Pokara

As John Lennon said, "Life is what happens while you're making other plans."

On Tuesday, Cam and I took a bumpy, 11 hour ride to Pokara. I was going there to start my 5-day trek on Wednesday, in one of the most beautiful places in the world (which, as it turns out, was in the foothills of the mountains and did not mean staying in towns with internet cafes as I had thought). Cam was going to meet Sushmita, who was escorting Emma, a British volunteer, to her placement at an orphanage in Pokara. He had decided to spend Wednesday sightseeing with them and then return to Kathmandu with Sushmita on Thursday, probably to do a medical internship.

Midday on Wednesday, I cancelled my trek due to disagreement with the tour operator. I feel very bad about cancelling because a tour guide and a porter got caught in the middle and pretty much wasted 2-3 days of their time. For me, however, it worked out for the best.

When I arrived in Pokara, I found that the mountains, which are usually clear at this time of year, are inexplicably covered in a haze. So had I gone on the trek as planned, I would have enjoyed hiking, but been disappointed by my inability to see the spectacular scenery. I spent Wednesday afternoon sightseeing with Cam and Emma and learning that, although it is a major tourist area, people do not come to Pokara for the sights -- they come because it is the gateway to the best trekking in Nepal. While we were looking at fairly dry, non-impressive gorges and wondering why we paid to hike into a cave to look at bats that we could barely see, I had some time to talk with Emma. She had stayed at the orphanage on Tuesday night and loved it. I didn't really want to spend most of the next month in Kathmandu, so I decided to stay here for two weeks and volunteer at the orphange with Emma. I will still visit the Chitwan forest for a couple of days on my way back to Kathmandu.

The orphange, whose name I have just forgotten, is a home that is run by a wonderful couple for 9 adorable small boys and 1 great 14 year old boy. The couple does not receive funding from any other organization. They raise money entirely on their own by soliciting donations, organizing and selling tickets to events such as raffles, music events, and parties, and by taking volunteers (for which they are paid a very small fee). They are in their 20's, but have no plans to have any children of their own as they consider the 10 boys in their care to be their kids. They are managing to send all of the boys to private school by getting ten different private schools to each admit one boy and pay his monthly fees. They still have to come up with the money for annual fees, uniforms, and school books and supplies on their own. This means that the boys have to take 10 different school buses every day.

Even though they are living hand to mouth, Manooj (the husband), dreams of opening a second home for rescued girls who are working as domestic servants in wealthy homes in Pokara (like the kamlari girls at Nepal Orphans Home, but they don't call them kamlaris and I think that they are from a different ethnic group -- need to learn more about this). Samrila (the wife) is incredibly organized. Each boy has a number that is on his dish and spoon. They sit in assigned places, by number, at the table, and have cushions that they each sit on in their assigned spot in the livingroom when they are studying. When I stood in the doorway of one of the bedrooms and said "goodnight" last night, they instructed me to hug each of them -- in number order! Like the children at Papa's House, they study when they are supposed to study, eat when they are supposed to eat, go to bed when it is time for bed, etc. They also speak English well and are really fun to play with and sometimes a little mischievous. Ram, one of a set of identical twins told me this morning that he was his brother when he knew that I was having difficulty just remembering all of their names. Last night, he had told me first that his name was Rambo and then that it was Rainbow. After Samrila and Ram's brother told me the truth about his identity this morning, however, he showed me a scar on his forehead so that I would always know who he was in the future. In one day, I have already fallen in love with all of these boys!

The house has running water (though no hot water), a toilet, and filtered water that is good to drink. I nice upgrade from my life in Narti. Emma took the comfortable bed in our room, but I don't mind -- I've gotten pretty used to sleeping on a slab of wood covered by a thin mattress (though in Narti, I had two mattresses, which made a difference). Another volunteer from the U.K. is here also. Mike is a high school teacher who was asked to take early retirement three years ago and was given an offer that he couldn't refuse. Now he travels for 6 weeks a year. For 2 years, he went to Indonesia to work with orangutans and now he is in Nepal. He is great fun and I am so happy to have met both him and Emma. Although it seems a shame to be so close to the beautiful mountains and miss out on seeing them, I am very happy to be right where I am and looking forward to a great two weeks.