Each visit you have with the girls is different and special in sooo many ways. Each time you enter through the door of Forget Me Not Children’s Home you become part of their world, homework, story time, tutor lessons, dancing, singing, cooking, playing games or a child who just wants to sit on your lap or play with your hair or even just be close to you. A feeling develops during this time and with each visit it becomes deeper with more meaning holding a great connection, which you will take with you in your heart as it will be there forever. Tears which are shed only signify this feeling I have for our 21 girls.
As I sit here about to write my journal of today’s events tears swell in my eyes wanting to escape. A release of the goodbye for now, but I will return for another memorable time.
Well the day has come, that we must say goodbye to the world of Kathmandu and our beautiful Forget Me Not Girls. It was to be a day of fun, laughter, eating, and lots of dancing. The girls were let out of school at 12.15pm to come home with Aunty and Uncle to have a momo and dance party, which had been the excitement since the beginning of the week.
Music playing, girls dancing, and the momo making had begun. Me being a quick learner in the kitchen ha ha, J mastering the momo making skill, I decided to teach the younger girls. It started with Alisha who had been sitting behind me intently watching, I gave her the pastry with a little flour and then placed the filling into the middle, now the tricky part we had to fold into half with the edges meeting each other and then squeeze the pastry together along the boundary making a semi circle, to complete the parcel you had to fold the two end pieces inwards to make a circle. One by one the younger girls each thought they could help the momo making line. So up hopped Anita, Jamuna, Junu, Sangeeta, and Sunita, wanting to learn. The skill was soon mastered and they were pros. Better still once they were steamed they were “soooo tasty” as the girls would say.
Momos are definitely a favourite in the house as each girl would have approximately consumed 16 pieces. Lars and I probably consumed 12-14 pieces so each girl made sure each space in their belly was taken care of. Just to let you know Momos are similar to dim sims.
Dance Aunty dance, so the dancing continued after the mass consumption until the power was cut at 4pm. Fun and happiness was all around. Nepalese dancing is beautiful, with each girl learning the art of moving their hips, hands, the shoulder shake and also to tell the story of the song, the sight of the girls is a picture of motion to watch.
The day was to come to an end with gifts given to us, a gesture of kindness and thanks, tears began to well in my eyes as they slowly trickled down my cheeks the girls began to wipe them away. Don’t cry Aunty don’t cry only smile, if you cry we will cry as we are sad inside. Unfortunately any of you that know me, understand that I am an emotional creature and tears come happy, sad, angry, stressed and they are hard for me to stop. With little fingers wiping my eyes I did my best to shade my tears. With tears for goodbye I am also happy inside as I know that our girls are in good, kind hands and that they are surrounded by a loving and learning environment. I commend the Nepali staff as they care for each girl and their needs as individuals, as anyone would do their own child. I look forward to the next visit and to see their growth and continue to have a loving relationship with each one of them.
Shuva Ratri (Good Night)
Om Shanti and Namaste
Carla xo
School, bangles, bindi’s, dancing, Momo’s, laughter, dancing, photos, laugher, donuts, laugher, leaving, presents, tears, tears, tears, quiet time, taxi, thamel.
My head is a jumble, a mixture of all the emotions, feelings of love for the whole Forget Me Not Family; quietly more than usual I have a strong pull to stay longer to be able to be more a continuous, day in day out part of these girls lives, to watch the small changes, to not miss 6months worth of smiles and laughter, tears and tantrums.
So here I sit in reflection of my final day, final hours, minutes, seconds spent with my girls.
What a day it turned out to be! A juicy, lovey, lovely unforgettable last day!
Carla and I arrived at 11am from Thamel carrying two boxes which held 30 jam filled donuts for later that afternoon. We then spent time chatting with Barme who had the day off from school until it was time to pick the other girls up from school at 12.15
As they all rushed out to greet us you could taste the excitement in their chatter and feel the buzz in their movements. Back at FMN it was straight into the FMN shirts and then down to Carla to get given some bangles for dancing and I placed a bindi on each of the girls heads (much to their laughter, especially when I put it on in not quite the right position). Then it was straight upstairs where the cd player was switched on and it was dance dance dance for the next 30mins until the house mums and Puja had finished organising the veggies ready for everyone to start making Momo’s. As it was (as well as many of the other girls) first Momo making experience I was deemed in a very short time to have some ‘skills’ in preparing the Momo’s so from then I spent most of my time showing some of the girls my little Momo’s preparing tricks! After one of the girls would complete a very nice looking Momo she would then rush over to me all excited and say ‘Lars Uncle, Lars Uncle look at my Momo’, and I would exclaim back ‘Wow that is one Beauuutiful Momo’ and then there would be many smiles and much laughter.
Eating the Momo’s was just, if not more so enjoyable for most of the girls, some who ate in excess of 25 momo’s!!! My Momo limitation ended up being 7, a very very poor comparison……..
Then it was back to dancing where Carla and I joined in, as well as the house mums and even our guard and for the next hour I pulled from one girl to another learning (trying to) intricate Nepali dance moves.
As things started to quiet down by about 4pm we decided to go outside to get some group photos, and the girls responded and posed so very well, and after about 300 photos later we had to hide the camera so that we could go back upstairs to give out the photo album and the donuts.
The photo album was a collection of the best photos from the trip, some which we put up on the big board which we had made up and looks fantastic! Sitting in a big circle, each girl a tasty donut in hand passing around the photo album, peering over it, pointing, exclaiming WOW, and many many smiles was very satisfying.
It was then time for a quiet relaxing last hour spent with the girls, each talking to me, with me listening to everything they were saying, all the while in the back of my mind thinking how far they have come along in only a matter of years.
Puja gave me a copy of their report cards on Monday afternoon and I was amazed to see from everyone of the young girls reports A+ A+ A and comments like ‘Fantastic work keep it up!’ In the older girls report cards it really shows the difference and the benefit of having a math’s and English Tutor as all the girls improved on their last result and most are above 85% for all of their subjects with some of the girls that in the last report were down in the 60-70% for Math’s and English now into the 90% category. That same afternoon I also watched Barme doing her Braille homework, and with a great deal of pride she showed me how she practices and what running my fingers over the pages feels like.
Every time I am here I watch and learn more about each one of the girls and every time I go to leave it tears me up just a little bit more and I know that one day and that day won’t be too far away I will stay for a lot longer and be a part of their everyday lives just a little bit more.
I’ll leave you tonight with a letter that was pressed into my hands from Janu Mother just as I was leaving. Janu is learning English and with the help of all her children she has written this letter for Carla and me and it is written with such an honest an pure beauty; a true reason as to why I know that all of the girls at Forget Me Not are in the safest and most capable hands.
This letter is transcribed as it was written with no corrections.
The letter.
“Hello and Namaste to Lars sir and Carla miss.
I am so happy to see you here How 2 weeks passed I don’t know and today you are going from here.
I felt very sad because I cannot speak with you due to problem of language I think what you thought about my for that.
I don’t know How to make a house but I have tried and I am giving it you Say hello to Freya, Debby, Amy, Donna, Taniya and to Katy aunty. I am very glad to get an opportunity to work at forget Me Not Home. Before coming here I used to Think that I have only 1 daughter but when I come here I got many daughters.
I wish to a mother of many daughters.
I love children that’s why you gave me work here. I want to spend my whole life here. I have written these words with the help of children so if here is mistake then I am really sorry about it.
From Forget Me Not Children’s Home’s Mother.
Janu
With tired eyes and a full heart I wish you all goodnight and I take many wonderful memories of this trip back to Australia to share with everyone.
Om, Shanti and Namaste,
Lars
From Carla:
What makes Nepal a popular destination? Is it the people, the crazy driving through the streets with the horns to follow, that care free feel, is it that you can wear a multiple of colours together and still be trendy or is it that you can be yourself and nobody judges?? Or maybe it is the variety of areas that you can escape to; from the high points of the Everest region, to the centre madness of Thamel, to the lake region of Pokhara and then into the rural and remote.
Wednesday last week Lars, Nabin and I left the hassle and bustle of Kathmandu valley and headed out to the villages on the otherside of Pokhara. The journey began at 6.45am, we travelled in a micro bus (mini bus to us) around and around the mountains until we got to a place called Beni 9 hours later. Out we got, I rush of blood went through my body as my legs started to walk through the streets and over a bridge. To my surprise we found ourselves at another bus stop and Nabin explaining we had another 3-4hours to get to Darbang our sleeping destination. Aahhhhhh went through my head as it was only 30km in distance; this meant a very very slow and bumpy ride. In we piled, I was fortunate to be given a front seat position with three other ladies and a baby plus the driver, a little squishy, but poor Lars and Nabin had to opt for the roof with the dust, for the first half anyway!! As the sun started to disappear over the mountain and sky gradually darkened the drive got more tedious. 3 and ½ hours later we were there to my much pleasure, as I am not the best traveler.
Dahl Baht for dinner a candle to read by and then bed, as the day to follow would consist of a few hours walking. With sun dawning, time to wake, have our noodle soup for energy and off we set. It was a bit of tough walk up, up, switch backs, steps, little downs, my legs didn’t know what hit them. The scenery was beautiful with the Annapurna trail in the background, with fresh air to breath, cool mineral water to drink and a sense of peace around it was a good change.
The destination of our village in the Magdi area had been reached, Nabin meet a lady who we would stay the night with in the first few moments of arriving. We met this lady just as we reached the top of the path, she was waiting for her daughter who was at full term pregnancy with her first baby and hadn’t shown any signs of having the baby. The daughter looked pretty in blue, with a carefree smile, ready for the journey her small carry bag packed. Due to the lack of medical facilities and knowledge the daughter had to walk down the path to Durbang and be assessed by the health worker and then would be sent to Beni hospital which may or may not be able to help, this would be a least a 7 hour ordeal. This makes you think how lucky we are within our own country, as well as what help can be provided to these ladies.
As we walked through the village, little children were calling Namaste, Namaste and welcoming us into their community. A warm feeling engulfed my body. After placing our bags down, we were to be guided by a young local to the next village to have a look at the school, medical, and health facilities around. With the day warming we were grateful to enter through the rainforest were a lot of the local foods/spices were grown and picked. This village was slightly larger with approximately 2500 people and 350 homes. There were several schools some were rundown others that were newer but nonetheless most only had two or three benches and a 1m by 2m sized blackboard, a dusty pitch at the front for the kids to run around on. We went and had a look at the health post, which was unfortunately closed. The health posts are government run and are supposed to be open all day, however most of the workers within these facilities also have their own private practice in the village, so therefore they close the doors of the public health post so they can operate their business. Very unfair, as most people within these villages do not have the means to pay for the services. When we were there another pregnant lady with one week to her due date had walked for two hours for a checkup, but with no one at the health post this was not possible. When looking at the lady’s belly you could notice that the contours had dropped. Not long till the birth of her second baby.
In some ways both of these experiences made me feel very inadequate, unable to help either women at that particular time. It makes me think what other skills I could gain to be able to help in the more rural areas of Nepal or any country, even Australia. We have the knowledge out our finger tips that we are able to study and learn and help.
Back to the first village for a good meal of dahl baht. Lars and Nabin tackled the next mountain while I was happy to read and take in peaceful time. I was given fresh, hot milk and sugar to drink which centred me nicely, the simplicities of life. After I took a little walk out the back into the fields where I was beckoned to join a group of young boys playing volleyball, with there known English they asked me to play. What fun, then it turned into football, which Lars and Nabin joined once they had descended from their climb. Dust flying around, legs and feet everywhere, throw ins, kicks and goals, the inner child coming out. J
We went back to the house and sat on little stools in the cooking room, as the dinner was cooked. The room contained a clay shell that had two pot holes at the top and was hollow underneath for the fire. Here she cooked rice, dahl, curry vegetables and a mustard. It was very humbling, I just sat and watched, absorbed and felt her ease.
The next day was our journey back, lars and I walked 7 hours to beni, slept and then Saturday went to Pokhara for a day. Enjoyment with Lars taking me onto the lake for a relaxing paddle, and a tour of the streets which finished with a few nice cocktails overlooking the lake. Pokhara is different to Thamel it is quieter and has a different air about it. It still offer good food, shopping and beautiful scenery, a place that I will visit again.
Arrival to Kathmandu Thamel was a sigh of relief after the winding roads, and many hours sitting. The familiar sounds washing over you, knowing that you were somewhat home. Horns, houses upon houses, children and people moving everywhere. Back into the craziness of Nepal.
This Journey through Nepal for me has been one of many insights. We have travelled through many parts, exposing me to different cultures and specialties that Nepal offers, and I have enjoyed all. I sit in a red wind jacket, a blue jumper, salmon coloured paints and my joggers, yet I feel comfortable. So maybe it is a mixture of everything that makes Nepal the destination to visit and revisit.
Hello all what a week it has been! To think that in another four days we will be on the plane and heading back to Australia. ‘This bubble of time is indeed a creature of stealth, arriving on unexpected winds’
Nabin, Carla and I left Nabin’s house at 6.10am on Wednesday morning and walked to where the mini-van was waiting. It was then a 6 hour ride to Pokhara, another 3hours to Beni and then another 3.5hrs to Dabang in the Maygdi region of Dhalagiri. So in total it was a very loooooong day, and we didn’t reach the small guest house in Dabang until after 7pm that night. The road from Beni to Dabang is only open throughout the dry season as it passes many waterfalls that leaves the road underwater during the wet season. This meant that it was a very bbbbbumpppy road and it took the full 3.5hours to travel the distance of around 30km! What was even more interesting was that halfway there another bus just in front of us broke down which meant that all the passengers from their bus crammed into our bus as well. A 20 seater bus managed to seat in excess of 60people with me hanging of the roof with about eight other people and everyone’s usual luggage such as bags of rice, blankets, wire, a few chickens etc
The next day was a trek of a couple of hours’ straight up to get to a few remote villages in the Dhalagiri region. Once we arrived we spent the remainder of the day walking to villages in the immediate area and talking with the locals finding out and assessing what projects would be best suited to these areas. The severity of the medical situation up in those areas in quite apparent with one lady that we met who was pregnant and overdue by a week having to walk down to Dabang and possible having to go to Beni or further to receive any treatment.
We stayed the night at a widow’s place whose husband had died in a hunting accident many years earlier and she was extremely hospitable and we spent a lovely and very peaceful night there.
Due to our time constraints we left the next morning having taken with us a wealth of experience in such a short time and having identified a variety of areas that are desperately in need of support.
We decided that instead of taking the bus from Dabang to Beni we would instead walk the distance which passes many villages along the way. This took us a good 7hours of walking to get to Beni but I wouldn’t change the experience for a second!
After staying in Beni the night we then took the bus back to Pokhara and then the next morning the bus back to Kathmandu in which we arrived at 3pm yesterday afternoon. In all it was an experience I will never forget and an area that over the next years will endeavor to help in the areas that I am able to.
Sitting on the bus yesterday, my eyes and mind going to that inbetween space that isin’t quite being asleep and doesn’t hold the clarity of being awake. In this haze my thoughts floated to the girls at FMN and how much they have changed over the past 3years. My thoughts floated over Alisha who was such a scared little dot when arrived in Jan 2004 to the little lady full of laughter that she has grown into. I then started thinking about the older girls and their changes especially over the past 6months and as I sat their thinking about them I came to a realisation about just how much change has happened in 6 short months. Ruma and Goma both girls whom 6months ago would not say to much, generally happy to keep to themselves have developed into teenageers that are full of life, spirit and willing to dance and smile at every given opportunity. Given the warm, caring and loving personality that Goma is I have noticed this trip as to how much of a mother figure she is to the younger girls, how much help she gives them and the way that she speaks to them. Her aura of care and compassion is developing daily. In fact the dynamics of all the girls fit so well and so harmoniously that over the years as each girl has grown and developed so does that harmonious feeling. So there I am sitting in the bus, a contented smile on my face knowing that I have been a part of helping to create and sustain something so special.
Now we are back in the colour, sounds and smells of Thamel, Kathmandu. This afternoon we are back at Forget Me Not to visit the girls and have dinner there for the last time this trip. Puja sent me a text message yesterday saying that the girls are all very excited at us coming and the older girls plan on cooking up a storm again. This afternoon we plan on handing out the rest of the Nepali paper so that the girls can finish off all their sponsor letters. In all we only have another 3 more trips to the orphanage before we fly out on Thursday. The last time that we will visit will be on Wednesday afternoon where we are planning a Momo and dance party! It will be BIG! All the older girls and us are learning how to make Momos and we are giving them little bracelts and taking around donuts and juice to help the dancing energy……
With love from all of the FMN children, staff and me.
Om, Shanti and Namaste,
Lars
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