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Monica and Morgan’s Diary – May 21, 2017
Monica and Morgan’s Diary – May 21, 2017,
Monica:
Shree and I headed for the school at Upper Ratankot. It is a smaller village that is a 45-minute walk up from Home of Hope further up the mountain. All the children and teachers met us outside of the school with flowers and traditional scarves. It was a very overwhelming welcome from all. After the welcome, everyone wanted to introduce themselves in English. We spoke a bit about the importance of the basic hygiene routines such as washing your hands, brushing teeth and changing clothes during nighttime if possible. The children really like to practice their English, so we spoke about different ways to travel as the had posters on the wall. I was surprised that they knew such good English as they are only in grade 1-5. They were very eager to all speak with me. I handed out medicine that I bought with my donated money, donated seeds, donated glasses for the elderly people in the village. I gave out two note books to all the school children and a lot of pens! They all started to draw pictures and gave them to me as a gift/memory.
While Shree and I were heading back down the mountain to Home of Hope. We visited a lot of houses that Shree helped me to invite women for my women’s meeting on Tuesday. During the walk home we were stuck in a hail storm. It was so crazy to see hail because a few minutes before it was 35 degrees outside. We took cover so we wouldn’t get hurt. We arrived home just in time to greet all of the children from school. The rest of the afternoon and evening I joined the ongoing building of the chicken house, the work in the kitchen and helped the children with writing their letters back to their sponsors. It was so nice to see all of the children from Upper Ratankot again as some even recognized me from the last visit! Not many outside people or help organizations reach this remote village, so they appreciated my visit that much more!
Morgan:
I did my interview with Radhika early this morning as the plan was for her and her brother Shree to go to Kathmandu for a one month computer course since they are finished grade 10 and waiting for their exam results. It turned out they are leaving tomorrow now, but it was still good that I got it done early. While Monica was gone and we only needed one worker on the chicken house, this gave me a great opportunity to have a talk with Shyam and Asha, go over their job description and interview them a little. Shyam and I planned to carry down cement and sand for the foundation of the chicken house, however, it started to storm outside, so we put this on hold. Asha and I went to gather fruit from a local tree as we wanted to bake a pie for all of Home of Hope. The fruit looked like small plums, but the children told us it tastes sour, bitter and a little sweet. The pie looked really great, and I got great reviews from the Home of Hope children! Now that Asha and I have baked together, hopefully she can continue to make baked goods for the children once I’m gone.
Once the pie was finished, Monica and Shree arrived home. Monica, the children, our worker and I all worked together to carry down bags of sand and cement from the top of the hill. We also carried these on our backs and foreheads. It was a bit tougher to carry bags today compared to the baskets we used yesterday. After doing quite a bit of labor work the past couple days, I really have a new appreciation and respect for laborer’s. It is not an easy job, especially doing it the Nepali way. I was so impressed again today by how much we were able to accomplish. We have the whole foundation of stones and cement finished. We will continue with brick laying and putting in the iron support posts in all four corners of the chicken house. In the evening, I started to hand out the letters written by their sponsors to all of the children. The love that is expressed through the sponsor letters is more than I could ask for. The children get so excited and happy to get their letters and photos. The children and I started to hang the photos sent from their sponsors on the wall tonight. The children are all so proud of their sponsors and huddle in small groups to compare photos and letters. It is really very cute. It was really great to have the globe Kaylee bought when she was here earlier this February because now I can easily show on the map where their sponsors come from or countries their sponsors talk about in their letters. Not only do the children receive love, support, a sense of family and encourage, they also learn more about the world outside of Nepal and have great exposure to writing and reading in English.
I feel a sense of honor that I get to read the sponsor letters to the children, because I believe in the sponsorship program and know that it is doing wonders for all of the children, and also for our sponsors! Again, I will go to bed with a happy heart tonight. It’s been another fantastic day here at Home of Hope!
Monica and Morgan
