Nameste from Nepal!

There are no words that can describe this country entirely. On one hand, it is beautiful land surround by the Himalayan Mountains. As soon as you arrive, you are shocked from its beauty, mystery and spirit of its culture. But, unfortunately, it is still a third world country with all of its economic problems. There are many people, especially children, waiting to receive aid.

Ark Mission organized a missionary trip to Nepal. For a few days, we traveled village to village. On January 11th, we visited a very poor area of Katmandu, where mostly refugees from neighboring countries reside. At about five in the morning, we bought a lot of school supplies, candy, cookies, rice, noodles, and other necessities. We stopped our car upon reaching this refugee area. In only a couple minutes, I saw children running to our car, and looking inside. We started handing out the presents, and after a few minutes, we saw the rest of the villagers slowly making their way through to our car. Soon enough, we handed out all of the items and in about thirty minutes, we realized that our car was empty. The kids had big smiles on their faces, even those that did not receive anything. But the faces of adults showed worry; they wanted to make sure that everyone received something. Even a small package of rice was a big blessing to them. We promised them that we will return, and we did soon after.

After this, we went back to the stores and headed off to another village where we met young couples with children. The young parents were more optimistic, and had plans for their future.

The next day, we decided to organize our visits more in order to meet families who need our help. In the morning, we brought a car full of items and products (according to American standards, things are very cheap there). The people living in the village organized the children into a line. We had so many wonderful volunteers that day! The small, local shop came to us three times with additional products. We remained in this village until evening time. After that experience, we were not able to leave the children or the adults! I saw that, for them, the most important thing was not only to receive food, but to see that someone cared about their situation.

In this business trip, we visited several orphanages, including the biggest government orphanage in Katmandu- Bal Mandir. These wonderful children and their caretakers created a big family atmosphere. We decided to support their sewing school and bought a lot of fabric so that they can sew their clothes. We also spoke to officials and told them that we will support this orphanage with their milk program, and we will organize a television room. We wish that all of these children will have a happy childhood that they deserve. We promised them, as well, that we will come back soon. 

On the airplane, I watched the movie “Blood Diamond.” There was a scene where the journalist said that after being in Africa, it is hard to go back to New York and sip cafe lattes. This describes how I feel about my trip to Nepal. This was a challenging trip, and when I arrived home, I understood how nice it is to be home. But in a few days, I heard Nepal calling me back.

Elena Karadjov

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