If you didn't receive this post last week in our new HTML newsletter format, please add Changing Lives Nepal to your address book! The email is Changing_Lives_Nepal@mail.vresp.com and this is how we'll be sending out updates and photos for our nonprofit...
Ten kids meet ten quirky stuffed animal pillows...and fall in love. This spring Mountain Madness wanted to send gifts to our orphanage kids. I dutifully stuffed my suitcase with funny little stitched pillows, handmade by Girl Scouts, then stuffed them all again into a...
The buzz in mountainous villages in our project area is TEA! As I made a short tour of tea farms and the new factory site last week, I continually met groups of farmers who were talking tea--how much they were earning, how much they were investing in the new joint...
Video: Dr. Seuss Comes To Nepal Ten children, two women, five goats and two cows--this is home for all of them. Our Children's Home feels better every time I visit. Krishna has turned from quiet and scared to curious and engaged. Suresh has become the proud oldest...
Mountain Madness president and CEO Mark Gunlogson joined me for an excursion into the Nepali countryside so that he could check out Changing Lives Nepal in action. Our foray into the "hills" began as field visits often do: with a crazy motorcycle ride. Monsoon rains...
4:30pm Hang out with the kids. Collect pictures they drew today with the markers and pencils I brought last fall. Inspect each one closely and praise mightily. 5:30pm Visit nearby hospital to consider putting a volunteer there. Doctor only comes 2x/week. Hospital sees...
9:30am Play with kids, hang out, have fun, relish it. 10:30am Educate Sita on the business of goats. We calculate together: you buy 3 goats for $100 dollars. You feed them $50 of food over 3 months. How much should you sell a goat for? 11:00am Lunch #1 Rice with...
8:00am Stop to check on unfinished wooden doors and windows for the Batase School. Neel lights a fire under the slacking carpenter. I stretch my shoulders after 9 lbs of fruit have been bouncing on them for a few hours. 9:00am Arrive at the Children's Home to some...
Saying that I work with charitable projects in Nepal doesn't fully convey either the work or the reward. Yesterday's field trip reveals more about why it's worth it... 4:00am Wake up and meditate. Only Day 2 in Nepal, so jet lag is working in my favor. I'm awake....
Our 13-seater plane landed on the grass runway while I was grinning foolishly with excitement. A decade ago, my time with the Peace Corps in Khadbari village was idyllic. Sure, it was hard at times, but it was also a peaceful and communal existence. Landing here again...