From: Steve Townsend
Senior Coordinator, 3-H Grants
Humanitarian Grants Program, The Rotary Foundation

Subject: 3-H Grant 62861, Nepal - Approved

Rabendra Raj Pandey, Primary Contact, Rotary Club of Patan (D-3290)
Robert Rose, Primary Contact, Rotary Club of Bellevue (D-5030)

Dear Rtn. Pandey and Rtn. Rose, Congratulations!

The Trustees of The Rotary Foundation have approved 3-H Grant application #62861 to launch an integrated, multi-media awareness campaign to overcome disability prejudices in Nepal. Please share this good news with your fellow Rotarians. Your hard work toward developing this 3-H project was recognized by the Trustees, who congratulate you on your efforts.

With best wishes,
Steve Townsend
Senior Coordinator, 3-H Grants
Humanitarian Grants Program, The Rotary Foundation

Dear District 5030 Rotarians,

As you can read in the above email from The Rotary Foundation’s 3-H Grant Coordinator Steve Townsend, the application for the 3-H grant 'Nepal Disability Awareness Campaign' project has been officially approved! As you can imagine, I am very excited as well as emotionally drained after three years of working toward this goal.

If you have ever dreamed about being an important part of a major project that will change the lives of thousands of wonderful, talented people who are just waiting for a project like this to bring them out of the darkness and into the light of knowledge and opportunity, then I can honestly tell you that this is the project! With the approval of this project, we have the opportunity to bring hope, education and empowerment to people with disabilities in Nepal, who have been held back and held down for so long. This is our moment in time to be that agent of change with Rotary as our vehicle.

When you think about it, our time on earth is relatively short. For me, this project is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to create a lasting legacy; an indelible footprint that will last beyond my own, brief existence. I hope you will find it in your heart (and club budget!) to partner with a club in Nepal to be a part of this rewarding and life-changing project!

With Warm Rotary Regards,
Rob Rose
Bellevue Rotary Club

What a wonderful and successful two-month trip to Nepal! My sincere thanks go out to all of my Nepali Rotary friends whose extraordinary efforts made it happen. Listed below are some of the outstanding accomplishments from our journey as well as some random thoughts and insights!

Rotary Accomplishments

• On many of our Rotary Club visits we were accompanied by Nirmala Gyawali or her sister, Sita Gyawali who are both women with blindness. Having a representative of the community with disabilities made for a very compelling presentation on disability awareness.

• Rtn. RR (Rabendra) Pandey and I traveled to four other cities within Nepal besides Kathmandu and met with representatives of over 40 Rotary clubs to discuss the ‘Disability-Awareness’ project. All of the clubs we spoke to were interested in participating and inspired by the project.

• We spoke to most of the country’s 49 Rotaract clubs about disability awareness simultaneously at the Rotaract District 3290 Conference held in Chitwan, Nepal.

• Representatives from eight USA Rotary clubs and one Rotaract Club visited Nepal as part of our group for volunteer projects and sightseeing activities.

• The Rotary Foundation sent DGN Rtn. Scaria Jose from Kerala, India to evaluate the 3-H Grant proposal for disability awareness in Nepal. Past project site visits and cooperating organization meetings were held throughout his five-day visit. We await a final decision on the grant by the Trustees of the Rotary Foundation in April.

Random Thoughts…

• When trying to communicate with the guy cutting your hair, be sure he understands if you are showing him how much you want cut off of your hair, not how much hair you want left on your head!

• This is such a dusty place. I think if you left something sitting on a table for a couple of months it’d be buried in dust.

• Momo’s (Nepali chicken or veggie dumplings) should be declared one of the four basic food groups. They are tasty!

• Bucket-baths aren’t too bad as long as the water is warm.

• Occasional candlelight dinners are romantic but with twice-daily power outages the romance kind-of goes out of it.

• On the flip-side, you feel a bit like a pioneer reading nightly by rechargeable lantern.

• On our way to the airport at the end of our trip, I saw a dog look both ways before crossing the street and then he/she crossed within the crosswalk.

• Never go anywhere without your trusty roll of toilet paper!

We Should Feel Fortunate…

• That when we make a cell phone call, it usually goes through.

• That even though gas prices seem expensive here, at least fuel is available.

• That we have clean air to breathe and clean water to drink.

• That we have electricity at a consistent voltage on an ‘on-demand’ basis.

The “Idea” - Have a party for Nepali
children with disabilities.

 

The “Goal” - Make it the best party
they’ve ever been to and an
experience they’ll always remember.

I was well aware (and a bit wary) of the type of party that Charlotte had in mind. You see, I had volunteered at Camp Goodtimes on Vashon Island for Rotary Carnival Day a number of times. Camp Goodtimes was started by Charlotte over 20 years ago as a place where children undergoing cancer treatment could, along with their siblings, safely attend a summer camp with all of the traditional camp activities. Volunteer nurses, doctors and other staff make sure that the children’s medical needs are attended to while the kids can kick back and have a real camp experience (and parents can rest easy). Rotary Carnival Day is a day the children all look forward to with various Rotarian-run carnival games, loud music, screaming kids, a whipped cream battle and. to top it off, a fire engine to hose the whipped cream off of the kids! With a bit of trepidation I agreed. It sounded like great fun, but would we be able to pull off this type of event in Nepal?

Through my Nepali Rotary contacts we were able to come up with a list of 110 children and about 20 adults with disabilities to invite who live adjacent to the SOS Children’s Village Orphanage in Kathmandu, the location where we had decided to have the party. When you included the 20 USA Rotary volunteers, 20 or so Nepali Rotarians/Rotaractors, along with various and sundry other staff, we were close to 200 in attendance!

Prior to the USA group’s departure, the volunteers had met and gathered together materials for gift/craft/school supply bags that were purchased and packed with care. They were then distributed among the volunteer group for airmail delivery to Nepal via suitcase! One bag was to be handed out to each child after the party.

The party was to occur the day after the group arrived in Nepal and we were scrambling to get all of the arrangements ready for the “big day.” Rotaractor Sacheen Shakya was in charge of the music, both live and CD. He was also the “go-to” guy for the decorations and along with quite a number of other Rotaractors from a variety of clubs, they prepared the venue with appropriately festive décor! My host and favorite Rotarian, RR Pandey, was also working hard to make sure the group would be able to make it to the party via his tour bus, what with gasoline and diesel supplies in the city dwindling due to general strikes and political strife in the Terai. (The Terai are the lowlands through which supplies like fuel from India must travel.) The morning of the party our visiting group went sightseeing at Boudhanath Stupa, a spectacular historic site, while I was on-site trying my best to round up enough tables and chairs for the arts and crafts projects. I took some Nepali Rotaractors next door to the Nepal Orthopedic Hospital to see if we could borrow what was needed. They had plenty of chairs, but no tables. However, the hospital canteen had some, and as the minutes ticked by, we managed to convince (or coerce) the canteen manager to lend us some. We quickly ran them over to the party venue and started setting up. Box lunches arrived, huge rented speakers showed up, and the Sachindra and his music tech team started setting up the sound equipment.

The tables and chairs were in place, and the volunteer group arrived. The craft stations began to take shape; the resident kids at the SOS children’s center began to mill around. More kids arrived from other organizations, including our sponsored kids from the school for the deaf. Slowly, things were starting to come together. I looked over and saw my friend RR in a Hawaiian shirt, shorts, a silly hat and fake bugs on his face! But still, it didn’t feel like a party. Something was missing. Suddenly the music started with a CD of kids’ party songs. Kids and adults started dancing. The crown-decorating, face-painting, tongue-depressor decorating and hair-do booths were in full swing! Now it was a true party with all of the elements in play!

Everyone had such a great time. As I gazed around at the faces of the children and volunteers, I saw that a personal connection was made. This single bond made taking a trip half way around the world worthwhile for our team members. On that particular afternoon, the joy and smiles on everyone’s faces could have lit up the city! We followed up the arts and crafts extravaganza with a box lunch, then live music, then song and dance. It was truly a special day that no one will ever forget.

However, for me, one of the best moments was seeing 10-year-old Sophie Lipitz from Vashon Island, Washington, USA, with her new Nepali friend, Kamala Pun from DNC (Disabled Newlife Center), holding hands as they laughed, danced and chatted about this and that.

Over these past eleven years RR and I have experienced great success as well as our share of disappointments. We have contemplated life's true meaning, kept in mind where we have been and looked ahead to see where we want to go. But even during the rough times in our project work, we were able to laugh at ourselves and the often crazy circumstances, finding humor to lighten the sometimes-heavy load. I have thoroughly enjoyed partnering with Rtn. Rabendra Raj Pandey and his wife, Chandra over the past eleven years. RR has been more than a friend, more like an older brother who shares his wisdom, patience and kindness.

Whatever I have accomplished in Nepal I owe to this man. He guides and counsels me in the cultural, political and societal ways of Nepal. He has personally seen to it that the goals and dreams for our beneficiaries get accomplished.......all this in a society that from the very beginning of our friendship has been in a constant state of political flux and uncertainty.

I've been pondering how I can possibly express my gratitude to someone for everything he has done to ensure that our projects are successful. No mere gift could ever cover what he has given to me and our project beneficiaries. Even if I could afford some expensive trinket it wouldn't be suffice.

I humbly offer this essay as an expression of my appreciation and gratitude for his friendship and guidance.

We are kindred spirits spun together through a web of interesting and highly unlikely circumstances: a newspaper article leads to a phone call to volunteer; a broken leg initiates a meeting on an airplane; from that meeting a personal referral is given and a dinner meeting takes place at Kilroy's restaurant in Thamel, Kathmandu! Was it coincidence, karma or fate that brought us and our families together in service to those in need in Nepal? Whatever the reason, I believe we are on a breathtaking journey that will continue to expand, extending help and hope to our beneficiaries whom through no fault of their own have been born into desperate circumstances.
-Robert Rose (RR2)

We met in the cavernous library of this ancient school- the oldest high school in Nepal at 154 years! The Rotaract volunteers who have been helping to coordinate this project were ready with a projector, screen and computer speakers as well as cookies and soft drinks for after the presentation. They have done a great job of getting involved and keeping the kids interested in the project. The Nepali pen-friends were going to get their first video look at their USA friends, as before leaving I had taped short interviews of each of them introducing themselves and greeting their Nepali counterpart!

Well, we hooked up the technology and it worked well. As long as the electricity didn't cut out suddenly, we were going to be all right. Right now in Kathmandu there is eight-hours per day of what's termed, ‘load-shedding'. That means ‘no electricity' and it comes at different times of the day on a schedule that depends on what area you live in. Fortunately for us we had power for the duration of our taped interviews.

Let me tell you something about this library and my presentation. In front of the school is one of the busiest streets in the city and the noise blasting from the incredible variety of engines, horns, bells and whistles was deafening! Adding to that, on the opposite side of the street lies the parade grounds where various and sundry political parties have their rallies and of course, on this day top Maoist leader Prachanda was giving a particularly raucous political speech. So I was in a bit of a competition to see if I could out-shout the others. I thought briefly about running over and asking Prachanda to ‘hold-it-down' a bit, but ultimately decided that maybe it wouldn't be the ‘politically-correct' thing to do!

Okay, on to the program! The Nepali pen-friends were held in rapt attention, listening to their USA pen-friends, and as the USA kids laughed in the video, so did the Nepali kids! As each of the USA kids mentioned their Nepali friend's name, or held up his/her photo, quiet shouts and laughter went up as they recognized themselves and their pen-friend! What a treat for me to be there to witness the bridging of two cultures from half way around the world. Most of the children in this government school are from a very poor background and many are employed as domestic help after school hours so this is a particularly meaningful program that we are doing. So simple and inexpensive, yet so priceless in it's impact on these young lives.

After the presentation we had our snacks (I usually bring Nepali tea and biscuits for the Meadowdale class) and then I did a short video interview of each of the pen-friends in attendance to show their USA friends when I return.

I have been informed that the Meadowdale class has raised $800 to help support Durbar school and their new friends who live and study in such a challenging environment. I am honored to be associated with each and every one of the participants in this project. From the teachers and administrators to the Rotaractors who help with coordination. However, my special thanks go out to our participating students. I hope this experience will open up a lifetime of interest in exploring other countries and cultures. I know your pen-friends here in Nepal would encourage you all to come here and meet ‘in-person'!
Reporting from Kathmandu, Nepal
Rob Rose

I look around the world and see how inhumanely humans are treating other humans and I am appalled. Our world is an insignificant speck of dust in our vast universe and our survival as a species utterly depends on our ability to work together, celebrate the differences, practice tolerance and ultimately, treat others the way we would like to be treated. Why is this so difficult for us to put into practice?

HUMAN BEINGS ARE ALL THE SAME. Inside, we are virtually identical. We may look different on the outside, we have our flaws and imperfections, our likes and dislikes, but basically, inside we are indistinguishable. How do we break out of this cycle that tells us that we are somehow better than someone else, that we know the ‘right' way to believe, that we know all of the ‘right' answers? I submit that if we give of ourselves to others without regard to their color, gender, race, caste, nationality, religion or physical and mental abilities, we can cure this intolerance, anger and apathy.

Rotary & Rotaract have always been a great means to achieve international understanding and peace, even in times when these commodities are in short supply. Rotary circumvents politics, transcends physical borders and encourages tolerance, world understanding and friendship.

I would assert that we, as Rotarians (and Rotaractors) are Rotary World Citizens. That we are one nation as Rotarians of the World helping others without prejudice or discrimination and for no personal gain other than the satisfaction of helping someone in need. We can make the changes necessary that countries and governments either won't or can't to insure that there is clean water, food, education, immunization from disease, equality, empowerment and equal opportunity.

Within the context of our immense universe, our diminutive earth is but a pinpoint. It spins in the perfect relationship to the sun to allow us an ideal environment for existence. As humans responsible for its care we are quickly spinning our tiny planet in a direction that will make us extinct, either by creating war and hate or by ruining the planet's environment, thus preventing us from surviving on its surface, or both.

I'm sure that in many ways I am ‘preaching to the choir' as we say here in the United States since many of my readers are Rotarians/Rotaractors; you already know the impact that Rotary can have as one of the best tools for peace and understanding. However, I don't believe that most Rotarians fully understand the power within our grasp to do ‘good' in the world.

We can BE the change. We are ONE through Rotary. We are Rotary World Citizens!
- Robert Rose

They come in all shapes, sizes and colors. They roam the streets of Kathmandu day and night. Some appear to be on a mission, in quickstep, heading resolutely toward a destination only they know. Others seem to have achieved whatever goal it was they set out to do and are now snoozing, contented in the sun, actual smiles appearing on their faces. Some gather communally, I'm sure for tea & biscuits. Others are independent operators, traveling alone and not interested in the usual ‘meet & greet'. No, it's not the tourists I'm writing about, but the dogs... ‘The Dogs of Kathmandu'.

They are true survivors!

How do they do it? How do they survive in such a hostile environment? How do they avoid the non-stop traffic that confounds even the locals at time? You rarely see a dog that has been hit be a car. My friend Rabendra swears that he's seen dogs look both ways before crossing the street. Many human inhabitants aren't as smart (I'm always looking the wrong way first, as I'm used to seeing traffic come from the other side as they drive on the left here!).

They seem to have a sixth-sense in knowing when cars, bicycles, rickshaws, three-wheelers, trucks and other miscellaneous vehicles, some of which defy description come rolling so close to the edges of the street. With a quick flick of their head to check what's coming they alter their stride to change course just enough to stay out of the way.

I will continue my study of these remarkable creatures and see if I can discover more of their secrets. Who knows, maybe they'll invite me to join them for tea & biscuits sometime!

Woof-Woofing from Kathmandu, Nepal
-Rob

The government was providing 1,000 Nepali Rupees per month per visually-impaired student which, when you divide by 62 Rupees to the dollar, works out to slightly over $16 per month to cover room & board, books, school supplies, bedding & blankets, clothing and school fees. Even in Nepal this isn't nearly enough money to cover the cost of these basic items. To top it off, they weren't being provided enough Braille paper to do their schoolwork and the Braille textbooks that were required for the courses were arriving at the end of the classes, instead of the beginning!

The principal said that the cooking utensils for their meager kitchen and other supplies were the same ones that they had been given when the visually-impaired integration program began seven years ago and they hadn't received a single new plate, pot or utensil since then!

As you can see from the photograph, the dorm conditions are very minimal and during the cold winter months the children are in need of additional warm clothes and blankets, but there isn't enough money. We asked the administrator to write up a list of what was needed so that we could either lobby the government (via Neeru's network of contacts) or provide some assistance through Rotary or TRIFC (our own non-profit organization). After a cup of tea we collected our thoughts, said our goodbyes and headed out.

As you might imagine, it's very difficult to observe this kind of situation without wanting to take immediate action, to go purchase what is needed and remedy the problem. However I'm learning to listen, investigate and then act when we know all of the facts. If the government has a responsibility to give some or all of the needed materials, we may be able to convince them. I constantly have to remind myself that we have a very small non-profit organization with limited funds that would quickly be exhausted; there are just too many critical needs to fill in this impoverished country. I would say that this is the most painful part for me.

Well, we'd made our connections and had all of the needed contact numbers so it was time to get back into what might loosely be called a vehicle and begin the long climb back up to our other car, the hired jeep. Once again, our driver amazed me with his deft skill of keeping our car on the road, moving forward through the "rato-mato" or red mud. We bounced and bounded along as if on some wild amusement ride! Somehow we reached our original vehicle and bounced along in that car until we reached Neeru's village once again. I slept well in that cozy little bedroom, dreaming about the changes we might make in the lives of those visually impaired children at that school in Rimwa.

Our trip to Butwal, Lumbini and Gulmi was a success. Although I have not provided details of the joint Rotary meeting that was held the following day in Butwal, I should say that it was a great success with four out of the five local Rotary clubs in attendance. Our district-to-district project was very well received and I believe these clubs will be excellent partners for clubs in our district to provide critically needed help to the "differently-abled" in this area.

Yours in Rotary,
Rob

The ‘Disability-Awareness' presentation we gave was very illuminating for the people in attendance. My project partner, Rabendra and I received a good deal of warm and welcoming feedback after we finished. Everyone was interested in participating in the project and they all wanted us to come to their individual club meetings to give our presentation, so it was a complete success!

The meeting was held at a new restaurant, ‘Chop-Sticks' that will be officially opening next week, but we got to try out the location, ambience and snacks before, during and after our program. The restaurant has a trendy look with interesting and colorful lighting/décor. After our presentation we all sat down and were about to be served some ‘finger-food' and tea/coffee. Just before the food arrived, Rabendra announced, "I have a interesting idea that I'd like to see if you are all game for- why don't we turn off the room lights, close our eyes and experience just a bit of what it's like to be without sight. When the food and drinks arrive, keep your eyes closed and try to navigate the different dishes and choices onto your plate and into your mouth!"

We had about twenty Rotarians surrounding the coffee tables in the comfortable lounge chairs and they all agreed to give it a try. The restaurant staff were a bit confused by the whole thing, but they agreed to turn every light off except a cell phone light which they used to bring the food in and set it down in the right place.

It was quite illuminating being without sight and trying to locate where food had been placed and then trying to place it on your plate! I slowly passed my hand over the table, like a magician casting a spell. The first thing I noticed was the warmth that radiated from the heated food. You could figure out where to drop your hand, crane-like over the plate where you could feel the heat. My first ‘catch' was some French-fries which I scooped up and placed on the plate I managed to get under the food. I decided not to press my luck and try to put some ketchup on the plate, however!

The others were experiencing similar thoughts and feelings. Without the sense of sight your other senses pick up different information and feed it to the brain to fill in the gaps. Eating became a more tactile experience with shape, texture, temperature and size telling us the story of the food-item we currently held in our hands. Other food items were quietly placed on the table by the waiters, whose presence could only be perceived by the sound of their footsteps and gentle placement of the plates on the table. I managed to find a different food-item which I found to be shaped like a French-fry in length, but more textured on the outside. This, I found to be a breaded chicken-strip, which I proceeded to consume and then reached out to find more!

What I consumed tasted different- more vibrant and vivid. The taste sensations in my mouth were working overtime to help overcome the absence of sight. Then Rabendra suggested, "Now let us just sit quiet for one or two minutes and focus on what we are eating, hearing and feeling. Let us experience and appreciate this moment by living ‘in the moment'." This was a magical minute or two, as we sat together in the dark with our eyes closed, living ‘in the moment'; with me from half-way around the world sharing such moving experiences with Nepali Rotarians. All of these experiences confirm what I believe- that we are ‘One ' in the world through Rotary. With its motto of ‘Service above Self' Rotary is one of the most effective means to achieve positive change throughout the world.

I would encourage all of you reading this article to give this experience a try at home with your family. It was truly illuminating, bringing the light of understanding out of darkness.

It turned out to be the "usual" village day for me...you know...visit some local schools and be surrounded by over 2,000 inquiring minds wondering who, how and why this tall, white tourist is wandering around with a blind Nepali woman who uses a white cane to feel her way around, give the opening inspirational greeting to over 500 school kids, meet so many of Neeru's relatives with designations like maternal uncle's brother's nephew's niece, abandon our jeep to continue on foot over an incredibly dilapidated road with a sheer cliff, get picked up by the only man who could navigate this road in a rattle-trap vehicle who took us to a school of 1,000 children including nine kids with blindness....you know, "the usual"!

A short drive from Neeru's home was a public school with about 1,000 children attending. As we pulled up and exited the jeep, we were quickly surrounded by school-children, asking questions in Nepali, wondering what we were doing there. Several school teachers came out to greet us and gave us quick tours of their classrooms. We met the kids who politely addressed us and then we went back out to the throng who were still assembled. Neeru spoke about why we were visiting and then gave a quick primer on people with disability and how to interact with them. The kids were amazed by her quick wit and charm as well as how she translated Nepali into English and vice-versa.

Ten minutes later we arrived at another rural school with about 500 children lined up for their morning assembly. I received some orange marigolds as a greeting from the assistant headmaster and again we spoke to the assembled children about disability awareness and rights for those with disabilities with Neeru translating for me. It's important to remember that most of the children we met had never had any interaction with someone who was blind, so it was a great learning experience for them. Thus begins the process of creating the awareness that this portion of the population - those with disability, are merely ‘differently-abled', not ‘disabled'.

That visit over, we struck out for the more remote village of Rimwa where Neeru had heard there was a school that had a number of blind children attending and living in the school hostel. They were being integrated with the 1,000 other sighted children in the school. She felt it would be best to "drop-in" unannounced, rather than making a pre-planned visit, to get a more accurate picture of the true situation. Simple enough idea, right? Just drive out to the school, do a site visit and assess the situation for a possible Rotary club-matching project or for TRIFC to assist.

Well, getting there was a great adventure as it turned out! You won't believe the ride and the road conditions we found to get to our destination, but I have some of the highlights on video so you'll have to believe it! It was a true adventure that I'll never forget. It started out innocently enough. The road condition was its usual bumpy ride and we took a wrong turn or two, found the wrong school and then wisely picked up a local guy who knew the way and had him guide us. We eventually got on this road that had room for only one vehicle with numerous landslides off the hillside to the left and a sheer cliff on the right. I'm not very fond of heights. Even the prospect of looking down over the edge of my coffee cup is daunting, let alone the edge of a ledge with a 1,000 foot drop! We came to several ditches that were substantial enough that we needed to jump out of the car and fill them with rocks and brush to allow us to drive across them. We had just filled one big hole, cried "Hooray" as we drove around the corner only to find a group of young men cutting a tree in half that had slid down the hillside and encroached into the road, blocking our path yet again!

"Well, one thing in our favor is that we have that local guy along to help us get to the right place," I said to Neeru.

"Oh, that guy jumped out of the back of the jeep and went home about 20 minutes ago!" she replied.

"You're kidding, right?" I also said a word or two that aren't proper to repeat in this article!

Well, our driver doggedly continued as long as he safely could, but we eventually reached a portion of road that he felt his jeep couldn't travel. Another local road repair crew was taking a lunch break around a particularly bad spot they were working on and they assured us that the school was only about another 20 minute walk down the road, so we decided that since we'd come this far, we'd hoof it the rest of the way. After walking 30 minutes with no sign of the school, an old beat-up Indian-made Mahindra jeep truck came by and stopped. 

The driver, a wise-looking older gentleman informed us that he knew the school and would give us a ride. We hopped in and rumbled off. If there was any kind of suspension in this vehicle, I would be very surprised; you could feel every bump resonate through your body and my head was regularly hitting the ceiling. You could see the ground through parts of the front floorboards and the locks on the door were metal dead bolts since the handles had long since broken. However I had such deep respect for our driver. He was a true expert and obviously knew every bump, twist and bend in the road. On one steep incline, a young boy who had been hanging on the outside of the vehicle, opened the front door and in an instant grabbed a block of wood to jam under the rear wheel so that we wouldn't go over the edge! Then our driver quickly turned the wheel, the boy grabbed the wood block and we were off again, lurching forward toward our destination.

We arrived safely, but I think several of my teeth shifted and my vertebrae are now properly re-aligned!

End- Part II
Stay Tuned for the Final Installment!

This is a story of trust, hope, expectation, fear, longing and loss (of luggage, that is!)

Everyone always says that you don't really miss someone or something until you are without them or they have gone missing! Of course I dearly miss my wife, Gina (or, Geena-Meese as she is known by the kids in Nepal), my kids and family/friends. I miss some of the conveniences of home and fully expect to do without during my visit to Nepal. It may be a vain hope, but I also had the expectation that my luggage would make it safely through to its final destination. We hand it over to the baggage people at our departure airport and we expect it to be there on arrival at our destination, going around, through, out and then back on the serpent-like airport conveyor belt.

On my way to Kathmandu, Nepal, I had a brief overnight stopover in Bangkok, Thailand. This is the route I usually take and over the eight previous trips to Nepal, I've never had anything eventful happen en-route. However, this time I was met by a Thai Airlines representative holding a sign; ROSE, ROBERT was printed on it in large letters which took me by surprise. The woman in the light purple outfit said that something was wrong with my baggage and quickly escorted me to the luggage counter. Honestly, what ran through my mind was that security had nabbed me for some of the unusual things I had in my luggage. Let me digress--- just prior to my leaving for Nepal, a friend of ours, Marni, who is a physical therapist, had just returned from Kathmandu and while there had visited one of our Rotary/TRIFC projects at the Newlife Center for Children with Disabilities. She noticed that there were some items missing at the Center which would be useful for the physical therapy room and had dropped them off at our home a couple of days before I left. There were three pint-size tubs of moldable clay like ‘silly-putty' for the children to squeeze to increase their finger-dexterity, an inflatable therapy ball and a pump. I was sure that the authorities had thought that this clay was C-4 explosive material and would immediately throw me in the ‘slammer'! But in actuality they told me that my bags hadn't made it onto the plane back in Seattle and would take an extra day to arrive in Kathmandu.

No problem, right? It was only going to be a day late and as I had one change of clothes, I figured I could rough it and I would be fine. I arrived safely in Kathmandu and surprisingly, one of my huge, heavy bags magically appeared on the carousel. That was the bag with most of our ‘give-a-ways' and didn't have my clothes enclosed! Well, one day without clothes turned into two days, which turned into four days. Still, no bag! Fortunately, I had travel insurance which covered some purchases for delayed or lost luggage. Of course you know what happened, right? The day I purchased some clothing was the day the bag arrived - six days after I arrived. I'll tell you though, I really missed that bag and everything inside, including my underwear!!! I bought some here in Kathmandu, but I guess the native Nepalis aren't shaped like I am and to be truthful their underwear is a bit constricting!

These are the joys of international traveling. You must be prepared for anything and expect everything. Through all of this there was a silver lining, at least for everyone else I've come in contact with over the "missing luggage" days; my deodorant was in my carry-on so at least I had that!

Reporting from Kathmandu, Nepal
Rob Rose

Sometimes when we are walking on a path, we are presented with a choice of directions to go; which path to take isn't always clear but still we must choose. We must take in all of the information at hand, opinions from our friends and family and then we must make a decision. Sometimes we have to backtrack and start again, assuming we are able to find our way back to our initial starting point. This situation parallels what we do in our family life, making decisions for our family with the best information available at the time. However, are we making the right choice?

From what I had heard just prior to leaving for Nepal, "Lovely" was having a lot of difficulty coping with life since his best friend left the hostel for children with deafness and went to live with his own family in another town. For those readers not acquainted with Lovely, he is a Nepali boy with severe hearing impairment (deafness) who was found wandering the streets of Kathmandu surviving by eating garbage. He was brought to a small orphanage to live and my wife, Gina, and I have been sponsoring him this year by sending him to school for the first time in his life. We have also been covering the cost for him to live at the hostel with other hearing-impaired children, thus encouraging his Nepali Sign-Language development, a critical part of his potential development. At the orphanage, he wasn't able to communicate with anyone in any meaningful way. One of our goals on this trip was to see for ourselves how Lovely was doing and evaluate his progress.

Gina and I haven't had much time on past, relatively short Nepal trips to interact with Lovely other than what you may have read in previous articles. We rely on our Nepali friends and Indira, principal of the School for the Deaf, to advise us on the best course of action for this child. On this trip however, I am intending to spend some quality time with him and my Rotary host, project partner and TRIFC board member (and my best friend and mentor), Rabendra Pandey (nickname-‘RR'), arranged for an initial visit to Lovely at his hostel. We also had our Nepali TRIFC volunteer, Nirmala Gyawali, along. She is a person with blindness, but is also extraordinarily perceptive and comes up with some great input, ideas and solutions.

When we entered the stark and bare television room at the hostel, where all of the children were to be found (the kids are currently on vacation), we found Lovely sitting apart from the other children on one side of the room. He had grown at least two inches since we saw him last and at first appeared quite shy, but with Rabendra using his own way of communicating with Lovely (he talks with his hands a lot anyway!), Lovely slowly began to come out of his shell. Lovely spoke with the house-mom via sign language a little. At first, he was hesitant to show us some of his schoolwork in his notebook. Then slowly, oh-so-slowly, he began to open up, interacting with RR and a bit with me. We were also told that he loves badminton and there was a racquet next to him, but every time we gave it to him, he shook his head and gave it back. This must have been very overwhelming for him, having three semi-strangers drop out of the sky and into his life.

We got a report from the house-mom on his progress this past year, and it is definitely substantial. He had a very difficult time in school and at the hostel when he first arrived. He was difficult to control and, of course, to communicate with as he knew little, if any sign-language. Currently, we're told he is much improved and attends classes almost every day and although he doesn't interact much with the other kids in the hostel, he also doesn't fight with them or misbehave. However, we can tell that something isn't quite right with Lovely emotionally and as per RR's suggestion, we are going to bring in a sign-language tutor to help him progress in his ability to communicate. As RR counsels us, how can we find out how he's feeling and what his emotional issues are if we aren't able to properly communicate with him?

I've read articles about children who have been adopted from Russia, who lacked love and attention in the orphanage in their first few years. They were left in their crib, alone with no one to hug, love and bond with. Then, later in life after being adopted by wonderful parents in our country, this lack of love and attention results in deep emotional scars that resurface in terrible behavior problems and need professional counseling to overcome. This may be the case for Lovely, who may not have had any love and attention as a small child and now isn't able to bond with others in a meaningful way.

Nirmala (nickname- Neeru) suggested we take a group photo of Lovely with all of the other children, so that we could put it up on the wall showing him as part of the ‘family' that lives at the hostel. She also suggested that we take him out with a few other children from the hostel and go to the zoo, or another fun place so that Lovely can get to know and interact with the other children in a fun, low-key environment. I felt these were both excellent ideas and we took a nice group photo as you can see.

After the group photos were over, we suddenly noticed that Lovely was quietly playing badminton with one of the other kids from the hostel. Then RR went over and started playing with him...then I also played for a little while. You could see a shy smile emerge on Lovely's face, and with his smile, hope emerged in RR, Neeru and myself. Are we doing the "right" thing, are we making the "right" choices? We can only offer our love and best intentions. We hope for the best, like any decision one makes for one's own family.

From Kathmandu, Nepal
Rob Rose

Yesterday I had the distinct honor of interviewing the man who first brought Braille to Nepal back in 1968, opening the window of education to so many people with blindness in this country.

Mr. Janga Bahadur Bogati was born in 1939 in the Bajhang area, a very remote district of western Nepal. At a very young age he completely lost his sight, and although he tried attending school, the other children laughed at him and teased him. With no tools in Nepal to allow a person with blindness to learn properly, he failed... but he still felt that if there were the proper aids to help him learn, he would succeed. At that time in Nepal, the literacy rate for people with blindness was only two percent, and there was little or no opportunity for education or a chance at a productive life. One day a stranger visited Janga's father's house and told his father that he had observed children with blindness being educated in India in a way that amazed him; there were no printed words on the page, yet they were able to learn! That news inspired Janga to leave Nepal at the age of 18 and head for Dhera-Dhun, India, in search of this kind of a learning opportunity.

He left home one night without his parent's permission and with only a stick to guide him on the path to Dhera-Dhun. It would take great courage for anyone to leave home on such a mission, but for a blind man with only a wooden stick as a guide, traveling to a strange place, not knowing anyone and with no idea where he would stay or what he would eat must have taken truly remarkable resolve!

With the kind help of others, he reached the Nepal/India border and then Dhera-Dhun. However, he still wasn't able to find a place to study and spent his days searching out people and/or schools who might be able to help him.

One day he was invited to visit the Ministry of Education in Delhi to request letters of referral that might help him gain admittance to a school. At that time in history, Jawarhalal Nehru was the Prime Minister of India and while Janga was in Delhi he went to Nehru's residence and stood outside the gates. He requested to visit ‘Panditji' (Nehru). The guards at the gate teased and ridiculed him. "Why would Nehru give an audience to a simple, blind person like you?" they taunted. Nehru happened to hear the laughter and taunts and came out and asked, "What is going on here? Why are you laughing at this man?" Then Nehru asked why Janga had come. Janga explained that he was there trying to get an opportunity to study with other blind students in Dhera-Dhun. Nehru then asked, "Why do you want to study Braille? What is the value of that?" Janga replied that he would study and learn Braille in Dhera-Dhun, then return to Nepal to start a school and bring Braille and educational opportunity to people with blindness in Nepal. Nehru called the school in Dhera-Dhun and arranged for Janga's admittance.

True to his word, after his education in India, Janga returned to Nepal with the goal of starting a school for the blind. However, he returned to a challenging political environment that saw his hopes to build a school for those with blindness first dashed and then eventually granted after he petitioned Nepali King Mahendra. The King granted his petition and the school was built! The first person with blindness to pass their SLC (School Leaving Certificate) exam occurred in 1975 and the progress continues to this day.

I have been witness to a study of courage, perseverance and selflessness that I feel privileged to pass on to you, the reader!

-Robert Rose
January 13th, 2008

Sunil is 15 years-old and one of thirty children who live at an organization called DNC (Disabled Newlife Center). He is bright, talkative, artistic and attentive. He also has a disability. He was born with a severe inversion on both of his feet and had to try to walk on the outside margins. However, to date Sunil has had three operations (courtesy of the funds we have raised) and is walking much better now!

In my short three-day stay in Kathmandu I have already visited this center twice. For me, it is a special place to visit with children so warm and loving. They are well cared for and enjoy being read a story, playing table-tennis (the table was bought with funds raised by last year’s pen pals) or just holding hands or giving you a hug.

Sunil, Puste, Mansara and Srijana are all part of a photography class that we started last year with a camera donated by Rtn. Cy Oskoui. I wanted to take each of the budding photographers, one at a time around their own neighborhood on a ‘photo-safari’! You can find some wonderful photo-ops right in your own backyard if you begin to look at life a little more closely, or from a different angle or perspective.

Yesterday was Sunil’s turn and you should have seen him carefully holding my camera and turning his head right and left, up and down, looking for interesting things to photograph. You know, I’ve always found that even with my own children when you have them one-on-one you see a different side of them — you bond with them and they with you. This is the gift I wanted to give each of the ‘photographers’ as well as the other children at the center — my time to spend with each of them individually doing something they enjoy.

Even though one of my pieces of luggage hasn’t arrived yet (the one with most of my clothing enclosed, of course!), I’m still having the time of my life and feel very fulfilled through my help to others who are less fortunate.

P.S. As we were walking down the little lane by DNC and photographing this and that, we also got invited into someone’s home for tea! I love this place!!!