Time's awastin'...only six more weeks on TBT.

Had a really interesting meeting with my young girls this week. After the whole Santi and Smriti incident, we decided an actual conversation about marriage was in order. To start off, Reut drew a caricature of a traditional married woman in Nepal and we asked what the picture represented. We went on to discuss what exactly were the responsibilities of married women. Among the answers, "cooking," "cleaning," "listening to your husband," "having children." Some of the girls seemed TERRIFIED at the prospect of marriage. As Sahni said "I don't want to get married because I'll lost my freedom. Santi, the one who had gotten married a week earlier chimed in "You have to do what your in-laws tell you, and you always have to listen to them." Other girls voiced their concerns regarding their friendships- "We won't get to play with anymore."
The thing is,whether they like it or not, most of them will be married within a year or two.
It's a hard reality for me personally to deal with- they just seem like they have so much more to do before life responsibilities kick in. But this is their life. I think what I can try to do, with the short time that I have, is to develop their ideas, to improve their confidence--- to help them become the best 'selves' they can be for the next few years....
On a different note, we taught the stone quarry kids about hand washing and hygeine this week and I came up with a great game, Germ Tag.The way it works- One person is the Kidera (Germ) and another is the Paani (Water). The Kidera/Germ goes around tagging people. If you're tagged, you freeze, sit on the floor and yell "Paani, Paani!" (Water, Water!) The Paani/Water person them comes to 'clean' (aka untag) you and off you go. Worked like a charm.
Today I went with Yotam to check out an organization called Autism Cares. I'd found it online and the Minister (whose official title,I found out, is Deputy Director) had mentioned it to me, so I thought it was worth looking into. Well, let's just say it was both rewarding and disheartening. It's the only organization if its kind in Nepal and it opened just two years ago. Basically it was started by a group of mothers of children with autism and now has a small daycare and an amazing mother/child workshop program. But, they only have one trained staff member, and one part time doctor. He happens to be the only doctor in Nepal who can diagnose autism- people here don't know what it is and don't know how to recognize it. The thing is, I'm not sure people would care. They're slowly working on building it up but to what extent? How do you introduce a concept like that? In terms of Autism- America has schools, professionals, seminars, conferences, ideas, development and Nepal has....nothing?

One last story. This was bizzare.
On Wednesday, Sabita tells me that the school is having some sort of entertainment program, sponsored by a local Korean NGO. Thinking I would get a real cultural experience, I trekked down from our hut to the school building. There was a program alright. Set up on the main field was a large tent. In front of it- a small pine tree decorated with twinkling colored lights. On top of it- a red and green poster. With pictures of Santa Claus. This Korean NGO? It was a missionary organization. The entertainment program? It was a Christmas pageant.
Oh, and how did they open up? A young man, dressed in Nepali clothing and a bright red Santa hat stands in front of a very large, unsuspecting, mostly destitute, and generally Hindu crowd and says. "Merry Christmas. Listen to us and we'll give you presents!"
Only in Nepal....