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.