11/8/2012
The
incompetent bloke that has been messing around trying to get it
established for the last full 10 days stopped me in the market tonight
with a grin on his face like he had really accomplished something! he
was confident it is working now. By the time I got home from the bazaar
the power went out before I could check it!
We have this thing in Nepal called "load shedding" where for a
given amount of time each day they divert the electricity for an unknown
reason. We can plan on 2 hours per night to have it shut off. In
Kathmandu this happens on a schedule and can be anywhere from 2 -14
hours per day but at least there IS a schedule for various sections of
the city. Here it makes no sense... either why they do it or when it is
off. Some days it is from 6 PM -8 PM others 8-10 PM and sometimes stays
off for several hours beyond expected!
We have a saying here: You can have running water, flushing
toilets, electricity, internet access and hot showers... you just cannot
have them all on the same day!
Today seems to be internet AND
electricity day... so you lucky folks get to hear from me! And yes...
those of you who were concerned about my technical abilities... I
do know how to write in a word document and save it and copy/ paste when
I have access! That is not the problem... it has been getting World
link to provide consistent service... and not just the moments before
the loadshedding is expected!
SO yea! we have internet tonight... but not so much on the water.
In
fact no water for 3 days... but I went past the church on the way to
get veggies from the market this evening and the pipe in the church lot
was disconnected and water running freely all over the church lot...
doesn't seem quite fair! Maybe I'll go to Debbie's or the Guest house
for a shower if we don't get water by morning. I did get Thirtha to hook
up a gas water heater for me though so next time we do get water and
enough pressure to run it I should be able to get a HOT shower!!!!
Tomorrow, bright and early, Megh will be waking me to meet with an
engineer he found to give us final direction on starting the building.
Megh met me in the bazaar tonight also and said " Didi, our land is
bongo" ( crooked) It was all I could do not to laugh as everything in
Nepal is Bongo! And we already know this! He is concerned that our lot
is not square. I reminded him that we have internal dementions that are
square but not to the road, just square to the land we have to work
with. So hopefully this engineer can allay our fears and reassure us we
are ready to take the next step and build this retaining wall! Pray for
us... and squareness!
We need much prayer as it is in our weakness He is shown to be
strong... He certainly has an opportunity here cause Megh and I both
feel like fish out of water... clueless, really, about what we are
doing.
But God has given us a Tharu Construction manager who has built hundreds
of houses and the 5 I know he has done in this little village alone,
have all had their owners rave about his work and honesty. SO I hope
that means we are in great hands. I have to believe we are and not allow
fear to criple our efforts. We are proceeding! Forward!
My heart has been tugged on this week... Last Saturday while I
was in Dumara (a village near where I grew up about 8 KM away), the
hospital was shut down with protestors, largely the husband and family
of a woman who died about 3.5 hours after giving birth to a handsom baby
boy. She had been bitten by a green snake in Doti on Thursday PM and
came straight away. She apparently bled out post partum as a result of
the venom. Baby seems fine - in fact adorable!!!!.
The father demanded money from the hospital and created an all day
hulla involving a lot of police and it culminated in jeeps full of
people and police driving from here up to the CDO's office about 5 pm as
I returned from the village, for hopeful resolution.
About 10 pm that night the loud protesters walked by our house here
on the ridge, shouting but dissipated as we prayed. The next day they
tried to call a bhundh (block) on the road to Doti but the police
opened it a few hours later. The hospital remained open but referred all
difficult cases out to protect themselves.
The following morning again, there was a mass of people hovering
around the HDCS (hospital) office...I just watched and prayed. An hour
later a decision was reached... there would be no payout (Yea! Dr Doug
for standing ground) and the baby would be turned over to the Hospital
to be adopted out. Father signed papers... he doesn't want the child as
it would limit his ability to remarry as a new wife would never want a
male child that had supremacy over her offspring.
SO OOOO the hospital now has this gorgeous baby boy in apparent
fine health who eats like as baracuda! and I have named him... Grayson
(a male expression for Grace), Timothy, Ashish (which means blessing).
Who knows what other name his adoptive parents will give but it is what I
can do for him now. And hold him and luv on him!
At least we can choose a Christian family for him and when he is 15
he gets to choose who he wants to live with... his biological father or
his adoptive parents!
My heart is really tugging on taking
him home with me but learned tonight that the Nepali Government does not
allow international adoptions. And technically he is not an orphan
though certainly abanboned! So guess I better not get too attatched as
taking him is not an option unless I could be instrumental in getting
him out of Dadeldhura to another part of the country, which is the
urgent goal.
The paraplegics have been madly knitting everything from sweaters
for Dr M to baby booties and tiny mitts for Grayson. They are
excited we are breaking ground tomorrow on the actual building. I have
also been teaching a woman from JG to knit. She has been
abandoned by her husband and has 2 very malnourished kids: 2 and 4 and a
7 yr old who seems ok and is in school. She cuts grass for a job
leaving the 2 and 4 yr old home alone much of the day while she works.
So these are like ferrell children and the whole family badly needs your
prayers.
Also got to treat the kids who do the caregiving for our 2
paraplegics to new warm clothes for winter and that was fun to see their
little faces light up. one is 9 and the other 16.
Well time to crash... Megh will be knocking on my door before I know it to come down and talk with the engineer!
Hard to believe a week from now I will be leaving here and heading home to my parallel world in the US!
So much to do... so little time!
Please keep those prayers coming... I love that you have my back!
Dawn Didi
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