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TOTALING UP THE BILL SO FAR...
FILLING UP THE BOXES
There is no Barnes and Noble in Kathmandu. Well, actually there is, but it's a tiny hole-in-the-wall ramshackle shoulder-wide shop that used the name for whatever reason. Finding books for our new library in Astam has been a bit of a challenge. Children's books are usually not that well represented in the small books shops here in Nepal, but there are two I've frequented in trying to stock our HANDS libraries. One is the well-known "Pilgrims"-which never disappoints in its selections of children's books, mostly in English. Finding books in Nepali, hard as it is to believe, is a little more difficult. Even more surprising to me is what one hundred dollars in books looks like. It's not as high a stack as I'd like to see-even though books over here are considerably less than in the States.
I always bring a suitcase of books with me from donations made in the USA. But that 50 lbs. of books is only the start. The prohibitive cost of shipping to the "top of the world" means it's better to shop locally once in Nepal-for everyone-inlcuding the shopkeeper who is all smiles when I show up.
The bottom line is, we are able to bring books up to some very remote areas of Nepal and that in itself makes book-buying a very real and satisfying way to bring the world to their village.
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