What day is it? What month is it? What year is it? I don’t know. I’m in a fuzzy haze of cold medications, sinus infections, and dehydration. The latter grew exponentially worse post-marathon without my even realizing it and is a prime example of how even when we THINK we know what we’re doing, we’re probably not drinking enough water.
I’m flying back to the States as I type this, having already endured two legs and a long layover in China at an overpriced hotel where I slept for a few hours. I’ve finally gulped down enough glasses of water that I no longer feel light headed, clammy, cold, blazingly hot, and wishing I could just collapse onto a tile floor and hope that it would cool me down enough to survive the day. This feeling was never greater than when trapped in the backseat of an SUV driving a group of us from the hotel in Kathmandu to the airport, a distance of no more than 7 kilometers that took in excess of 85 minutes. I felt trapped, nauseous, and concerned the Chinese with their health inquiry screening procedures might not let me transit for fear of an outbreak of some heretofore unknown malady that would henceforth be known as Kevin’s Folly. But I bluffed my way through and here I am in the closing 10 hours of travel to get home.
TEN HOURS. Good gravy, Marie.
In the meantime, I thought it would be a good time to mention the last bit of the Nepal adventure. We caravanned out to the 150 bed care home that is one of the projects supported by Stichting 112 Nepal. That’s the charitable foundation started by Gerte and a few of his friends to fund various recovery and relief efforts after the 2015 earthquake.
I used to be heavily involved in residential adolescent psychiatric care homes so I’ve seen more than a few of these types of places. This one felt well run and the kids we encountered seemed happy and healthy. Some were orphans and wards of the state while many were children of single mothers incarcerated in Nepal jails, victims of an unjust system of “justice.” Apparently in this country if a woman is raped, she’s the one who goes to prison. It was one of those gut wrenching, stomach turning, infuriating facts that makes my skin crawl even as I type the words.
Amongst the various projects, a large playground was redone, and a larger block of residential areas were under development to expand the home’s offerings. The group also purchased a trailer-ful of food and supplies from the local “warehouse store” which was just a storefront in the town with a large backroom.
This was only 20 kilometers from our hotel in the city center but it took over 2 hours thanks to bumpy, unpaved roads that bounced, jostled and scrambled my aching bones and body. But I was really glad to see the countryside, to see outside the urban and view the rural. There’s still so much to be done to recover and rebuild from the quake; so much to be done to help Nepal grow and develop. It was a humbling experience, a reminder of how lucky and fortunate I am just in everyday life. There’s a lot of problems in the USA, seemingly moreso now than ever before, but it’s still a land of hope and aspiration and on the whole justice. It’s a place of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. While that may be applicable to Nepal as well, the circumstances and environment seemed and I believe are so much more hostile to the individual than what we have to work with in the States. I’m embarrassed at the riches we have and ashamed I haven’t done more to help those in need… not just abroad but in my own home country, my own neighborhood.
If there is one thing I can take away from this trip, it’s that we all should strive to be better.
Given the pollution in Kathmandu, we need to do better by our planet.
Given the devastation of the earthquake of 2015, a disaster that at best has seen 15% of homes rebuilt in the ensuring 3 years, we all should do better by those who have lost so much.
And given the social injustices of women imprisoned for being victims, we all have an obligation to fight for those that have systematically been denied what can only be viewed as inalienable human rights.