Sneaky Sneaky

I snuck past the Bhundh early in the morning on Wednesday in Chitwan and made it to Kathmandu without incident about noon the same day! It was kind of a gutsy thing to do but several of the staff sat the Cancer Hospital were very specific about how it could be done and if you get up really early before the tribal people manning the bhund show up to guard their road block of burning tires or big rocks you can sometimes sneak past and get through!
For those of you not really clear about all these Bhundhs I've been writing about Sorry... a bhundh is a road block where all motorized traffic is prohibited from moving past a given point. They block traffic and sometimes shut down the bazzar too. Sometimes bicycles and those on foot are permitted to pass. These are often political strikes or just a group protesting a cause or even the death of someone in an accident in the past! It is a way for the common people to obtain a voice and exhert some control over the government as there is only one road out of K-du going west and it is this East - West Highway. All economic trade comes and goes through India and Nepal on this road so it is pretty effective to dominate it. It cripples Kathmandu after about a week as they run out of fuel and food past that!

There remains 5 -6 locations across this highway where the Tharu people ( a tribal group) are making the bhundhs so even if I flew out to Dhangadi ( the last airstrip west) and tried to get trough there they have blocked the road going up the mountain and i'd get stuck in blistering hot Dhangadi so I've called Dave and strategized and we have agreed I'd do best to sit tight here in K-du tilll they reopen the roads. At least it is not so hot here! I do have the downside of paying about $25/day for hotel and food though so pray it will get resolved soon! Also we have the compounded challenge of 12- 16 hours without power here so I'd betted dash this off not knowing just when the "load shedding" starts today!

I do so appreciate all your prayers and hope to see many of you in about a month as Dave and I return to Seattle!
He is still working on the well... they are going deeper but still no water.. the manager of the project himself fell in to the well ( 20 feet) and got banged up really good but no broken bones! so that has delayed progress! If it is not one thing it is another!

Hitting the Road Again!

Won't be able to communicate for the next 7 - 10 days so keep those prayers comin'!!!!

Dave and I head south to the plains tomorrow! We are going to the village ( Sheshia) he has been working in building the church and digging the well in. It will be very hot and I don't tolerate heat all that well! It is a 2 km walk to the village from the closest bus stop!
The next day we'll walk back and he will put me on a bus to Chitwan and return to the village to try to push to finish the projects before we come home the last of May.
Pray the mosquitos really do hate all the garlic we have recently ingested in preparation!
Pray for safety on these crazy roads. And for no Bhunds!
Pray we will get water in this well. It is down 90 feet and still no water. The contractor has made excuses for a month why he can't show up to the job... pray he will show up, flush the existing system and find the water we have prayed for!
Pray the church will be completed this month... apparently they diverted the funds for the roof to building the outside toilets!!! go figure... not ususally a priority for Nepalis!!! Now they are out of funds to finish the trusses and roof! We need wisdom to know how much to do for them and when to let them learn from their mistakes!
Pray for the week I am in Chitwan to be clearly ordained and directed by the Lord and future direction to be divinely obvious!
Pray for the whole trip to be in His soveriegn control and for opportunities to share His love and grace to be obvious as well and for relationships to be built for His glory for the future!
I value you all so much! Dave and I truely depend on you and your faithful intercession for us and His work here.
Blessings,
Dawn and Dave

How Nepali's deliver babies- Nov. 8th

Warning!The story below has discussion of vomit. And Dawn is a nurse, so she discusses such things freely. I have also edited out the names of the Nepali's involved, for their safety.

I left off with urgent requests for prayer for the young 15 year old with child and we were leaving the next morning to go south to Dhangadi to the plains. My brother,and 3 friends and I piled in a van with her but not before the lad who got her pregnant showed up to claim her. He promised to accept her, marry her, continue her education and take responsibility for the mother to be and the child. I grieved the 4 hours down the hill for the lack of voice for Nepali women to choose their own destiny, and for the child that would be brought into a world where it really wasn't wanted and for a young mother who would now be isolated from Christians and taken into her new Hindu home to who knows what end. But Nepali culture prevailed and even church leaders felt this was what was best and

I packed the OB kit just in case she went into labor on the road. Unless she had the gumption to really create a ruckus when we arrived at the boy's home and met all his family, chances were pretty good I would not be going to Kathmandu as proposed.

While I grieved and prayed, the young girl puked... all the way down the hill!!!! Fortunately for me, she was a quiet little puker! And fortunately for both of us I had saved the air sickness bag from the last airline flight and it was on the top of my bag! We were in the front seat with the driver and I fought to keep it just the 3 of us. I offered to pay an extra 100 rupees ($1.50) to NOT sell another ticket up front for that extra seat!

There were 16 passengers packed into the back... only 2 of those did not puke!!! The rest could not be dubbed "quiet pukers". The driver's solution to drown out the noise of incessant vomiting, was to blare to Nepali radio to overcome the sound!!!!! Yes - it was a lovely trip !!! But to God's glory we all made it in one piece and though Dave's bag was doused in vomit we were glad to be safe in Attaryia (20 KMs) from our friends home in Dhangadi.

After everyone's stomachs settled and we had Fantas and Cokes followed by lunch, we had a serious talk with the "lad" who made us the promises we hoped for and then took all of us to his home and introduced the young girl to his extended family. All the women of the household seemed very warm and understanding and his mother apologized for her son's despicable behavior and assured us they would take great care of the girl and make sure she got to a hospital when she went into labor. I went into great lengths to explain the severity of the medical situation... that the ultrasound showed the baby as breech and that she was already 39 weeks and could deliver any day and might need a C-section.

It was one of the hardest things I ever did, to leave her there. Her own widowed mother had accompanied us down the hill and it almost broke my heart to watch her try to pry herself away from her baby daughter... a child herself, with child!

We found out a few days later on our return trip that the young girl went into labor shortly after we left her and delivered a healthy baby girl at midnight that same night. She weighed 2 kilos and 800 grams! A good size for a Nepali wee one. She came normally... no C- section needed!!!!! PTL. Boy, am I grateful we didn't try to go to Kathmandu... we also discovered the road to Kathmandu was bhundh ( closed) starting that same evening and didn't open for 5 days!

You have to acknowledge that His ways are High above our ways!

We spent a night with a long time childhood friend and his family and the next morning put the young girl's mom on the bus back up the hill and prayed she would have a better trip up, than she had coming down ( no nausea would be great!) We then went shopping (YEAH!) but most of it was for hardware for making my new apartment into a Dare to Care Suite. It currently has no kitchen and no western toilet or hot water. That will be rectified before Dave returns to the USA.

We shopped most of the next day, trying to cash travelers checks at a new bank in town took an hour and 3/4. then we piled into a local bus and headed for Mahendra Nagar. Originally my brother and one of the friends were going to visit a model farm just across the border into India I was going to stay in Mahendra Nagar and shop and find my way to the place where we were all to spend the night with a Christian Pastor who is one of our original leper patients from the hospital my Dad started.

However plans changed along the way. We ran out of time, and my brother and his friend never left. We caught a bus back and arrived in the Christian Pastor's town just at dark, in time to walk the 2 km in the dark. We all got the giggles cause we couldn't find the road across a huge mud puddle full of frogs. The friend found rocks to "build a bridge" and we somehow got across without falling in. 100 yards up the road we crossed a river ( ankle deep ) but you try it when you are carrying a 20# pack and your flashlight is croaking on you! We found a 2nd river just about another 100 yards up the road and by this time we had the giggles so bad we looked drunk. Fortunately our friend managed to control his laughter on the other side and find the dirt track that took us to our destination and a fascinating adventure of spending not one, but 2 nights in a village with no electric and no bathrooms!!!! The house had dirt floors and straw walls covered with cow dung for mortar.

My brother got sick there... it could have been the food he ate the day before though the locals blame the fact that he ate "Chuke" ( giant lemons) at night! Everyone knows you never eat Chuke at night!

Finally about noon on the 4th day we succeeded in getting a vehicle ( van) and loading all our steel, tin sheets, pipe, and hardware on and headed north. Five long hours later we once again praised the Lord for a safe journey and fell into our own beds.

Progress on the house makeover has been slow as many interruptions and invitations to lunch and dinner have made for great building of relationships but poor progress on remodeling. I am proud to say as of this morning, we now have a Geyser hot water heater up and running and I had my first hot shower before church today. Our hostess was delighted to get to wash her dishes in hot water for the first time ever and we will all be praising God for this for a long time to come!

Well I've rambled quite enough for one day and as the Dr wants his bedroom back must get this sent and close for now! ~ Dawn~