I’ve decided to spend a week living at an orphanage in northern Kathmandu. Dipendra at Hotel Lily suggested it over breakfast on Monday. The chairman of the orphanage picks me up on his motorbike and for about 30 minutes we travel through the streets to a part of Kathmandu called Tokah. It’s a new area so there is an interesting mix of farms and new buildings. Construction is happening everywhere. There is a big international hospital nearby and a lot of very high residential towers. Some are being repaired after the earthquake (who would return to those) and new ones are being built. It’s going to take time for people to warm to the idea of high rise living.
We briefly stop at the orphanage but then move on to the chairmans house nearby. The intention was for me to stay with the chairman’s family but the plan changes and I will stay at the orphanage with the kids. Suits me. This idea of taking in foreigners or tourists is a new one for this orphanage organization. They provide a room and food and I pay rent as if I was staying at a hotel. And I can teach them English. They range in age from four to 14 and about an equal number of boys to girls. I meet them in the afternoon after they return from their schools. They are a beautiful bunch of kids from all parts of Nepal, and no doubt from all levels of misery. I can’t image what their little lives have experienced already. For now they seem happy. They are being looked after and they are getting an education. They have life opportunities now that at one time they couldn’t have imagined.
UNFINISHED
angusmccoll 