Today, we had a really amazing experience getting to spend time with the founder and the leaders of an orphanage in Kathmandu. We had lunch with our new friends Andrew, who founded the orphanage and is building 50 schools for kids in Nepal, and Bhushan, who runs the projects from his offices in Kathmandu. They were really interesting and nice.
First, we drove to the orphanage. The orphanage housed kids from six to seventeen years old. Currently, there were 50 kids in the orphanage. All the kids at the orphanage were going to school, and after school they had a room where all the kids could study. The building looked big and old by American standards, but was clean and all of the kids bunk rooms were very organized and the kids looked really organized.
The kids work hard, and they have to do their prayers, study, clean the rooms and the building, do their own laundry, cook, and take care of the other kids.
They had a computer room, that had only one computer that was super huge and looked like it was from 1980. We got to teach all of the kids about our world travel, and a little bit of lacrosse. They were pretty good at it. Then, before we left, they taught us their dance called the shakey-shakey. When we looked at the rooms for the kids, we saw that in each room there were only five bunk beds, which meant that there were only ten beds in each dormitory, but there were 50 kids and only 20 beds. We were told that some of the older kids sleep with the little kids, and sometimes there are even three kids in a bed. I felt sad that all of those kids didn’t have parents, but all of the kids were super happy and joyful too and we had fun talking, teaching and playing and dancing with them. We learned that the kids were there because their parents were gone, or their parents couldn’t afford them, or sometimes after a divorce the new dad would kick the old family’s kids out of the house or even sometimes corrupt people would go to the rural villages and tell the parents that for a fee they would take their kids to private schools in the city but then take their money and just drop the kids off at an orphanage. It was sad, but the kids were amazing. We all waved goodbye and drove off to our next destination. I’m happy that we got to make new friends and do a little to make them happy too.
They are all nice kids and deserve good luck and happiness. If you want to help them out too, here is a way to do it: https://kidsofkathmandu.giv.sh/9162
Oh, Brayden…that must have been a hard visit to see so many children who had lost their parents for various reasons. It’s nice to know, however, that they are well cared for and are happy and safe. Your new friend, Andrew, must be a saint for forming the school. Bobba and I will have to donate some money to help them out. Thanks for providing the web-site with that information. I loved the video of you playing the shakey game with them. It seems like they “picked” you often :-)). That looked like fun.
Again, thanks for doing such a great job telling us all about your visit to the orphanage. You made us feel like we were right there with you.
Love, Nania, Bobba, and Bo