BACK TO PROJECT
Monica and Morgan’s Diary – September 21, 2016
Monica and Morgan’s Diary – September 21, 2016
Monica:
This morning I started they day very early and peaceful as I went to a little temple in a shed above Home of Hope with Asha. We lit candles and enscence. That was a great start to the day! I took part in the Home of Hope board meeting but after 2 hours alot of women started to come to Home of Hope as we had invited them for a womens meeting, however they were a couple of hours early.
After 30 minutes there were so many women we had to start the meeting before the actual meeting time. We talked about how women in Nepal deal with such things as menstruation, childbirth, protection and I made a basic health check on a couple of pregnant women. It was such an empowering moment to feel like us women all over the world can be so strong when we all come together. We were all able to talk and laugh together however we were speaking about very serious things.
It was a bit chaotic today as there were four different meetings that the women had to attend, first the Home of Hope board meeting, then the water project, next the community hall project and my women’s meeting. A second group of women showed up at the right time for the meeting so we did it all over again for them. We met close to 45 women today and their small children.
All together thete must have been around 100 people that walked through Home of Hope today. The hectic day continued when I made another visit to the tent school and I shortly visited a sick woman at her home and also took care of a finger wound. This evening was a very emotional evening. Karma came for dinner and we celebrated Shree Krishna’s birthday by dancing and singing together.
It was also a very sad evening as it was my last evening at Home of Hope. I have only known these children for a week but they already feel like my own children. I will not say goodbye tomorrow morning, I will be saying “see you again!”
Morgan:
I had a very good board meeting this morning, however very hectic with so many people coming and going for other meetings.
I had the pleasure of sitting in on Monica’s women meeting and it was so amazing to see her work as a midwife. I got to see her check pregnant women’s bellies and it was very interesting to see her listen to the babies heart beat using a wooden instrument. All the women really listened to Monica and wanted to learn. Even though Monica and I aren’t from Nepal, it felt like we were all bonded on some level in this small room because we are all women and share the same experiences.
Shyam, Monica and I continued to get the washing machine up and running. I am proud to say that Home of Hope did their first load of laundry this evening! It was so exciting to finally have it working and especially in this small village to have the first laundry machine.
This evening was bittersweet for me seeing all the children cry over Monica. It brought back memories of when I left in April. There is something special with these children, in the sense that as soon as you meet them they steal your heart. They have this affect on you and it doesn’t matter how long you know them for, they just love you unconditionally and you can’t help but love them back unconditionally too. I am not looking forward to saying goodbye Friday morning as I know I will be sad, but also happy knowing I will return again in either January or February. Now Monica and I are sitting on the porch for the last time together as this has been the place where we come together to finish the day and chat about our experiences and feelings. I will miss these evenings with her as it feels like we have bonded in such a short period of time.
Monica and Morgan,
Lööf Foundation volunteers