Rescue

Time is flying by so fast , we have reached the end of march already and I am still alive trying to do my best . As it was originally scheduled I was supposed to be in Simikot by the beginning of march , right after the presentation of the annual report to the members of the government .

 To go to Simikot we first take the night bus all the way to Nepalgunj (about 15h bus ride ) then the plane to Simikot .Early march we were ready to go but  the airport was closed : people were on strike because of the rise of the price of the airline ticket, then a woman died in the airport , she needed intensive care, and as the planes were not flying , she could not be taken to the hospital . So every day became a  “tomorrow”. This situation gave me time to play the tourist and I visited some Buddhist temples and the cities of Pathan Bauda Bakthapur.

Then by the end of last week , we were informed that our children home would receive 20 new children from an orphanage that had been closed for ill treatment on the children .

You should have seen the activity in the home from ten we were going to be thirty boys and girls . Just imagine the set up of the beds, sheets ,pillows ,blankets , then the kitchen and what is needed to cook and the  food reserves and the place to eat ! in one day with the help of the Teen agers currently living in the house we managed all that .

The “new” children arrived on Sunday mid afternoon . They were welcome with tea and cookies and then assigned to their room .

The ground floor was for the 6 “little boys” from 5 to 10 years old and I was sleeping next to them on the ground floor .The first floor was for the 14 girls from 9 to 16 . and the 2^nd floor was for the team of the 7 boy teen agers . Many eyes were crying, eyes full of questions unable to be expressed with words . We tried to do our best but not easy when you do not speak the language , even tough all these children speak a good English .They all arrived with a little back pack with their school books and a few clothes in it and also a few “treasures” some of them could save. Before dinner the youngest ones had a shower on the terrasse, and fortunately the “mother” of the house had bought enough “special shampoo” it was sure needed !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! and still today .

For the first dinner , I think there was too much sadness in most of the stomachs of all these youngsters to eat . Everyone went to bed at around 8and half pm . The little boys slept in the clothes they arrived with holding tight on what they had ! That very night no electricity , and the little boys wanted light !!! At around one , a little boy got up for pipi and the other ones followed , fortunately electricity was back . then after a while “caca” and there I found the youngest one with his 2 feet on top of the bowl holding it tight with his 2 hands to avoid falling as it was wet and slippery  ! they did not know that kind of toilets ! At that time I was able to laugh, I try to explain to him but difficult for him to understand .

The next morning 5:30 am they were all awake and trying to understand what was going to happen next . We served tea and biscuits, then with the help of the house keeper we started to sort out the clothes  and soak them in soapy water : the washing machine was my 2 hands with a strong brush a piece of soap and cold water and sunshine as dryer!

This first morning 12 of the group went to school with the most smelly and filthy clothes ! When they came back their clothes were dried and they could change in clean clothes .  We started to see smiles on the faces and slowly they realize that this new place was safe !!!!!!!

Not a very easy situation to handle . I try to not have pity but compassion and understanding

and comprehension

 Today after 10 days we still have tears at night sometimes and pipi in bed in the morning but more or less I can say that they are finding a new equilibrium within themselves .

But they are still in a survival stage and the violence among them is difficult to describe .

Some of them were already alone in the streets at the age of 4 .

 So I try to take care of all the little headaches and wounds, and twisted wrist and ankles !

And now the 6 of them  know me enough to crawl under my blanket at 5:30am !

That’s all for today

Normally I should leave tomorrow for Simikot !