PAPA's ENDEAVOURS NEPAL

  A MINI-BUS FOR 'TASHI WALDORF' SCHOOL It’s a little after 8am as eight small children say hasty ‘Goodbyes’ to mothers as they join teacher-ma’m at the designated pick-up point for transport to school. A small, four seater (at a squash) taxi draws up.  Teacher-ma’m opens the rear door and in scramble seven of the children! The rear door closes and teacher-ma’m opens the front taxi door, gets in, sits and invites the remaining child to squash-in with her! Packed like sardines in a tin, the driver heads off to the ‘Tashi Waldorf’ school, a twenty minute drive away. This scenario is repeated in two other locations around the city. At 3.30pm, there is a repeat scenario with passengers being ferried back to their home locations. Twice a-day, five days a week at Nrs800 per day, per vehicle, amounting to Nrs12,000 per week for all three vehicles! As student numbers increase, so will the expenditure on taxis to and from school! The families of these students hardly have enough...

My connection with Nepal, especially Kathmandu, and in particular with those who are less fortunate than I, has been ongoing for all of 12 years since February 2010, when I paid what was intended as a swift, one-off, 2-week stop-over en route to the UK from AU. Those 2 weeks morphed into 2.5 years of accumulated visits between Feb 2010 – Feb 2019. Unexpected poor health prevented further visits throughout 2019, and by the time I was raring to go in 2020, I was prevented from doing so as a result of the corona pandemic. I was ‘grounded’, but not defeated! My visits became ‘virtual’, almost daily in fact, enabling me to continue with my charitable endeavours. The corona pandemic had and in fact is still having, a devastating impact on the lives of some of the world’s poorest and most vulnerable people. Where a day’s work was rewarded with a paltry wage at the end of each day, now there were no jobs, no pay. The result was immediate, without money to buy food, cooking...

HELPING HANDS - Two days ago, my contact in Kathmandu, Nepal (Reena) brought to my attention the dire need of a mother and her 3 young children (7,9,11). They had been evicted from their Indian migrant slum dwelling, for non=payment of rent for 3 months. The Nepali owner also conficated all of their clothes, household utensils, cooking gas cyclinder ... whatever had value. They were left absolutely destitute! This is where Reena stepped in...herself a mother of 2 boys (deserted by her husband) also living in the ghetto. Reena (age abt 28) has a social conscience! First up, she notifies me of the predicament! Then she set to work obtaining gifts of clothing and food from the slum community. Then Reena went with the mother to search for an alternative dwelling. A tiny room was found (a former cattle shed) 3m x2m, concrete floor & tin roof. Home for the family of 5. There is an excuse for a husband/father...he spends any income on 'gunja' (pot). I rustled-up...

Full story: https://www.britmums.com/nepalnow-recycling-centre-makes-difference/ These women actually DO something for the environment, and receive a small payment for doing so, which helps to feed the family!! These are my kind of environmentalists!!

6 NOVEMBER 2021 Video of the 45+ children in the Indian migrant ghetto near Boudha, Kathmandu....receiving gifts of fruit and sweets/candies, made possible by donations from folk such as yourself! With the cold winter months on the doorstep, the need for donations for food, warm clothes and in some instances, bedding....will be on the increase. Donations gratefully received via PayPal - paypal.me/socialendeavoursnp

/> A few years ago, I was a once-a-week volunteer at the 'Brightside Farm' animal sanctuary near Cygnet, Tasmania. I made a point of 'Getting To Know' the varied residents ...and they me!!!!