Week One in NEPAL!

So, I’m FINALLY caught up on my blog posts and I can tell you about my first week in Nepal. It is beautiful here. As the three of us walked out of the airport, I was captivated by what looked to be a replica of the Smokey Mountains. I said, “Oh my goodness, look at the mountains!” My friend, who had lived in Nepal for nine months four years ago, laughed and said, “Kali, those are hills.”

As we walked outside the airport, I saw the woman with whom I’ve been planning my contextual ministry. She greeted me with a smile, and hug, and an enthusiastic, “Welcome to Nepal!” After a few quick introductions, I separated from my two McAfee friends and left to see my home for the next two months. This goodbye wasn’t bittersweet; we knew we’d see each other over the next few weeks.

The house I am staying in is nice, nicer than I expected. I am blessed to have a kitchen and refrigerator (so I can save money by buying groceries instead of eating out all the time), a washing machine (which I did NOT at all expect), a comfortable bed, a desk to do my school work, a short walk to my ministry placement, and neighbors. I am not roughing it by any means, which is a blessing. I do want to make an effort to explore the city more, though. I want to get to know the people.

One thing that is very different than the US is how conscious the Nepali people are of their energy consumption. Kathmandu runs on hydroelectric energy. The government rations the amount of electricity everyone gets every day.  The city is divided into 7 zones, and each of the 7 zones has no power for two parts of the day. It rotates so that each zone has no energy at different times, but everyone has roughly the same amount of power each day. During the winter when there is less water, people get less electricity. In the summer a.k.a. monsoon season, people get more energy. While this seems like a hassle, I think it is brilliant. How much energy could the US save if we did something similar? How many non-renewable resources could we conserve if we did something like this? I know that this kind of energy rationing would cause only a million and a half hissy fits across the country, but I think that the world could learn from Kathmandu’s example.

This week, I got to meet the people at the ministry I’m volunteering with. They are so wonderful. The owner of the salon is a small, feisty, compassionate Nepali woman who radiates the love of God. She gave me the warmest smile the moment she saw me. There are also two young women, one older than me and one younger than me, working in the salon. They are both graduates of the six-month training school the ministry puts on once or twice a year. One is a Christian and one is a Buddhist. They are both sweet girls and I am excited for the opportunity to get to know them. I also met the business visionary. She is an American who’s lived in Nepal for several years. They immediately welcomed me into their family and I feel at home here. They even gave me a Nepali name, partially out of wanting to welcome me and partially so people wouldn’t laugh at me. Kali in Nepali is an endearing, kind of joking term that means “blackie” to kid someone affectionately about her dark complexion. Because I am very obviously white, this presents a comical problem. They gave me the name Asha, the Nepali word for hope. I like this name =)

Let me take a moment to clarify the ministry. I am working at a salon that also does trainings for women who have either been exploited or are at risk to be exploited in the sex trafficking industry. Recently, they opened a salon to fund their ministry efforts. I am helping them make their business functional while preparing new material for them to use in their mobile, month-long training/devotional ministry. Needless to say, I am in for a busy, wonderful summer.

Thursday and Friday we nailed down exactly what my responsibilities are going to be this summer. My biggest responsibility is to help the two salon employees with their English and to do discipleship/mentorship with them. They also want me to do some team building with all of the employees at the salon. After that, I am to organize their papers and materials for the training school they offer. Along with the six-month program, they offer a month-long mobile program that they take into the homes of formerly exploited women. They want this ministry to be devotional and educational, so they are asking me to write a devotional curriculum that goes along with the educational curriculum of self-care (for example, care for the feet and “beautiful are the feet that bring good news”). When I am not doing those things, I am helping organize monthly receipts, helping run errands, and typing up lessons. It’s never a dull moment, for sure.

Friday evening, I had the pleasure to go to the salon owner’s home for dinner. She has a simple home, but you can tell she is proud of how beautiful it is. She immediately changed into a dress that Nepali women wear traditionally around the house and started cooking dinner. I sat in the kitchen and she excitedly showed me how to prepare a traditional Nepali dinner. Soon, her son, husband, and mother-in-law returned. Her son is the sweetest boy. He is so polite and fun to laugh with. Her husband is very kind and so supportive of all his wife is doing. Her mother-in-law is so sweet. She does not speak any English, but the boy translated for my sake. At one point, she did not want me to leave, but to stay with them. After one short evening, I was welcomed as part of their family. I was, and still am, deeply touched by their hospitality.

Saturday I went to church with a friend. Saturday is the only day most Nepali people get off from work, so Nepali Christians go to church on Saturday instead of Sunday. It was quite a hike! I went with the friend who met me at the airport. Every word of the service was in Nepali, but it was beautiful. The woman who preached the sermon was passionate about the message and the people were genuine in their worship. It was a nice service. After church, we met up with one of the girls from the salon to shop and bond over typical girl time. It was nice to get to know her a little bit outside of the shop.

Sunday, I got to see my McAfee friends. Even though I’d only been at the salon a couple of days, it was nice to see some familiar faces. We spent the day together, shopped a little, and then took a taxi to Nagarkot, a hillside village just outside of Kathmandu. It was one of my friend’s birthday and she wanted to revisit a hotel in Nagarkot to watch the sunrise over the Himalayas in the morning. We stayed up part of the night, laughing, joking, and telling stories, and then got up at 4:45 to watch the sunrise. There are few things more beautiful than watching the sun kiss the snow-capped mountains of the Himalayas first thing in the morning, including the peak of Mt. Everest. While I’m sad that my camera is not working, I know that I could never do that view justice. After the sunrise, we trekked a little way down the mountain to a bus station and took a bus back into Kathmandu. We enjoyed lunch together and then went back to our perspective dwellings.

Other than that, there’s not much to report. I have been so blessed by the open arms of the women at the salon. I already feel like one of the family and am astounded at how compassionate they are towards me. I love them so much and I am excited to do ministry alongside them this summer.