Kathmandu, Balgram, Itahari, Dharan, Birtamod; Nepal
Posted by pertorkelson | Filed under Nepal
One day after the office, while I was waiting for one of my colleagues to get his flat tire fixed on his motorcycle, then I was playing with some children in the compound. They were fooling around, while I was taking photos of them, making funny facial expressions. I really enjoy these kind of short moments in my daily life, just being with people for short times, in unexpected places.
March 26 – After work all of us from the office attended a party in celebration of a colleague’s daughter’s rice feeding ceremony. The party was held in the army headquarters in Kathmandu and I had a really nice time this evening; great chats with people, great snacks and food and the environment in itself gave a really relaxed party feeling. There were more than 600 people at the party and I was there for about three hours.
A few days later, on my day off from work, I was invited to a neighbor’s house for lunch (just across the street from my home). As the sun was shining and the weather was sweet I preferred sitting in the garden with a few other people just relaxing and enjoying the delicious Nepali food and then rounding it up with ice cream. We all chatted and enjoyed ourselves, I really had a nice time at this lunch.
Two weeks ago I went out two evenings after work to spend time with some of my friends from work, one of the evenings we were four people who went to a restaurant called Zest, which had a very cozy ambiance. We chatted and laughed while having nice food and drinks.
That same week on Friday, the weather conditions really changed. All of a sudden it started falling hailstones from the sky, and when I saw the hailstones lying on the ground, then I got a feeling of winter.
Trip to Eastern Nepal (8-13 April)
On Tuesday (last week) after finishing the work in the office, my colleague Shankar and I went to take our bus to Itahari in Eastern Nepal (we were also accompanied by his uncle). The bus journey started from Kathmandu at 5 pm and the bus in itself was ok, except for the fact that I had insufficient room for my legs, which made the 11 hours and 30 minutes of traveling quite uncomfortable for me. It was only in the beginning, while we were driving just outside of the Kathmandu Valley, that I could enjoy the scenic views of the nature. Then the darkness came.
The bus arrived in Balgram at 4:30 am the following day, Wednesday (9 April), and when we got to Shankar’s family house Gyanendra (Shankar’s brother), mother and grandmother welcomed us. After ten minutes or so we went to bed, and it felt really good to sleep in a bed after sitting on that bus for so long. I only slept for a few hours, but it was enough. When I got up in the morning I chatted with Shankar’s family members, relatives, friends and neighbors. I also had a very refreshing bucket shower before having “lunch” (here in Nepal they use the term “lunch” for the meal in the morning as well). In the afternoon I, Shankar and two of his friends visited the city Itahari (which lies about 3 km east of Balgram), I felt it was a very peaceful town with a slow traffic movement made up by rickshaws, buses etc. The temperature there was much hotter than in Kathmandu, during the daytime it was +30 degrees Celsius and above. Later that same afternoon Gyanendra was showing me around in their village (Balgram). This whole day I was laughing and enjoying my time enormously. In the late afternoon I spoke with two very intelligent 15-years old boys (living in the same compound as Shankar’s home), one of the boys was using an English language that amazed me, he was talking about how “the world is dynamic”, both of the boys were really enlightened. While we were discussing, another group of people were talking to each other close by us, and according to the boys the group was chatting about “how friendly and handsome I was”. It felt nice hearing the good words about me after such a short time in the village. In the evening I was having dinner with Shankar’s family, and his mother cooked every meal with Nepali food deliciously, I really liked the food. At the dinner we were laughing and Shankar’s grandmother was laughing and happy, she also told that she already felt like I was grandson. Imagine hearing that after spending less than 14 hours in a home for the first time.
The 10th of April was a big day; it was time for the Nepalese people to vote in the Constitution Assembly election. So, in the morning when Shankar, his brother Gyanendra together with friends and relatives went to vote, then I relaxed and chatted with the same young boys I was talking with the day before. Because of the election I spent most of this day around the house, except for in the afternoon when I went along when it was time to buy vegetables in the market. In the early evening Shankar and I together with a couple of his friends went to the SOS Children’s Village, which is located in Balgram. It was interesting to see, and I got a small tour by an officer. The environment there is very child-friendly, with an enormously peaceful atmosphere. Almost all evenings after the dinner when I was in Balgram I sat outside of the house and looked at the stars, it was so nice watching the universe while being in these peaceful surroundings on earth.
The next day we were all together six people who went by bus to Bhedetar to have a view of the hills. While we were standing on the top of a viewing tower I got sand in one of my eyes, which really hurt and it stayed in my eye for one hour. Hehe, I know someone who will find this information about sand in my eye quite important while reading my diary (he has enjoyed uncountable Double Rosannas with extra onion). We continued downhill towards the city of Dharan and along the way we visited a couple of Hindu temples. Dharan is a city with a lot of green vegetation around itself, to me Dharan was more beautiful than Itahari. This whole day’s trip was really nice and I enjoyed seeing different views the whole time.
The following morning Shankar’s brother Gyanendra took me by rickshaw to the school where he works and gave me a tour of it. When we got back it was time to get ready for a motorcycle trip towards east. Just before 11 am Shankar, I and his two friends started our journey as Shankar and I was supposed to deliver a condolence letter to a family in a village about 85 km east of Balgram. We did a few short stops along the way, we stopped at a lake, tea gardens etc. The ride there took about two hours, and the whole time the nature kept on changing and many of the parts, which we passed by was very beautiful. After delivering our condolence we started our journey back towards Balgram. We stopped in the city of Damak and had lunch, the motorcycle I was on also had a flat tire there, which we had to get repaired. Our two motorcycles kept on riding and after some time, our other bike got a nail in its rear tire, so once again a flat tire. Although we had flat tires, it was a great trip. That evening the lightning and thunder started and it was followed by a forceful rain and stormy weather. I got a bit chilly, but I like coolness while sleeping.
Yesterday was my last day in Eastern Nepal, it was also the first day of the Nepali New Year (2065). I got up as the sun was rising, had my tea and inhaled the fresh countryside air. I packed my things and made myself ready, as I was taken to Biratnagar for a short tour of the city, before getting dropped at the airport. I flew from Biratnagar to Kathmandu with Buddha Air, and it was very comfortable traveling between these two cities in less than an hour. I got home to my apartment around 5 pm and when I look back at my five days in the Eastern Terai than I’m not only grateful and happy that I got the chance to be welcomed into a great family, but also that I got see a completely different environment compared to the one I’m used to here in Kathmandu.
Today is a holiday and tomorrow our work will resume.
Kathmandu, Nepal
Posted by pertorkelson | Filed under Nepal
March 16-18 - I observed and assisted in a Basic ECD (Early Childhood Development) Teachers’ Training Program. The program was a six days’ program and a continuation from last year. The first three days, March 16-18, the participating teachers were trained and educated in various topics on how to deal and teach children in the classroom. The program is made for teachers taking care of children up to the age of five. The trainers who were educating the teachers have life long experience in the field of teaching children in their early years and even though I do have lots of knowledge about children, I have learned many new things and perspectives on how to deal with young children. I really enjoyed the first three days of the training; it was joyful, interesting, inspiring and challenging for the mind.
One day after the office last week, while I was on my way home, a young boy threw a water balloon on me. I spoke to the young boy’s friends shortly and they asked me if I wanted to play football, but I told them I would play with them some other time. I kept on walking towards home and got hit by another water balloon, some children where sitting up on a roof throwing down on the street. The reason for all water balloons were the holiday “Holi” which took place last week, it’s a festival where people throw water balloons and colors on each other.
About 15 minutes walk from my home I have a really good bookshop, Pilgrims Book House, even though I don’t engage to read in my leisure time I get inspired at looking at all the books about spirituality, Buddism, Tibet etc. I’m not a reader, I’m a man who looks at books. Hehe! Just across the street from the bookshop, there is a nice hotel called Himalaya Inn, I had my haircut there last week.
This past Saturday was a great day. It was the first day that I spent sightseeing since I arrived in Kathmandu and my friend Aalok guided me to a few sights. We met before noon outside a supermarket and started walking towards Durbar Square in Patan. I really enjoyed walking in these quarters, as the style of the Newari architecture is something new to me (the majority of the inhabitants in the Kathmandu Valley are Newaris). The temples, buildings and structural design around Durbar Square gave me a very special feeling. It’s really beautiful. After spending some time in and around Durbar Square, we then we took a taxi to Swayambhunath. It is a great Buddhist temple on a hill west of Kathmandu. The view from Swayambhunath looking over the whole Kathmandu Valley is astonishing, but I enjoyed the feeling better at Durbar Square. The sun was shining all day and it was warm.
Yesterday it was back to work as the Teachers’ Training Program continued. We also held the Training Program today and tomorrow will be the last day. I really enjoy learning on how to deal with young children; how to make them feel happy while learning, having joyful moments in the classroom and encourage their minds to create. It is all an inspiration to me.
One thing that needs to be mentioned is that I have to bend my back while washing the dishes and cooking, because the height of the basin in my kitchen is a little lower than usual, I think.
I’m always here…
Kathmandu, Nepal
Posted by pertorkelson | Filed under Nepal
I’m here now. A new life has started. I got a very special feeling when I landed at the Tribhuvan Airport in Kathmandu, I can’t describe it, but if felt different and new to me. A volunteer from the organization I’m working with picked me up at the airport. His name is Sudharshan and he escorted me to my new apartment, it’s a very cozy place I have got, I like it a lot, it more or less has everything I need. I’m staying on the ground floor of a family’s house and the family is really nice and friendly. The family consists of the father Sudhan, his wife Vinita (Vini), their son Saugat and at the moment there is also a nephew staying with them, Rijan, he is really nice and intelligent. My first impression of my home is great and I like it already.
The weather is much colder than in Dhaka, especially in the evening and nighttime when it can go down to as low as +10 degrees Celsius, but it’s getting warmer as time goes on.
On my second day in the Kathmandu Valley, I walked around together with Sudharshan in the district where I’m living; Lalitpur. We passed by a gas station and there were more than 150 motorcycles waiting in line to get fuel, Sudharshan told me that it’s common to wait minimum 6 hours and sometimes up to 10-12 hours to get fuel. He helped me with showing a supermarket called Saleways, it was a good one and they had all kinds of Himalayan products. Ejaculation? As we bought quite a lot of groceries we took a taxi home to my apartment in the area of Jwagal. It’s a very peaceful area and I really like it, it makes it easier to relax, it makes it easier to think, it’s just great. In the evening I was treated for dinner by Dhirendra, he’s the Country Director of ICRI-Nepal, the organization I’m working with. Together with his wife and daughter we all had a lovely dinner with introduction of each other and discussions about our work. It will be a true pleasure working with him and his colleagues.
One thing I would like to mention is that I have a couple of cable TV channels e.g. HBO, CNN, ESPN, BBC, Discovery Channel, VH1 etc. and that is really nice, so I can watch things like news, sports, TV-series etc. in my leisure time. Another thing I should mention is the load-shedding schedule for the electricity, everyday the electricity is shut off between 3-4 hours two times (which means 7-8 hours with no electricity every day). A good thing is that there is a schedule and they follow the schedule so it’s quite easy to plan the living. A third thing which is comfortable is the closeness of small grocery shops and some other small stores as well where it is possible to buy the most necessary things for the household, in 5 minutes I can walk to buy vegetables, bread etc.
A friend of Sudhan is living just across the street, his name is Raja, he’s a very nice man. I met him last weekend in his home and when I told him that I have studied social anthropology, then he brought out a book and showed me and immediately I told him that “I read this book in one of my courses in Stockholm University”, then he told that he is the one who has taken the cover photograph. What a small world! Here I am, talking and discussing Nepalese culture and language with a Nepali who has taken the cover photograph on a book I used in one of my courses during my education in the university. The cover photograph is showing a demonstration in Kathmandu in 1999. In the evening, that same day, I was talking to Rijan, he’s a very nice and intelligent young man, 16 years old. It’s been quite some time since I met someone this knowledgeable and he speaks very well English too.
On Sunday, last weekend, Sudharshan and I walked more or less the whole day. It felt like there was no end our walking. We first went to different telecom offices and after meeting with the Managing Director, he luckily sent me to one of the branch offices where I picked up my new sim card. It’s incredible, the waiting time to get a sim card is normally 6-7 months, they are not distributing any sim cards to people at the moment, but I was lucky enough to get one. But you know me, Mr. Charm himself. Haha! Anyway, Sudharshan and I continued walking as I had to run a couple of errands in different areas around the city and we also walked around in the touristy Thamel. We also had a late lunch in a nice shopping mall called United World Trade Center (UWTC).
At work: This week I have been working in the ICRI-Nepal head office, starting to get acquainted with the staffs and the work in itself. I really like everyone in the office and it feels great being here, it’s a new environment with new assignments and new challenges. It will take me, naturally, some time before I get a good overview of the work, and luckily I will be working both in the office and in the field as time goes on. I haven’t mentioned it yet, but the head office lies in Sanepa, Lalitpur and it takes me approximately 35 minutes to walk to the office in a normal pace, which is a nice way to start the working day and finishing it as well.
I don’t have an Internet connection in my apartment, but there is an Internet café about 10 minutes walk from my apartment that I visit. The connection speed is not exactly like a rocket (6-7 kb/sec), but it’s the best possible option around.
One thing I have been thinking about this week are all the dogs running around in the streets here in Kathmandu, there are lots of street dogs and most of them seem to be suffering from different sicknesses. It’s sad to see.
Two days ago I had dinner with Aalok, a colleague of mine, after we had finished our work. I like him, we are joking everyday when we meet in the office, he’s one year younger than me. On the way to the restaurant he said to me; “Now we are going to have a candle light dinner, but I guess you would prefer to have a candle light dinner with Alexzandra instead”. Haha! (I laughed when I wrote this and thought about his joke)
Yesterday morning on the way to office I saw an elephant walking in the road, it was quite unusual to see.
Yesterday we had an Open House program in the ICRI-Nepal head office, and it was really nice to meet the different partner organizations, teachers and principals from schools, people from other organizations and institutions etc. I had interesting conversations with women and men representing different children’s organizations and I’m looking forward to meet the children and get to know the work of the member organizations of NCPD (Network for Children, Prisoners and Dependants). ICRI-Nepal is an umbrella organization for NCPD.
It has taken me more than 2 hours to upload the pictures and write this post. Do I have patience?
Dhaka, Bangladesh
Posted by pertorkelson | Filed under Bangladesh
On the 23rd of last month I, Debashish and Ashu visited Ahsan Manzil (The Pink Palace) down by Sadarghat. Ashu’s mother’s family is related with the person who let build this palace in 1872. We got a tour of the palace by Ashu’s uncle. I had a nice time visiting it. From there we visited Ashu’s grandfather and grandmother in their home. It was also great to be there, their whole family is very kind and friendly. I really like them. From there I, Debashish and Ashu went to Banga Bazar as I wanted to buy some pants, I bought three pants and one jacket. It was fun to see that pants that are produced here in Bangladesh for H&M in my home country are sold for wholesale price here for 6-8 USD.
Since last time I wrote I have worked together with my colleagues to finish the annual report and it’s now finished and it came out real nice. I have also been part of distributing sweaters and sheets (donated by IKEA) to street girls in Mirpur, as well as working with other assignments.
I left my apartment on the last day of February. That day there were lots of people who had come to say good bye to me; Ashu and his family with cousins, the building manager, workers in the building, uncles, colleagues, relatives etc. of my friends. I received lots of gifs, letters and honest true words about me. I’m very happy that I can make so many people feel happy with themselves just by being myself, many of them said that they have never met someone like me before. In the evening Mabiya and Sagur helped me with all my things and we took a taxi to Nilufar’s home, so I’m now staying in her house until I leave Bangladesh.
5 months in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Last year I decided to go to Bangladesh to try to improve the daily life situations of street children. I knew very little about this country. Yes, I knew it’s one of the poorest countries in the world, but that was pretty much it. Now I know a lot more. Now it has become a second home for me. Ever since I came here people around me have been enormously warm, friendly and caring for me. I always try to go to a place with an open mind and a wide perspective, it doesn’t only give me and has given me a different experience, I can naturally give back to people and the society where I am. It’s impossible to sum up my time here in Dhaka, words can’t describe how much I have enjoyed my life here and I’m truly grateful for everything in my life and I now know that for every new human being I meet in this world he and she is a part of my constant process of valuing my life. I say good-bye for now to Dhaka and in a few days I will continue to a new city in a new country and it feels amazing knowing that my inside will continue to travel from big to bigger. This is my life…Thank you.
Dhaka, Bangladesh
Posted by pertorkelson | Filed under Bangladesh
On the 10th of February we had a staff meeting in the office and we discussed our recent picnic in Gazipur. In the meeting one of the teachers, Popy, told that the street boy Shoeib had said to her; “Erik is an angel”. It made me very happy to hear that he had said it.
Valentine’s Day. In the afternoon, after work, I went with Nilufar and Kanta to Nilufar’s brothers’ office. They own a big cinema (with 1200+ seats) in the same street as our office. We met with her brothers and then Nilufar, I and Kanta watched a horror movie in the cinema. As it was in the afternoon there were very few people in the cinema. After the movie had finished I spoke to one of Nilufar’s brothers for quite a long, we had a great talk. He also gave us a tour of the cinema, it was very nice to see. In the evening when I got home I directly went out to a Chinese restaurant together with Ashu and his family. I had a great time and the food was very good.
I have downloaded an emulator so that I can play Neo Geo games, this is a game console that I really wanted to get when I was young, but I never got it, I don’t know why. I have been playing two games; “Samurai Shodown II” and “Metal Slug 2”.
Earlier this week, on Monday, I left our office in the afternoon with Kanta to go to the Kamlapur Railway Station. I supervised the classes for a short while and then we got invited to see several of the street children’s homes. Some are living with no roofs, some are having plastic over their head etc. Most of the students are living along the rail line and in the slums nearby the railway station. It was a great pleasure to meet parents and relatives of some our street children and see how they are living. One thing that amazes me is the happiness among many of the people living in the slums, even if they are facing miserable living conditions they are still smiling and happy. When my colleague and I left the slums both our street children and their family members were calling “come back and visit us again”. I really had a nice time visiting the homes.
The following day I also worked in the office and in the afternoon I went with two colleagues to Sadarghat and distributed sweaters and sheets (donated by IKEA) to four street girls. Two of them, Hasina and Laboni, are girls we have interviewed before. The girls were all happy and especially Hasina was showing it, she said to me; “you have beautiful eyes, like a cat”. Then we distributed sweaters and sheets to two other street girls, Lipy and Poly, in another place. Lipy we know from before, but Poly was a new face to us. Both of them are working as prostitutes so they were waiting for customers when we met them. While we were with them the winds started blowing and they were cool, so it felt real good giving them sweaters and sheets.
Two days ago was a national holiday, International Mother Language Day. I had been invited to go on a river cruise with Ashu’s family and their relatives. We left early in the morning to go to the Buriganga river to get on the ferry. It was a whole day’s trip, a total of 14 hours of excursion. On the ferry it was relatives from both Ashu’s mother’s and father’s side, between 250-300 relatives. It was really nice to get out of Dhaka, to feel a different kind of peace, as Dhaka is a very busy and hectic city. On the boat we socialized, ate, laughed, played games, listened to music etc. I spent most of the time with some of Ashu’s cousins, who I have met before. At one point when the ferry was docked to land, then we walked off and Ashu and I met some carriers who were carrying sand and we asked them how much they were making and they told us that they make 300 Bangladeshi Taka (equal to 4.40 USD) in one day, their working day starts at 5 am and finishes at 6 pm. The work is really hard. While we were sailing on the river, the majority of the people onboard the ship threw the trash into the river, this is something I can’t do, it hurts my heart to see and it reminded me on how small the world is to many people. This world is wonderful, but it’s also sad, I can only hope for more soul in the next generation. At the time when we arrived back in Dhaka in the evening there were 15-20 street boys who jumped onto our ferry and started collecting trash, which they later sell and earn some money for. Instead of just throwing all the trash in the river, give it to the street children and improve their daily life a little. I’m not an ace in mathematics, but this is simple maths to me. I and Ashu’s family gave two street boys our plastic bottles and some fruits and snacks, they were very happy.
Yesterday…22…8…