18 Jun No Ordinary Orphanage – Ghar Sita Mutu in Kathmandu
After causing some serious traffic jams as my taxi driver attempted to find the right road, I wasn’t sure what to expect as we climbed a steep hill on approach to Ghar Sita Mutu. What I discovered on the other side of the door was nothing short of incredible. Beverly Bronson has been busy transforming the lives of abandoned Nepali children for more than a decade, and the impact she is making is undeniable. The children are such bundles of joy, I ended up spending several days there just hanging out and playing. Their smiles in the face of challenging circumstances is a lesson to all of us when we think life gets too hard. Beverly told me she hadn’t seen little Laxmi, who is battling a developmental condition and has a difficult home situation, laugh like this ever before!!
Beverly and I played with the children for a few hours, took pictures, and went down to Boudhanath to take a walk around the Buddhist Stupa together and treat the kids to ice cream.
I had spoken with Beverly prior to arriving in Nepal and had brought a few things with me to donate including bags of pens, pencils, and eyeglasses in conjunction with the Right-to-Write and New Eyes for the Needy organizations.
And look what just showed up in the mail as a thank you. Totally adorable!
On special request, I also brought an electric tuner to help the girls get the best sound from their sarangis, a classical music instrument.
While walking the grounds with Beverly, she showed me the skills development program she has been building. They are teaching sewing and crafting skills to the girls as they get older in preparation for outside jobs so they can become self sufficient. The floor in one of the rooms was severely damaged and had been flooding during monsoon season. As the 2014 season was rapidly approaching, we agreed to resurface the floor as part of my Wandering Samaritan donation. I returned a few days later to help with the hard labor as well…and man oh man was it hard! But the woman they hired didn’t bat an eye as we pick-axed the place to pieces!
And of course we recycled the concrete and took it to the neighboring school for another one of their projects…no wasting here!
We spent the rest of the day hanging with the kids and enjoying the sunset…
jumping rope…
and of course getting my required lice inspection!
In addition, we were able to contribute to the education fund. In Nepal there is a cost for both private and government schools, and given the number of children Ghar Sita Mutu is caring for, there is always a need for education related funds.
This was a very enriching experience all around. Beverly has built expertise in the region over the years and has proven her ability to make an impact in the community. Working through her organization enabled me to personalize my humanitarian adventure but facilitated the process in a place that can be challenging to navigate on your own in a short time. For me it was a great example of what we can do through collaboration with local organizations in the field, and I trust we will work together again in the future!
If you would like to support our future Samaritans in facilitating more projects like these, please donate to our Miracle Bank today!
-J
Dan
Posted at 00:19h, 26 JuneThat guy sure knows how to handle a pick-axe!!