Demi Tour of the World

Good news : Jacky, from his bed, wants to give five days food to the children.

kilos of rice, patatoes, tomatoes, onions, brinjals (local aubergine ), sugar, flour. In quantities to last five days following Kamal’s experience - Kamal manages with his wife one of Umbrella’s houses.

When I arriived with the taxi full of food, children welcomed the driver and I very warmly, and, village’s reflex, started to carry the bags. Of course I carried the heaviest.
While didi started to cook I finish to shave the remaining head - the didi did want to keep her hair. She also thought the food could last from 7 to 9 days (another reflex), so I had to insist it had to last five days, the children need more !
Around themselves, children see a lot of change and they hope it will go on, starting by a new place to live with clean water… Of course as soon as the funds will be here….

Bad news: Good for food, but still more problems: following a shortage of gaz, people tend to use more kerosene to cook. therefore there is also difficulties to get Kerosene. Didi managed to get two litres this day. One litre = 1 day… if no fuel, it will be cold meal basis on Chulo, beaten rice

To put an end to all this, please let us know your desire to sponsore a kids or to give a donation. Money will pass by Umbrella foundation.
Every little helps

Reminder:  These naked littles body (minus two) are all to be sponsored (30 dollars per child and per month, it can seem a lot, but it covers all the care and education, furthermore four salaries can share - one family, one office, one pub… For example, among the SOLHimal’s volunteers, a couple, earing the minimum wages is sponsoring two children in Umbrella.

The optician’s visit has been alright. No problem, three children need glasses that will be given by SOLHimal via Umbrella.
The day before, we took the children for a public “bath” where the neighbours wash themselves and their linen. That’s 15 minutes walk and two minutes from Thamel. Without being asked anything, children got all undresses in a flash!
There the people showed their curiosity, even some showed their concern. One of them took a photo with his mobile, promising to sent it to the medias because, he says, ‘they need to show reality’.

Jacky, Umbrella’s country president, was sick. No way to contact him. August 11th, I was in the office when Gyan, at last, popped up. From him, I hoped a report about the families and the schools in the Rasuwa district, instead he asked me what I’ve decided for the children’s sake, because an article will be published the next day… a way of pressure, but as long as there is no money, our emergency can’t be solved !

Talking news, here a good one… but negative: where the children are coming from, there is starvation due to the closed chinese border. Chinese markets are much more accessible than Kathmandu for all the people living in the mountains (Humla, Dolpo, Langtang). So those people lack rice and vegetables.
Why closing a border and starving people? because Tibet, for the Chinese politic point of view, needs to be invisible, no one should be able to witness what happens there.
Therefore, if we already knew Chinese governement able to kill, here the IOC and its supporters are guilty of the same crimes!. There is sport and there is economic interests and nationalism…

Which impact for the children? That reduces their chance to go back to their village and family.
Wednesday, I went back to the children’s to get them again to the public bath - if I don’t go nobody else will do the job -  Choesang, 4, jumped in my arms. That’s it, I’m their brother, their dhai.
The next I started the lice eradication. I used my clipper to its exhaustion. Boys were happy to get the same haircut than mine, but three girls emptied all the tears of their body while Choesang were overjoyed to be the first.

Anneli should have come to pay the school exams fees (just another tax!!!!) but she didn’t come.
Gyan didn’t give me any report because he wanted Tenzin (who dislikes the article :”Children in illegal orphanage”)… to do the job… Do we live in an upside down world? anyway such a situation shows the real limits of the Nepali Government.

Following Chinese own words, Olympics are not involved with politic and one should mind its own business. through this video you can easily imagine how China’s dictatorship impulse such violent behavings from Nepali Police which I quote :”If no medias we would beat those Tibetans to death”. Not surprising really. Some cops look under 18, and those youngster are undisciplined, they even had a row with journalist on this very same day ( 14th August 2008)

It started with Anneli, a sweddish girl, who sent me an email:
“I help in an orphanage of Tibetan kids, they have nearly nothing. Can you help?”
I called her immediately asking to visit the place. Anneli was dubious upon the director’s speech whose name is Tenzin, who doesn’t like NGOs and is unable to show any official paper.

5 p.m. on my visit, there were no adult around. I’ve seen 41 kids living in two rooms, the girl and the boy room, which is bedroom, dining room and homework room.
The “director” arrived half an hour later. He told me his name was only Tenzin, that he was Tibetan but could not give more details! Only one page of his accountant book was used (something he showed on Anneli’s request) but half the page written in english was repeated in Nepali! Very vague and nor really in a warm relationship with the children he said he needs help…

Reality: On my second visit a week later I came a reprensetative of the Nepali governement and helper for Umbrella foundation (www.umbrellanepal.org and SolHimal Organization ( www.solhimal.org) Tenzin was away in the village, the very one he took the children from. As so we learnt that all children have parents who live in the same area of Reshuwa district (70 Km north of Kathmandu towards Langtang) and that all familly give money to Tenzin, from 500 to 2500 rupees a month in the hope of a better future via their confidence over Tenzin (maybe a man from their village). In the same time the guy looks for tourist in Thamel as a guide and try to persuade them to sponsor children or to help directly the so-called orphanage.
But the kids sleep at three per beds and no tap water is avalaible. On this night three were sleeping on the floor. The school fees are not paid and all kids are sick, skin disease and worms, a red one known to be very dangerous (discovered this last thursday, 31 july, because of this one of them has a swollen stomach. Even more, at the same time, 6 children disapeared from this place and no none knows where they are yet…

Seeing this nightmare Gayn Bahadur Lama, the ministry man, notified the need to close the place but… mi

… Governement can’t give any money, though can help otherwise.
First of all  I requested a check-up for all children. As  a result we found out that 4 children has scabies (including 1, the youngest, with a swollen belly due to an invasion of red worms, 1 a wart under her foot, 1 with black teeth, 2 with fungus, 4 with white lips corners. Plus various skin problems.
Mainly, all this is due to a lack of hygiene to their place. All’s dirty, from their clothes to the linen, to bed bugs under matrasses and lice in their head.
And about the other basics : education : Tenzin has not enough money for all the fees…
                                              food : … otherwise he couldn’t buy any. Still it is only rice, and some rare and diluted vegetables
 
So thats us, Anneli and I, who are taking action against lice : shaving,  bedbugs : insecticide, bath : need to come every two days

About the emergency and the long term ?

I met with Laura, a brazilian lawyer who helps another orphanage contacted a foundation, if the foundation agrees to take the kids under good condition, they’ll have enough money for everything. It would be done… but it will be known in a month and a half. That’s not quick enough.

Or, we open any house under Umbrella organization. Three days to find a house, 3 others days to get it ready, 7th day : the children are in… but the latter had no money for more children to rescue. So I said I can give 5000 euros for the set-up.
 Still, we’ll need to find partners/sponsors : 50 euros per month per kids (or 600 euros per year per kid ) as a long term commitment. That will cover all the costs for the kid, from the home care, to education and medical care. Tha’s following the experience of Umbrella and SolHimal. To whom the donations will be sent as Umbrella will monitor the house.