Tuesday in Nepal
While most of the group wandered off to Thamel to finish their shopping expeditions, child sponsors Arlene and Steve took off with BSF Program Coordinator, Aleesh, to spend time with our oldest teenagers, college students and staff at the BSF office in Sukedhara. Arlene and Steve presented an “inspiring or very inspiring” (the kid’s words!) training on risk taking, awareness, addiction and grounding. The young adults appeared truly interested, attentive and appreciative. Hewie’s beautiful daylily pictures served as a symbolic representation of the varying effects of the marijuana plant. Many plants can be manipulated by growers and not all plants can be safe for consumption. The group was particularly moved by Steve’s story of addiction and recovery and they gobbled up his books on the 12 Step process. We appreciate the hard work of the BSF staff for arranging and attending this training....thanks for the tea and cookies too.
As reported by child sponsors Don and Cheryl:
We were shopping in Chitwan and stopped to look at a Nepal map in front of a travel agency. A young man from the agency came to greet us and wondered if we were interested in joining a tour. We politely said no and explained that our group already had arranged tours (like a good arranged marriage). He asked about our group and of course we talked about our Mitrata Nepal Foundation for Children tour. We explained that we have been sponsoring a child in Kathmandu since she was 3 and she is now 18 and in college. He appreciated the story and asked whether there were other children being sponsored. We said that we were sponsoring over 100 children from all ages and that we would continue to do so until all of the children completed their education and could be self supporting Nepali citizens. At this, his whole demeanor changed. He got a big smile on his face and said “you are really here to help Nepal. Thank you very much.” Yeah, Mitrata Nepal Foundation for Children and BSF!
On another note as reported by child sponsors Hewie and Arlene:
Hewie and I were delighted that our granddaughter Ellizabeth (Aka, Ellie or Liz) joined us on this arduous but wonderful trip. Her enthusiasm has been infectious and she fit right in with all of us elders. She won the prize at The Contact Center for fitting the most number of children on her lap at one time (6 or 7) and for teaching the most number of children how to make selfies on her cell phone. She called the selfie stick the most narcissistic tool of her generation. She also provided The Center with the most fantastic hand picked story books about strong, tough, competent heroic girls and women. You go girl, here’s a shout out to you, You’re the Best! Thanks for being you. 🙏 Love Papa and Arlene
Story books about heroic girl characters
Ellie and Contact Center kiddos
Hewie and Arlene
Ellie, Danny, Arlene, Hewie, Robert, Cindy and Rob
Offerings
Reva and Ellie
Ellie’s cutie