Fish Tacos and Dahl Bhat

When I was last talking to Rajan in Kathmandu, I told him America is in very bad economical shape right now, and I thought we'd have a hard time convincing people to part with their money in order to build a small school in the lap of the Himalayas, in a village no one outside of Nepal had ever heard of. Rajan was confident. He had overcome worse obstacles-just by being who he was, yet because of who he is, he has the faith and mental clarity to see that people are pretty much the same everywhere. Which is to say, most want happiness and to eliminate suffering for themselves and others. Rajan grew up in this village where dahl bhat, a dish made of lentils and rice, is eaten at least once a day, mainly because there is little else. And to go to school means walking, up and down, down and up, long, long distances, to wherever the nearest school might be, even if it is a day's walk or more. So he came to Kathmandu at an early age to finish his education, alone, without family, as many Nepali rural kids do, and work and attend school the best you can, until you find your path, your way to earn a living. To think that Americans, who have free public education, school supplies, often public transportation to said school, and free breakfast and lunch at some schools, no lack of pencils, paper or books, therefore can spare a few dollars to help promote literacy, that is something Rajan does believe. His faith never waivered, although mine did. We tossed around a few ideas in his office, which is often dark because of the lack of electricity in Kathmandu. "Maybe we can hold dahl bhat dinners" I said-something a Nepali would find funny-a dish so common that nothing is special about it, and no one would think of having as a main course for a banquet.

I started small, by inviting friends over to our house for dahl bhat, hard-boiled egg and chapati-sort of a Kathmandu combination plate . I put out an empty vase with a sign suggesting a $5 donation and by the end of the evening, had won over some dahl bhat fans and more then $100 which I decided to send to an orphanage Danny has volunteered at in the past: Buddhist Child Home. But it was a success for the small crowd we had, so when it came time to hold the first premier fundraising dinner to launch our school in Nepal effort, we went all the way! Hiring the Community Center and calling on all our kind friends of every type of talent, from dish washing to musical entertainment, we threw our first "Dahl Bhat" without the dahl bhat, party. Although originally planned as a Night in Nepal, the dahl was replaced by a yummy vegetarian lasagne made by local gourmet restaurant The Range in our hometown Santa Margarita. Another offering came from Thai Elephant, curry and vegetables, along with rice, so soon the dahl was dropped from the menu for another time. Bread was donated by The House of Bread in San Luis Obispo and kind friends The Bauers made a giant Cesar Salad, while our gourmet chef Jamie Walker cooked up trays of apple tarts. Coffee, freshly brewed came from The Porch cafe in our town, and friends brought pies to round out the fare. We charged $20 a person for all this cornucopia of delicious food-and people came from all around to join us as we kicked off our HANDS campaign. Tibetan prayer flags flew for the first time in front of the community center and friends danced and toasted to our dream-in the best spirit of giving, despite hard economic times, and I thought once again how right Rajan was in his faith in America and Americans. We are connected to everyone, and efforts to help a group of children in the lap of the Himalayas, in a village no one outside of Nepal has heard of, will ripple into all our lives, this I truly believe. In this good spirit of generosity people join us and participate in what it is like to make such a difference in a child's life, and future. "Gum Gana pa ta ye-namo namaha"-I can hear the chants ringing in the hills of the Ganesh Himals-in gratitude and thankfulness that we care. There's still time to plan a dahl bhat dinner, but first I am on my way this weekend to a fish taco fundraiser my sister Sandy has organized via Rubio's Fish Taco in Escondido. From 2 pm to closing, anyone coming in with flyer in hand, 20% of proceeds will go to HANDS. See you there!