Friends! Namaste! Caasto Chha? It’s been a while since an update, and of course too much has happened to put into one blog... so here’s the abridged version of the beauty of the past month:

-I spent 12 days trekking in the Himalayas, and it was absoultely one of the best experiences of my life.  Camille and I had a wonderful time, a great way for her to finish her time in Nepal, and for me to celebrate my birthday. The beauty and power of the mountains here feeds my soul.  It was incredibly grounding, the force of nature at it’s highest.  It was wonderful to have some mountain time, to stand on the strongest forces on earth.  Two directions of rock and earth pushing hard enough to launch itself in the sky, but slowly at the moment, as if the earth itself is locked in a sort of arm wrestling stand still.  The energy is there, the force is still there. So strong! It is nature, it is beautiful.

The areas we walked though were so peaceful, it was so still and serene.  We began in a very northern village where it was desert because the elevation was too high for many things to grow and the climate too harsh. It was amazing.  We walked a whole day and the only person we saw outside of the small villages along the way was an old woman herding her 40 or so alpine mustangs grazing on sage and a few thorny bushes. From there each day the landscape changed, with only the enormous mountains being constant.  Eventually, on the last day, we were in the jungle surrounded by lush greenery and waterfalls. Brilliant.

So that was awesome.

But here’s what makes me elated at the moment: I am sending my students to a real school! A good private school at that! Really, I there is nothing better for me in the world than this news. I have spent the last week and a half running around Kathmandu looking at different schools, talking to principals, organizing uniforms from tailors and so on.  Two volunteers from Holland and I made the arrangements and raised money for the initial payments, and two days ago I took 15 orphans to their first day of school ever! Can you imagine? I felt like a proud mom, watching them all so well behaved, answering their teachers in English and Nepali and writing their own names on their papers. 

These are kids who just got dealt a shitty hand in life.  And they are just kids, some of whom have never seen their parents.  Some have been abandoned, some knew and loved their parents, and then had to deal with their deaths.  One 5 year old girl’s parents were murdered by terrorists, another boy’s father died after falling out of a tree hunting monkeys.  The stories would break your heart, and yet these children are resiliant.  Still they laugh, still they play, run and smile.  Still they draw pictures of houses and hearts and horses and trees. Still they pick me flowers in the park and say "thank you, Auntie" with every small gift, and they mean it.  This is a world we are lucky enough not to know, but still it is our world.  These are children of our world, and because they appear to be nobody’s children, they become everyone’s children. In this way, they are our children. I seriously love these kids so much, I am so proud of them, and now they have a chance to get an education.  In a place like Nepal, an education is the difference between a life of  carrying bricks on your head 14 hours a day for practically nothing and maybe getting a job that will provide enough to eat, enough to live.  It is a completley different quality of life, and that is what I hope for these 15 beautiful people who have taught me more than I can ever repay. The world is a beautiful place.  It is difficult, it is tragic, but more than anything, it is beautiful.  So many thanks to my family who donated money on my birthday.  This is the best birthday present anyone could ever receive.

If anyone would like to be a sponsor in any way, please let me know.  Please send us your love and light, it’s free and always needed.

Peace, love and hope,

Ellen