesting against Christians and how they are changing their country.There is also a strike today, and no taxi's are allowed to travel. Don't know if it is anything to do with the protest the previous day. We had a long talk to the manager of the big supermarket yesterday and told him what we were doing here and he said he had heard about our hostel and school at Tusal. He said people said we were making people become Christians. We had a great opportunity to tell him that people make individual decisions. We have built a good relationship with him, talking about politics etc. Liat had just returned from Thamel, and she also had a long discussion with and man in a shop about Christianity. He is a liberal Muslim. Please pray for our sick ladies. Life can be stressful here without being sick. Maybe this will be our last blog. We will be here for one day, 21st April and then we fly out on 22nd. Robyn.

Sunday 8 April 2012

Dear praying friends, The pictures you see before you will give you some idea of the life that is ahead of precious Badi girls who do not have the opportunity that we offer through Educate Nepal. The upper floors of GB road in Delhi are littered with faces like these, mostly behind bars. These photos were taken surreptitiously on GB road on 6th of April. There are police scattered all along the road who would take a dim view of me capturing these images. One would have more to fear from the police than from the average citizen in the street as they receive kickbacks from the industry and free service. Raju and I were deeply moved by the experience and spurred on to greater efforts to rescue these girls from a life a anguish. Please help us to help them as $2 per day will care for and educate a precious soul and prevent them from being scarred for life and infected with HIVAIDS.

Christ is risen

APR 8 Christ is Risen A great day of celebration to remember our risen Lord. Here is Kathmandu we are surrounded by dead gods and a hopeless chain of reincarnations. Buddhists chanting and blowing horns and banging drums in religious rituals; all hoping to be good enough to move up the chain, to claw their way up to heaven. How blessed we are to have a Saviour who has paid the price for us all, with his precious blood. Yesterday, Saturday, we went to church at 9.a.m. Absolutely packed to the doors. The singing is great, only wish we knew the words. Though yesterday, they sang two songs we knew, so it was nice to be able to sing with gusto. The preaching goes for over 1 hour and as we don,t know what is being said, we read through our Bibles. We file out at 11a.m. met by another 400 or more coming in for the second service. Grahame ad Raju returned at lunch time yesterday,with all the necessary information about the Bio-gas plants. We have two sick ladiere at present. Agnes and Viv are both under the weather. It is almost mandatory to get something whilst here. The environment is so filthy. Please pray for them as they have more training to do, and Agnes has a a very full programme with a second teacher training in Chinchiu 600 km. out of Kathmandu. Apparently, there is going to be about 100 baptisms out there in the Slum River, where most of our sponsored girls come from. The original village Raju began working with now has a church and many of the people there have come to the Lord. Grahame says there will also be a mass baptism here in Kathmandu of about 100 also. Don't know when that is. We will be at the Slum River baptisms and will be video of. I can,t wait to see it. A hopeless people with new hope in this life and the one to come. Set free from the caste system, loved by God, given great value, and can hold their heads up high. We hope to take over the government school in that village and put a Christian teacher in there. We probably won,t have internet access up in Chinchiu, but maybe there will be a cyber cafe somewhere. I'll do my best to keep in touch. Dan and Lilly, the young couple who are up near the Slum River, are arriving here today, and will be staying with us for a few days awaiting the arrival of Lilly's parents. we are heading off for Chinchiu on Tuesday morning. It is an hour flight on Buddha Air (please Pray!!!!) to a grubby town called Nepaljins; a place we want to exit as soon as possible. We spent a night there once in a filthy hotel, and I never want to repeat the experience. Then there is a 2 hour drive in a clapped out old mini bus on a precarious road, winding round and round the hills. The place they stop to eat, well!!!!, all I can say is that I will be bringing my own food. But when we get there, we are greeted by 27 fabulous young people from the Lighthouse hostel, who want to love us to death. The Christian workers there also are really lovely. Anyway, enough for now. Robyn Posted 3 hours ago by Educate Nepal Mission Teams

Friday 6 April 2012

Friday.    It is Good Friday today and the four ladies here had a lovely morning remembering our Lord.  We sang some hymns together  and had a prayer time.  Yesterday, Liat spent the afternoon at Mulpani training the teachers in art, and Viv with organisational skills.  Today, Anges is with another teacher buying books, creative learning equipment etc.  They have been out all day and she will be very tired when she comes home.  Yesterday Anges and a teacher were at the local stationer, and he asked her what the book was he had in his shop.  It was a Gideons new testament in Nepalese.  The teacher said it was a christian book but anyone can read it.  It was ok for buddhist and hindus.  Apparently, someone had left him a whole box of them.  He said he would give them out to his customers.  He has no idea he is giving them bibles.  Viv is, at present, doing further training in our kitchen to the primary head teacher, and Liat is back at the school doing her art programme.  Liat invited our local telephone exchange man home this morning.  He is such a lovely fellow with a little new baby. We have had the opportunity to talk about our respective faiths.  Last time, I gave him a Bible.  Never know where it will all lead  Tomorrow is Saturday, but that is church day.  Agnes, Liat and I will be all dolled up in our new Nepalese outfits.  They get very excited when we wear their style of clothing.  Grahame will be back from India tomorrow and we are looking forward to hearing how they got on with the Bio-gas plants.  They also have demountable buildings here now.  That could be a great way to get a school up and running if we can purchase some land..

Robyn
As I was coming back from the local telephone shop, I met a group of smiling children.  One little girl ran up and asked if I was a Christian.  I said I was and she told me both she and her mother were too.  They live in a little hovel on a little hill across the road from us.  I have often waved to them.  The rest of the family are buddhist.  I had some gifts at the flat, so I gave each of them something and a lollie.  They took me up the hill to visit the house.  It had a sheet of iron the room, one little room for all the family, a dirt floor, one bed, a hammock for the little baby.  Her 18 year old sister was squatting on the floor washing dishes.  They graciously invited me in.  There was a grandmother spinning some sort of red wool for carpets sitting outside further along who was not happy about my presence, so I exited, followed by a band of chatting children, like the Pied Piper.  They saw me to our front gate.  My power is about to go so I will send another blog later on this afternoon.

lRobyn

Thursday 5 April 2012

New beginnings

Wednesday,
This morning, I went down to Tusal to check on our little new arrivals.  They all looked so much better, having had two good nights, food and bath.  I spent some time with them and then photographed each one for the sponsorships information.  When I arrive at the gate of Tusal, I get attacked from every quarter.  They are all hugging, kissing, their big brown eyes looking up.  Some of the older girls who were in my our sewing class last time, almost knock me off my feet.  Then we all stand there like big dills because we can't talk to each other.  It is very frustrating for me (who loves to talk), but there is    plenty of love in the air.  Grahame had a maddening day trying to get the graphic designer to get our brochures right.  Lots of mistakes each time but finally it   seems to be coming together, at long last.  They graphics on the tea box is great.  We also have a design for the side of our little van when we come home, as Grahame will be the local delivery boy.  As the teachers had a very busy day marking papers before they continue training, we have the afternoon off so took Viv into Thamel, which is the tourist part of Kathmandu.  It is a maze of narrow streets, lined on each side with tiny little shops selling clothes, scarves, jewellery,trekking gear, kids clothes and toys, moneychangers; all manner of interesting things.  Grahame was with Raju somewhere, so the 4 ladies headed off for some shopping therapy.  Everyone had a "special price for you, lady".   Over the time we have been here we have made friendships with shopkeepers, and also some of the staff in the big supermarket and there are lots of smiles, each time we return.  We had a meal at the Garden of Dreams.  It is a beautiful place hidden behind a brick wall.  When we step off the street, with all the dirt, beggars, rickshaws,honking taxis, street sellers following us down the street trying to sell us something; it is such a peaceful place.  Lovely gardens, big fish pond, a fountain and lovely meals.  It used to be the private residence of some General in the Army in days gone by.  It was left derelict, but has been restored and it is out little place of escape once in a while.  Grahame and Raju are off to India tomorrow.  They are investigating Bio gas systems.  They will see the factory and some systems operating.  We can use these at the hostel on the septic system, to generate electricity and also  out on the Slum river , where the girls come from, to provide electricity for the families there.  Grahame has some plans to try to provide better employment opportunities for the men and boys of that area.   We are heading out to Surkhet on the 9th until 20th for another lot of training for teachers who will be in our next school up there.  We are also hoping to set one up on the Slum River as there is already a government school, and they are quite happy for us to take it over and put our teachers in.  We want to help the boys from that region also, not just the girls.  If the culture can change with these children growing up, it will be a better future for everyone.     Robyn

Wednesday 4 April 2012

Weary travellers

Our lovely girls arrived last night at 7p.m..  There was no electricity and they trundled into the compound bewildered and weary.  There were nine girls, plus the local pastor from there and his wife, and also a mother of a couple of the girls, coming to see where her girls are going.  There were 3 or 4 of the older girls who really look like they have been through the mill.  Once they are 12 or so, who knows what had happened to them.  We went into the hostel into the assembly room where all the  girls were waiting to greet them and sang them some songs.   I am going tomorrow, Wednesday, to photograph them individually, and get their stories, so they are ready for sponsorship.  We already have 4 sponsors waiting.  We had more training here today.  We had a spectacular thunder storm most of the afternoon, but it was very dark and we have no electricity till 7p.m. so we were doing the training with candles and head lamps.  Agnes and Viv were teaching the principal and the head of Mulpani campus how to  timetable, and Liat training in doing devotions in the class room and worship leading.  We went to the supermarket today, and we were lined up with our trolley of food and all the computer systems went down.  We stood in line for ages, and then the poor girl at the checkout had to write it out by hand.  There was an unhappy line of people.  Grahame and Raju bought furniture for the office and teachers for the new campus and dedicated the second bus (one-third of the funds came from Australia)

Robyn

Monday 2 April 2012

Political unrest brings Grahame's trip to a halt

Grahame is on his way home half way through his trip because of a strike in the region he wanted to see.  When a strike is on, no vehicles are allowed in the strike zone.  They will be protesting about "who knows what".  There is always trouble of some sort with the government, and with good cause.  Everything grinds to a halt.  Please pray for the bus load of little girls travelling from the west into Kathamndu.  They will be getting on the bus this afternoon, facing an 18 hour ride on very winding roads.  They are scared, they get motion sick, and wondering what is going to happen to them when they get here tomorrow morning.

Robyn

Sunday 1 April 2012

Sister act.

Sunday.

Vivienne arrived today and Agnes and I met her at the airport, so at present we are a household full of women (4).  I,ll bet Grahame is glad he is half way around the country.  He has had a day of travelling on bumpy roads  and is very weary.  We had trouble with the photocopier running out of toner.  It is very complicated getting more and $80 is a lot of money here.  Anyway, we were told to shake the toner thingy, so we can photocopy a bit longer, but none of us knew how to get it out.  So Liat came to the rescue.  She is quite fit and strong, so she picked up the whole photocopier and gave it a shake and hey!presto!  it worked.    Today we are preparing for more teacher training tomorrow afternoon here at the Guest House.
All the staff will be here.  We took Vivienne and Liat to the Tusal hostel this afternoon to see the girls, argued with the taxi drivers over fares; and introduced Vivienne to Nepali culture.   The other day, we were walking down the street and there was a little cafe with people having a meal at the little tables, and there was a cow standing half-way inside maybe hoping for a morsel.  Everyone took it in their stride.  Must be a normal occurrence.  Also today, there was a big black bull sitting on the footpath and a lady was trying to give him a drink from a water bottle.  He seemed totally disinterested.  After my last experience being chased by a bull with all my grocery bags, I give them a wide berth.   We were pleased to hear that the little church at Gorkha that only had a handful of believers when we were there last April, has exploded since the gospel concert we did there.  They hired a bigger building, and then a bigger one in a hotel for church.  They have over 200 now.      Robyn