Home Visits 2015

This Father and his wife work hard to support their two sons. They all live (and the boys study) in this single room with a quiet dignity and a determination to improve their lives.

I can barely see so I hold out my arms to brush the walls of this dark corridor, giving me a minimal sense of balance and comfort. I follow the voice of the boy's Father. A dim bulb is switched on ahead and I turn into their small room, grateful for the light. Father graciously urges me to sit. The only option is on one of the two beds that sit knee to knee and take up almost the entire room. This is home to four people: the students Bidek and Bishow and their parents, both of whom work at poorly paid labor jobs. They are fortunate to have work.

As Father and my assistant Tejendra chat in Nepali, I look around. The walls and ceiling are covered in newspapers that are blackened around the cooking place. The two bed are neatly made up with worn quilts, extra blankets folded at the foot. On the wall are a few cheap shelves holding some clothing and school books. The wall at the foot of the beds is the "kitchen": a black iron two burner attached to a battered propane tank, old soda bottles filled with cooking oil and spices. A large plastic pail holds water that's fetched from the water tap a few blocks away - the only water source. A sack of rice is stored under a bed and a straw basket of chilies and potatoes.

Father is chuckling, his brown face all kindness and good cheer. He is proud of his sons who are doing extraordinarily well in school. In this room they sleep and eat and study.  They wash, comb their hair, dress neatly in their school uniforms and walk to school carrying a cooked lunch. I am amazed and humbled by all the cheerful effort. This is a rare example of a cohesive and successful family, despite their obvious poverty. 

Father is grateful for our sponsorship of his younger son Bidek. He tells me that his older boy Bishow is second in his 9th grade class! The school has given special reduced fees for Bisho but the family is struggling to pay room rent, clothe and feed themselves, buy books and pay school fees. Could we help out with 22,000 Nrs ($200) a year for Bishow? His request is so modest that I'm ashamed he waited so long to ask...

We take our leave, warm smiles on our faces, and make our way through dusty, winding lanes back to the street and Tejendra's motorbike. We settle, my book bag wedged between us (my mobile office) and we take off through the choking traffic to visit another family across town on the edge of the Bhalku slum. Thank goodness for Tejendra's help. Houses do not have street addresses and are very difficult to locate. This is Tejendra's turf and he more easily navigates the challenges.

We climb the stairs of a three story building. This is a bit nicer..more windows and light but a darker family story. Here is another small room where a little girl lives with her single Mother. There is a tall, dented metal wardrobe with a dusky mirror, a low mattress, stained aqua walls and a metal washbowl on the floor with cigarette butts floating in it. A pre-school in the slum has sent us here. This little girl has been coming to school crying because "men come late at night to our room". The teachers are worried and have asked if Shanti can help.

 Mother is pretty but subdued. She hugs her daughter to her as we talk. Her husband is in jail. She works a day job in a street-side canteen but unsurprisingly cannot seem to make ends meet. The hours they give her are erratic and the pay is almost nothing. She looks tired and dispirited. Her daughter smiles shyly at us, all sweetness. Tejendra helps navigate this delicate territory, probing gently in Nepali. Yes! She would be so relieved and happy for her daughter to join the hostel and go to school. The pre-school, although free of charge,  does not provide boarding nor does it go beyond kindergarten. We discuss a time for her to visit the new school and see the hostel where her daughter would live. This is education beyond her wildest dreams. A future for her daughter.

 These are just two family visits we have made, among many. Untold cups of tea have been offered and drunk. Parents, single parents, aunties, grandmothers ...all manner of guardians define family in Nepal. The children make do and make a life with what is provided. We visit families of new, potentially sponsored children to confirm the family condition and need. We visit the homes of our sponsored kids to see how the families are managing, especially since the earthquake. Every now and then we are thrilled to find an improvement and this is a celebration. Other times we find that some small additional help is needed to get the family through a rough patch or provide a little extra support for a student. Tejendra is now continuing these visits, sometimes traveling outside Kathmandu to a child's home village. He reports to me frequently and we discuss what we can do; what is needed. It's all in a day's work.