Volunteering in Nepal
I am in no hurry to leave Nepal. The elections are a little disturbing and we get conflicting information from the locals we ask. The roads will be closed for a few days so we're trying to decide where to go and stay for a while. Ariella and I will probably be able to attend a Vipassana retreat after all. My friend Steven is a student of Vipassana and has this to say, "It's hard. It's probably one of the hardest things you'll ever do. It goes deep, my friend. As deep as you are. And then further. Facing yourself
I am in no hurry to leave Nepal. The elections are a little disturbing and we get conflicting information from the locals we ask. The roads will be closed for a few days so we're trying to decide where to go and stay for a while. Ariella and I will probably be able to attend a Vipassana retreat after all. My friend Steven is a student of Vipassana and has this to say, "It's hard. It's probably one of the hardest things you'll ever do. It goes deep, my friend. As deep as you are. And then further. Facing yourself
on a fundamental level, with all your issues and challenges, strengths and weaknesses, your own mortality, your souls fate, etc...it's an opportunity people usually only get right before they are about to die. This is your chance to come to it on your own terms, and learn some super valuable skills along the way. It's not something you should fear though. Yeah, the first few days are super-lonely, and intense, and there are doubts. It's like quitting smoking or something where your body (in this case your mind) tries to trick you into giving up. Fight it. Instead, go back into it with more intensity. It's the simplest thing, and you've probably already explored it. Awareness of the body, the breath, sensations. But it's all about transcending sensation, and being outside of pain or discomfort or addictions. Diminishing your cravings. That's what it's about. Know yourself." WOW! Sold, as Ariella put it.
We found a session in Lumbini, a town close to the Indian border. Lumbini is the birthplace of Gautama Buddha and is the Mecca of every Buddhist, being one of four holy places of Buddhism. It is said that Buddha himself identified four places of future pilgrimage: the sites of his birth, enlightenment, first discourse and death. His mother, Maya Devi, gave birth on her way to her parents home under a Sal tree in May 642 B.C. It sounds like the perfect place for ten days of silent meditation. Except for the fact that most people are telling us to stay away from the Indian border which is closed during the election. There has been quite a bit of violence and they are expecting more mayhem near the border. We will have to play it by ear and see what happens. I have been enjoying volunteering so much I'm not sure if I want to leave Pokhara.
My Mother is an amazing woman. She has spent so much of her time volunteering for various organizations. She's spends her summers working in a cannery salvaging salmon for those in need. She hauls donated groceries up flights of stairs to people who are unable to stand in line at the food bank. She's even donated hours to holding crack babies needing soothing, who may or may not survive. She's inspirational to me. She does all this without complaint and seems to get more out of it than she gives. I've done some volunteer work as well over the years. I spent several months working with children at Head Start in Colorado and helped troubled teens for the Alaska Youth Foundation. Although I'm not sure if fulfilling college requirements and court ordered community service qualify as volunteering?
The feeling of helping children is a good one. The Butterfly Foundation is run by a local man from the Nepalese Bramin caste named Govinda. He is pretty well known around Pokhara as a social worker who helps orphaned and underprivileged children. He seems to have quite a bit of money and has used it to do some good in the area. Govinda was unable to renew the lease on the original school and had to find a new place for the students. Ariella and I have been honored to help prepare a new school for thirty-five very poor or orphaned preschoolers. We've done this with the help of three Spaniards, two Brits, two French, two American girls and a local bar owner named Josie.
Govinda asked Mike, a Canadian returning to Pokhara, to help open the school in only three weeks. He's done a fantastic job of organizing and completing the task. The building was run down and filthy and has been turned around in fifteen days. It's scheduled to open right after the election on the 13th of this month. You are all welcome to visit the above website and sponsor one of the children.
This past week has been very relaxing for me. I wake up each morning and head to the roof of my hotel to eat French toast and drink tea with a view of the lake and surrounding mountains. I thank the hotel staff (our close friends after a ten day stay), and they reply "Welcome" in a beautiful sing-song way. Every day it makes me smile. After breakfast and a little reading I head down the road to the new school to paint and clean. It's simple work and very meditative. Hour after hour goes by and it puts me in a happy place, just feeling so good to help out. We listen to music and Govinda buys us all sandwiches and sodas everyday at noon.
We visited the original school and spent some time with the children we had been working to benefit. We rolled in the grass and swung them around and they never seemed to tire. Children are the same everywhere, they are open and accepting. The only hate they know is the hate taught by adults. I sat in a cafe and had tea with a few local men who asked me why there are people in America who hate the Nepalese because they are different. I had a long conversation with them about people being the same. There are always those who discriminate for one reason or another. There are certainly Americans who hate Iraqis and Afghans and Mexicans and so on. People hate everywhere although they love their children the same. We love the same and hate the same no matter where we live or what we look like. People take a long time to evolve both collectively and individually.
Children help you to recognize the oneness - the sameness. It's a small world after all. It's like the book Karma Cola. Everywhere in the world there is Karma and everywhere in the world is Coca Cola. You can't escape either.
