Tell All The World

As soon as I landed in Nepal, and quickly made my way through the visa process and out to street where Kelsang waited for me, I began to think of a "You Know You're In Nepal" top ten list. As in, "You know your in Nepal when the truck in front of you does not have headlights, but is strung with fairy lights that twinkle on and off." Or, "You know you're in Nepal when you see a large bull sleeping in the middle of a traffic jam, I mean, right in the middle of the road with horns blaring, but he is contentedly chewing his cud with eyes closed, dreaming of something blissful while everyone takes great care to not even run over his very thick and bushy royal tail as it lazily swats a fly. You know you're in Nepal when you are having a conversation on the sidewalk and a legless beggar rolls up on his hand-made cart, knee-high to you to tug on your skirt and at the same time a sadhu (holy man) nearly naked, carrying a trident spear and wearing a silver milk pail on his arm, gently asks for alms. I had my first full day in Nepal after a very long flight of 30 plus hours, which includes a 10 hour layover in Hong Kong. It messes with your head to be strung out over two days in a time warp, but as soon as I set my foot on Nepal soil, I felt at home in a weird, familiar with strange and unusual things kind of way. It all seems so normal now, the pot-holed roads, the tight, narrow streets that can magically accommodate foot traffic, moped traffic, monk traffic, dogs, goats, cows, chickens, and the little taxis that zip about. The phrase "an assault on the senses" comes to mind as you drive past life to the edge of the road and sometimes in the road, piles of vegetables on blankets, mounds of red chilies, a blind man selling nail clippers, all strung on a cord tied to his ankle. Everyone has an enterprise here in Nepal, including the beggars, which is big business, and one I would like to learn more about. "Does anyone choose to beg?," I asked my new friend Rajendra today as we drank lemon water and enjoyed the fans at Himalaya Java, a place we often meet and do business at in Kathmandu because not only do they roast and brew their own coffee beans, but they have decent bathrooms and fans when the electricity is on. Rajendra would know about the begging world. He was once a street child himself, a runaway who left an abusive home life to make it on his own in Kathmandu at 11 years of age. He had a lot of competition in the streets and learned quickly about the rules of survival. Rajendra is now 30 years old, married with a child of his own, and has his own house. He runs a successful film and art business, a graduate of the university here, and documentary filmmaker who does a guide business on the side for those who want to see the sides of Nepal that most overlook. Rajendra is an amazing young man. He took me to see two orphanage/schools that he helps with, and that my friend Allan Aistrope also supports and helps through his organization "Virtue's Children". I will be writing more about that on our web site, for now, I just want to encourage those reading this to check out Allan's web site at www.virtueschildrennepal.org. He is doing some incredible work in Nepal! At the two schools today, I was able to talk and meet the beautiful children there, and will include some photos here. They are so lucky! All the children come from the poorest and even dangerous circumstances, as they are all orphans and easy prey for child traffickers. It is so hard to understand why anyone would subject such precious children to a life of sex work or slavery, but it comes down to money, poverty, ignorance and greed. Most of the time, from what I've been told, the children are made to work as servants if parents die and no one is there to care for them, often they make their way to Kathmandu on their own to live on the streets, where again they are vulnerable to kidnapping to be sold as "livestock" to anyone who wants to pay. You can read more about this horrible crime against children in the book Little Princes. So "Tell All The World," as the song written by my other "new" friends, Ranchers for Peace father-daughter duo Charles and Ray Duncan write and sing on their new CD. Charles and Ray brought tears to my eyes at the Live Oak Music Festival this past June with their heart-felt songs carrying messages of concern and social activism. The one song that kept ringing in my head, Tell All The World, seems to match up with an image I had of the orphans at Buddhist Child Home singing their hearts out last time we were there. BCH is the orphanage my son Danny first volunteered with in Kathmandu and it is because of Danny's work at BCH we began HANDS in Nepal and set about school building in remote villages. We continue to check in on the orphanage and do our best to bring over clothes, books, dolls, toothpaste, Dr. Bronner soap, and anything else people donate to us for them. Now I was bringing a song- because I have so much wanted to Tell All The World about the plight of the most poorest and vulnerable children I have ever known-the orphans of Nepal. Charles and Ray were excited at my idea of taking the song to Nepal with me and working with the kids on how to sing it-and Rajendra also beamed enthusiasm at my idea of his making a film of the singing-a short clip that would also show the home, the kids, and hopefully gain some more support and help for them. Our first rehearsal this afternoon was really fun. The children grouped around my laptop to listen to Charles and Ray sing it from my iTunes library-then we all tried the song together. Soon, their young, strong voices and sweet faces flung back to sing loudly the chorus together "Tell All The World--- We Will Still BE Here!" I hope to have some video footage on the blog tomorrow, but for now, enjoy a few pictures from today's visits at 3 amazing places, working hard to give some pretty amazing children a hand up out of poverty and what otherwise would have been a life on the streets-or worse. Namaste to all of you for your support!! Spread the word, Tell All the World-we will still be here helping however we can.