Elinor's Diary Part 3 - Final installment!

9^th October 

Hi everyone,

The last few days have been eventful to say the least.  As you know, on Monday we had a new boy arrive at the street kids centre.  He was picked up by some tourists who have agreed to sponsor him (pay for food, clothes, school equipment etc) however, this all depends if we can actually keep him from running away!  He is a nightmare!  His name is Dinesh.  He looks about 5 but apparently he is 9 and he is a proper handful.  The other boys have not really warmed to him and he is causing some friction at the moment.  If he doesn't get what he wants he cries or screams.  When he does get what he wants he won't share and he doesn't really know how to interact with others or 'play' in any real sense.  We gave him some old paints yesterday and he just mixed them all together using one brush and then daubed big lines on a piece of paper and then wanted us to stick it on the wall :-)

Today, we went to the big park with the younger ones so there were 7 in total.  We had a lovely time playing on the swings and the slide, and then we took the group over to the lake to look at the people fishing. On the way home, I had walked ahead with one of the lads and I got a call to say that Dinesh had sat down on the side of the road and wouldn't move and kept saying that he wanted gum (this means glue here and we know that he did sniff glue when he was on the street, so unsurprisingly he is suffering from withdrawal) so I dropped my boy off and went back to where everyone else was.  Now you know me and I'm not for any messing around so I picked him up and started walking!  I just wanted to get him home, but he wouldn't move so I put him down and again, he refused to move, so a local taxi driver, who was watching the spectacle, offered to drive us home.  I've never been so relieved!  We put him in the taxi with us and he shut up instantly and was too busy looking out of the window watching the world go by to make a fuss.  What a cheeky monkey!  I feel battered and bruised and I'm hoping for a less eventful day tomorrow, although, that could be hoping for too much as we're going out on the peddle boats!!!

Other than that, I've had a gorgeous pizza for my dinner and brought some home for the dog, Rex.

I hear from my mum and dad that it's starting to get cold in the UK.  I'm really going to feel that difference when I get back.  At the moment it's about 25-30 degrees here and absolutely roasting.  I have got a 'Nepali' tan, which basically consists of a tanned face and neck and arms.  Everything else is still as white as anything!

I'll let you know how tomorrow goes, wish me luck!!!

Love,

Elinor xxx

11^th October.

So who bet that Dinesh would run away?  Well, if you did, you were right!

We had a great day on the peddle boats on the lake yesterday and on the way back we stopped for momo's and Chrissy's partner Maila, who is Nepali, came in to say hello and to speak to Dinesh about why it is a good thing for him to be at the street kids centre and whilst he was trying to chat to him, he scarpered!  We tried to find him but he was gone.  Ama (the mum) was a little bit beside herself and Chrissy was not happy with Maila as he was supposed to help, not make things worse!

Not to worry though, later on that day Chrissy found him down by the lake and took him back to the centre, so we have Dinesh back and Maila has redeemed himself somewhat :-)

Today is a relatively easy day for us.  We go up into the mountain orphanage this afternoon (Asha) for a couple of hours and some of the children will be gone for the festival so we're expecting a quiet couple of days.

Elinor xxx

14^th October.

Hi everyone,

Well, since I last checked in with you, it has been an eventful few days (when is it not?!) 

Dinesh was found again, ran away again and was found again.  I think we have all agreed that we're not going to force him to come back if he doesn't want to, so if he does run away again and we see him, we'll only take him back if he wants to go.  He was there on Saturday night when we went for our Dashain meal of goat soup and BBQ goat with rice, and he seemed to be relatively happy, so we'll see.  He's still very gropey and loves to try and suck on your neck or your arm which is very off putting!

On Saturday, Sinead and I went paragliding!!!  Yes, that's right, we got in a jeep, went up to the top of the nearest very big hill, strapped ourselves in to a harness and jumped off!  Fortunately, we were doing a tandem paraglide, so there was someone else in control of the chute.  I have to say, I really loved it.  It was very exciting to run down the side of the hill and then before you knew it, your feet were off the ground and you were flying through the air, with Pokhara and the lake below you and the mountains beside you.  The views on the way up in the jeep were phenomenal and it was a really clear day, so we got to see all the mountains that we never normally see because there are hills in the way and it is quite cloudy on most days.  Sinead wasn't quite so much of a fan of the whole jumping off the side of a hill malarkey and apparently her language was quite colourful as she hurled herself down the hill

Yesterday was a day for spiders!  The spiders here which are the equivalent of house spiders in the UK are huge and quite hairy.  To date, we haven't really encountered any at close range, however, Sinead got up to go to the loo at 4am on Sunday morning and went to turn the light switch on.  As she looked to the left of the light switch, very close to where her hand had just been, there was a rather large, hairy spider!!!  She bravely went back to bed, rather than getting me out of bed which apparently did cross her mind, and in the morning, she ushered me into her room, whilst standing behind me, and said 'kill it'.  Now Sinead seems to think I'm quite brave, little does she know that spiders freak me out as much as they do her, however, not wanting to appear weak, I stepped up to the plate and squished it.  We looked at it to see if it was dead - it was behind her dresser at this point and I had just pushed the dresser onto it - and it dropped down onto the floor.  You should have seen us, I've never known two people to run away as fast as we did, Sinead heading for her bed (she ended up standing on top of her bed) and me down the corridor, both of us screaming like little girls!!! We have since encountered another one, but have been unsuccessful in killing it, so it remains in the communal room, taunting us with its hairy legs and fast run.

Today is the main festival day so all the shops and restaurants are shut and it's raining so it's quite dull and boring, hence the very long e-mail!  We only have 4 boys at street kids so we need to go home and decide what we're going to do with them for 3 hours this afternoon.

Happy Dashain everyone!

Love,

Elinor (and Sinead!)

17^th October 2013-10-17

Hi everyone,

This will probably be my last e-mail from Nepal, as I head back to Kathmandu tomorrow morning.

Yet again, we have had an eventful few days.  No more spiders thankfully, however, major challenges with another of the boys attempting to run away.  His name is Pawan and he had been home for Dashain to visit his extended family in a village several hours way from Pokhara.  PoD really encourage the children to keep in contact with heir families however, this can cause as many issues as it brings rewards. Pawan is approx 9 years old and he hasn't seen his family for two years, having been at the street kids centre for nearly 4 years.  It is clear he really enjoyed seeing his family and he was very cuddly when I saw him the day before yesterday and quiet, even for him.

Saying goodbye

Yesterday, we only had the 4 small ones again and the rain had stopped so we decided to take them to the small park.  Within 10 minutes of us being there, Ravesh, who is normally really good, had started a fight with Pawan and pushed him to the ground. It's possible that there is some jealousy from the boys who didn't go home towards those who did.  Pawan ran off and we let him have a sulk for a bit.  Then he came back and it was ok for a few minutes and then they started fighting again.  Pawan got really peeved off this time and headed off down the road.  Me, Sinead and Asmita (the daughter of the lady who runs the centre) tried to get him to come home (Lottie and Anna had taken the others back by this point) but he wasn't having any of it.  I honestly thought he was going to bolt and I wouldn't be able to catch him.  He was so upset and sad, it really broke my heart.  I sent Sinead to go and get Ama (the house mum) and then fortunately, we had an absolute stroke of luck.  Sinead got back to the house, and as she was telling Ama, the oldest boy, BJ, arrived back from visiting his family.  As soon as he heard that Pawan as trying to run, he dashed out of the house and reached us within about 5 minutes.  Sinead was left in his dust trying to keep up, which isn't easy in 30 degree heat!

As soon as Pawan saw 'Big BJ' as he's known, he stopped trying to fight me and Asmita and after a few minutes of 'boy chat', BJ took his hand and led him home.  Phew!

We had a back up activity of making picture frames, so we got everyone settled and it was good to have Big BJ back as he calms everything down and he is very creative, so everyone follows his led.  Except....Dinesh!!!

Yes, that' right folks, he had been ok at the park.  Lottie and Anna had been double teaming him, but when we got back and were doing the picture frames he got bored and started playing with a kite.  We must all have got distracted for one minute and looked round and he'd gone!!!  We went to see if we could see him but he must have done the run in Olympic record time.  When we left to come home 20 minutes later, we saw him on the main road heading down to the tourist section and tried to make him go back to Ama, but he wasn't having any of it, so we left him to do whatever he decides to do.  We updated Chrissy later and agreed that it is up to him now, and actually we don't think he will come back permanently.  Sooner or later Ama will tell him it's either 'go or stay' and at that point, he'll more than likely go.

Other than that, the rain has stopped, the sun is out, I've been souvenir shopping, I've semi packed my bag and me and Sinead are going to play pool before taking the boys for pizza this afternoon.

The bus leaves for Kathmandu at 7am tomorrow and that will be my volunteer experience over.  I've had an absolute blast, made a very special friend in Sinead which I will treasure and met some wonderful people that I hope I will continue to support and be involved with for many years to come.

I hope you've enjoyed my little updates and if you ever get the chance, visit Nepal, it's a very special place.

Bye!!!

Elinor xxx

If you would like to have a similar experience to Elinor and join the PoD Nepal team, please email Gemma on gemma@podvolunteer.org for further information.

Big thanks to Elinor for letting us share her updates.