Some of you may have been wondering what has happened to us in the past week. Well, the short answer is, we took an unexpected trip to the Nepali countryside.
The long story is, on Monday morning, we discovered that Kabita and Apsara needed to return to their village to get registered. Naturally, we volunteered to take them. Unfortunately, we were not 100% clear on what the journey entailed. Nepali people's definition of "near" and "road" is V-E-R-Y different from our own.
We were told the first night we would stay at their maternal grandfather's home, it would be "near" the road that the taxi will drop us. The taxi ride was going to take 2 hours. The next day, we will walk to the girls' village on a "road" to get registered. The reality was the taxi ride took 4.5 hours with Nepal's worst taxi driver, the grandfather's house was a 1 hour hike up a hillside, and the walk to the girls' village was up the side of what I would consider a mountain, 5 hours away. See photo below for a picture of the "mountain".
Since I barely made it up the hill to the house, Tom decided I was to stay in the village. Tom, Kabita, Apsara and two uncles left at 4 in the morning while it was still dark so that it would not be so hot. I spent the first few hours of my morning having all the village children and women observe all my bodily functions and then three hours husking dried corn with the girls' aunt. The rain came down HARD and I was so worried they were going to be swept off the mountain.When they missed their assigned home coming time, we started sending messages down the hill to see if anyone else had seen them. It was very reminiscent of 101 Dalmatians. It was with great joy, when they finally arrived home close to 3 in the afternoon.
Tom said he just felt blessed that it was such an overcast day with a gentle drizzle or he would not have made it. It was so amazing that they did not experience the same rainfall I had. Apsara never complained once and he was quite certain that she has a billy-goat gene built into her DNA. The "road" over the mountain was basically a vertical staircase carved into the side of the mountain. The uncles and girls just scrambled effortlessly up and down. Tom was 110% sure that there was just no way that I would've made the trip.
As with everything in Nepal, things take a lot longer than planned. We had planned for 2 days, but with lack of transportation and bureaucracy, we stayed from Monday until Thursday. By Wednesday, poor little Apsara was just worn out. I cannot imagine what a tough trip it was on her little body.
It was really wonderful to be able to see first hand the life the girls had before Papa's House. The obvious affection they have for their extended family and the returned affection was lovely. It was wonderful to know that the girls were raised with family who care about them.
The hospitality shown to us by their family was just stellar. They were constantly trying to feed us, but we were usually too hot or too tired to eat. I would've posted more pictures except for the slow internet upload, so we will save those for later.
As always, we send much love,
Fi
It was really wonderful to be able to see first hand the life the girls had before Papa's House. The obvious affection they have for their extended family and the returned affection was lovely. It was wonderful to know that the girls were raised with family who care about them.
The hospitality shown to us by their family was just stellar. They were constantly trying to feed us, but we were usually too hot or too tired to eat. I would've posted more pictures except for the slow internet upload, so we will save those for later.
As always, we send much love,
Fi
