Indra Jatra

During the festival of Indra Jatra in Kathmandu Durbar Square. 

Teej

During the festival Teej. The Hindu women are lined up waiting to enter the holiest Hindu site in Nepal - Pashupatinath - to pray for the well-being of their husband. The unmarried girls pray for a good and kindhearted husband.

The children of Aishworya enjoying a piece of freshly baked pancakes.

The oasis of the restaurant 1905 - right in the middle of the chaos of dust, noise and exhaust fumes that constitute the city of Kathmandu. Every Saturday morning this place holds the Farmer's market where the local farmers and craftsmen gather to sell their products. A nice place where to acquire Italian or French cheese, Polish meat, Nepali bread, jam and vegetables and a lot more. Saturdays are the only holidays per week in Nepal, however, 1905 was visited mostly by Westerners living in Kathmandu as this is one the rare options to buy good cheese, bread and organic vegetables in the city. 

The products sold here cannot be found in the local supermarkets, as the producers spread their production among the restaurants.

Dilip with six hands :)

Children are thrilled to play the badminton - a gift from our friend Luke from the Netherlands. If the football ball goes to the boys only, then badminton is the field of the girls. 

The momo day! Older children doing a little bit of work each to make momos for all the orphanage. This food resembles dumplings, only in the inside, besides meet, Nepali people put also boiled potatoes or cabbage with onions and masala. A spicy tomato sauce is made to go together with the momos.

Parvati washing the heads of the little children with special medicine against lice. As they live so close together, it is no wonder that majority of the little ones have them. The queerest part is that all of them strongly believe that lice come from rain. We tried to explain that this is not true, but it was like trying to talk with a wall - they didn't bother to listen.

Clothes

The piles of clothes in the yard of the orphanage. The children are literally drowning in them, so there is no wonder that big piles of clothes donated to the Children's Home are given over to orphanages out in the countryside.

The charity event

On June 1 a charity event was held to help collect donations for Aishworya Children's Home. In the week preceding the event Pramila had taught some of the children dances and songs, which they showed to the guests. Many children paintings had been collected and put for admiration on the wall in the hotel "Orchid" where the event took place. 

It was quite populated and altogether the Children's Home collected 10,000 rupees. In the following day even The Himalayan had published a short article about the charity event.

In the end children also got three boxes of clothes - brand new red t-shirts that they tried on in the evening back at home :)

Dilip

Dilip drawing for tomorrow's charity event. He is the best drawer in the orphanage. While others draw from a book and other drawings, Dilip does his work on his own and he is still better than the rest.

Dilip was found on a street, small and all alone. He didn't even know his own name, so Pramila named him Dilip. His birthday is celebrated with all the rest of the children on Buddha's birthday last Saturday. A dentist a few years ago said that he is eight years old, so now he should be around 11.

For six consecutive years Dilip was awarded with the school's best student award.

Once he was diagnosed to be sick with meningitis. For a few months he was laying in a hospital fighting for his life. After the hospital he remained at home for a year, not going to school, but still at the end of the school year he passed all the exams and was moved to the next class. The only sign of his dire sickness is his slight and thin body. Other than that Dilip is as charming with his bright smile as he had been before the sickness.

Mattresses

A mattress in the sun, being dried after heavy rainfalls. Most of them are usually carried inside when the rains start, but sometimes a few are forgotten.

Dance

On Saturday we have a charity event in order to raise donations for Aishworya Children's Home. These children are waiting for Pramila to teach them a dance for the event.

Crossroads

Diagonal crosswalks on one of the largest crossroads in Kathmandu. The traffic lights aren't working, thus a traffic police officer is trying to regulate the flow of vehicles. Sometimes it seems that everyone is driving in all the possible directions. And in the middle, disregarded by everyone, the pedestrians risking their lives in attempts to get on the other side of this madness.

Bus stop

This is how a bus stop is marked in Nepal. The larger and more important ones have nice little sheds against rain as well.

Ganesha

Every morning the neat line of the little children going to school passes this image of the god Ganesha. Almost every one of the children rings the bell to wake up the god and touches the image. Ganesha removes and puts obstacles in a man's life, and the children pray for luck that Ganesha could bring them.

The water

The water to our house is brought by a car like this and pumped in the tanks on top of the roof. The capacity of a tank is 5000 liters and the cost - 1500 rupees. During monsoons the tank is being filled twice per month while now, with ~10 volunteers in the house, twice per week.

The Streets Part 2

The new government of Nepal has decided that the city is in a need of wider streets. As a result of this decision long parts of one of the city's main streets have loosed their pavements. The pedestrians have no other choice as to walk on the road, where bikes and cars are rushing by mere centimeters from them.

Those, who risk walking the ruins of the pavements, from time to time encounter large, uncovered holes in the ground marking the sewerage pipes. One careless step or a glance other than on the road, and a small kid could vanish under the ground, while an adult could end up with a broken or bruised leg.

The Streets of Kathmandu

Some of them are so narrow that the car drivers have to stop and step out to remove a bike, blocking their way, into some hole in the walls.

The market

The sights of Thamel's markets - vegetables on naked ground and men selling fresh meet in the midday's sun, trying to wave away the swarm of flies with a newspaper.

Buddha's Birthday

Yesterday we had a grand celebration of Buddha and Pramila's birthdays. We had a great tent raised in the yard, all the children in their best clothes, much food, dancing and singing. Even aamaa Nirmala for a moment broke into a dance. The elder children had prepared a dance as well to entertain all the little children and the guests. The house war bristling with energy till the very evening.

Aishworya Children's Home

This is our castle. A few days ago the Danish volunteers brought a ball home and the boys had a great time with it. Meanwhile the younger ones their to do their homework in one corner of the yard.

The Praying room

Children pray two times a day - in the morning and in the evening. When the sun sets, the older children light candles and incense, while the little ones sit in neat lines and sing and chant their prayers. The gods on the wall are Shiva and his wife Parvati - one of the strongest gods in Hinduism. The Swastika symbolizes luck and its direct translation from Sanskrit is "to be good" or "being with the higher self".

Water heating

The way water is heated in a rural school - some kind of a clay device and a wire injected in the socket.

The rural village

With fields all around, these houses have been built close together to leave more land to the crops.

A rural school

One day we went to a rural school on the way from Bakhtapur to Changu Narayan. It was erected with the help of an Italian organization and the Italians had also been volunteering in the school for 10 months. However, the level of English among the teachers and even more so among the students was very poor. The teachers in the English lessons would talk to the students in Nepali as they did not know or where ashamed of pronouncing the English words.

We offered to come twice a month to teach English to the teachers, but the school couldn't offer us the accommodation. 

It could have been a nice break from the constant dust in the Kathmandu's air. Out in the countryside it is full with fresh, sweet air.

The Montessory School

Two of our children have been accepted in the high-quality and expensive Montessory School. It charges 100 euros per month and aamaa Nirmala could have never afforded to send the children to this school if not for her good connections. She knows a few from the management of the Montessory School who agreed to teach two children for a month. 

River Road

This dusty road winds its way near Bishnumati river. The dog had a piece of meat in its teeth and for a while he was trotting after me.

The Pancake Day

On May 18 the Danish volunteers made pancakes for all of the house - children and staff.