Delayed Catch-Up...

Hmmm…. I don’t necessarily know how or what to begin writing to catch any faithful readers (love you, mom) up with the latest happenings, so I’ll just write about last Saturday. As Hindus observe their holy day on Saturday, Christians do the same, so we began our day early heading to the church of Kolt’s previous host family. Along with his host-sister Georgina and two visiting Kansasites (?)- the group packed into taxis and a standing/falling/seating bus to an edge village of Kathmandu. We attended the 2 ½ hour service, clapping and praying along with the congregation to the beautiful Nepali tongue. Afterward we met with Rajesh, a leader of the church that Kolt helped to raise $3,500 for in support of children within the congregation. After being filled to the brim on momos (think potstickers) and soda, we left his house and traveled back to our hotel. We luckily had the remainder of the day to relax, because by night we had big plans.

We had spoken with Ranjit (founder of Kingdom Kids and the Princess Home) and John (our wonderful contact who made our daily activities possible/ co-founder of Princess Home) about visiting some dance clubs in Thamel. These dance clubs are not only degrading means of (limited) employment for girls in search of sustainable income, but also functional facades for solicited sex. I mention the two because many of the girls come from small communities far from Kathmandu. As the result of abusive families or neglect, they flee to the large city to find jobs and sadly, their options are few. Miles from home their limited means of employment are in night clubs- to host, serve, dance, and eventually be purchased for sex. We visited three of such clubs Saturday night. Ryan, Rhoman, Heather and myself were led by John to two clubs while Ranjit led Whitney, Saxony, Kolt, and Megan to another club.

While I’d like to think I’m tough (bark big, barely bite) the reality is I can crack on command. And walking into a club where girls my own age are dancing with stoic and bored expressions for a room full of men can become quite the command. The first club we went to had a large stage and dark seating- the women were wearing two pieces- and the music was so loud it hurt. Conversation was limited and we unfortunately didn’t get to talk with any hosts or servers, our objective to learn from the girls. So after a while we left and went to another club. We were already disturbed from what we’d seen, but the first club kept us distanced from the girls. The second did not. The stage was much smaller, and the majority of observers were fellow employees- proving the ‘entertainment’ to be apart from the stage. One girl approached us apart from our male server, but since we wanted to talk with the girls about their experience, John asked if any of the girls spoke English. Luckily one did, and she came and sat next to me. Soon we were surrounded by women, attempting to engage in conversation. Being two girls and three boys, it felt really awkward to seem prospective ‘clients’ to the women. Of course, we had to be sensitive in how we questioned them about their lives, history, situation- but in my usual touchy-ness I made the mistake of putting my hand on the knee of this woman and realized that according to her, I wasn’t there to learn or ask questions. I was a possible client. In just realizing that, I want to cry- possibly throw fragile things at walls- because it just doesn’t make sense.

I’d like to think of myself as an empathetic person, so the whole experience was especially hard for me because I’d picture myself in their shoes. Seeing their dulled expressions when they danced, the watchful eyes of the men, the innocent dancing of some of the girls compared to the raunchy dancing of other girls--- these girls are my age. They are mostly here as victims of circumstance. And that is hard to understand.

Because of our work in the Princess Home, we (the girls) have had the opportunity to hear their stories as headed for or recovering from these situations. All of the stories dealt with abusive men- mostly through arranged marriages- and the home has taken them in and released them from those environments. Snapshots of our times together would show us listening to them, crying with them, praying with them, laughing with them. These girls have luckily had the opportunity to leave their abusive husbands, their means of dependency, and be provided for. And while this home is wonderful and Ranjit has proven himself saintly- there are so many more women in need, dancing in bars, being contracted for sex. The problem still exists and our group knows that- we’re not satisfied with merely spending time with these women as a way to fill up our weeks on this trip, just so we can turn around and leave. Being exposed to these bars, hearing the stories of these women firsthand- we want to learn how (if possible) to change the situation. Exposure through service was our objective and we’ve come to find it- so the problem now exists in what to do, how to help and learn while here yet carry it when we leave.

And while I’d like to say that I hope these writings will help, the reality is that it’s hard to understand for those of us here- and I’m sure even harder until you’re holding the hands of these women, or touching them indecently in a dance bar. One way I’m trying to help is through asking the organizations that we come into contact with of their needs/hopes/prospective changes. So I’ll leave a list here for our faithful readers- our occasional readers- our readers of happenstance—in hopes that should you feel so led, should you have any additional information to offer- there are ways to help from over t/here.

MORNING STAR (the orphanage holding 57 kids)

• More facilities to offer so they can house more children- they can find people to run the facilities easily- they are just hoping for another home, the funds to do so, people that would come and help, or even financially support.
• A counseling book to provide help for the kids.
• Pen pals for the children to write.
• A volunteer for 2-3 months that would like to come and help with various needs. Housing and most likely food would be taken care of.
• (I added this one myself: I’m thinking they could advertise for help- maybe even put up the option on something like idealist.org… or create a website…)

RANJIT/ JOHN/ PRINCESS HOME/ KINGDOM KIDS:

• Ranjit is hoping to open an intensive 5/6 month Bible school that can prepare and send out individuals from rural mountain communities. The Christian population in Nepal is growing rapidly and he wants to be able to provide a solid teaching for these distant communities. He’s hoping to gain the support of roughly 10 churches or individuals to support $100 a month, (yes, only $1,000 a month total) to do so.
• John is looking to find organizations in India or Nepal that are rescuing the girls- because the girls can be relocated to the organization’s home/s in Kathmandu. Many services are provided in Kathmandu, especially for individuals who are HIV positive, the outstanding problem is connecting and networking these organizations together. If anyone knows of websites, or specific orgs.- they’d be much appreciated.

If anyone knows any way to help, or feels led in any way- here are the needs. Hopefully you'll be able to contact any of us in person when/if we return (wink wink) or you can respond here with further comments and questions. Until then....

Holly Hildebrand