We meet our ANSWER student

As many of you know, we have been sponsoring students in Nepal through ANSWER (American Nepali  Student & Women's Educational Relief) for quite a few years.  We are on our fourth trip here now to both meet our current student as well as to help build a home for another ANSWER student's family.

Friday we got to meet our student and his father who had traveled from their mountain village, first 12 hours on foot and then by bus!  Koushal is 14 years old and quite small compared to many his age.  He studies in a government school and right now is not receiving any extra tutoring or assistance as the school's administration is in flux.  We hope that soon he will be receiving some "extras" through ANSWER.

Here is Koushal with his father Lal in the garden cafe of Pilgrim's guest house.

After some tea (yummy milk tea) and conversation, we set out for a day of touring.  Since Koushal's English is not as good as most ANSWER students in non-governmental schools, ANSWER sent a staff person to help us with communication.  We hired a van for the day through the guest house and proceeded to see the city.  We asked what things he would most like to see and they were all places we wanted to show him, which was really great.

Our first stop was Swayambhunath otherwise known as the monkey temple.  We wanted to walk up the many steps to the stupa but were unable to because a Benedict Cumberbatch film (Doctor Strange) was doing some scene shoots at the top.  Below you see the wonderful steps we would have taken!

We took an alternate route to the top and came upon the stupa from the side, but were not able to get too close because of the scene being shot.  If you see the movie in the future, look for this scene below:

Since we really could not see much we didn't stay long.  The stupa and some the other parts of the site such as one of the temples was destroyed in the earthquake in April.  We did take the time for a traditional shot though, which we think Koushal enjoyed.

Next stop was the Nepal National Zoo.  This is a poor zoo in a poor country, but it is their zoo and school children love to come here and see all the animals.  We enjoyed seeing some of the critters we don't have in the US and were thrilled by the wonderful birds on display.

The water buffalo were putting on quite a show running around and snorting and playing king of the hill as you see in the photo below.

Our next stop was lunch in a restaurant overlooking Bodhnath, built around 600 AD and is the largest stupa in the country.  The top of this with the Buddha eyes came crashing down in the earthquake but the stupa is still impressive.

Kushal was quite impressed by it all as you can see in his face as he looks out over the complex.

After some lunch and a wonderful mango lassi we walked around some and got up on the one part of the stupa that is still open to the public.  We asked Koushal to take off his baseball cap because it was casting too much shade on his face.

From here we cut through the city on back streets to get to Pashupatinath, which is the location of Nepal's most important Hindu temple.  This sacred site on the Bagmati River is where one finds the ghats where cremations take place.  Following cremation, the ashes are swept off the ghats into the river to be carried away.  Koushal is Hindu and so this was a very special place for him to visit.  

Below are two shots of ghats.  This first picture shows the area for ordinary citizens.

The body below was moved to the other side for cremation.

Below is a shot of Koushal and his father, who is talking with the driver from Pilgrims Guest House.

Koushal was beginning to get tired after his long trip and all the walking we had been doing.

Some of the smaller stone structures on the other side of the river were heavily damaged and some fell down as well.

Even though it was getting late in the day we asked Koushal and his father if they would like to go to Patan to see the Durbar there.  We struggled through city streets with traffic that was about the heaviest we'd experienced. At one point we even had to back up for half a block!

The Durbar here was quite damaged, as was the one in Kathmandu.  Below is one of the beautiful temples with supporting poles.

The saddest part of the visit to Patan was seeing the wonderful museum which is now closed because it is unsafe.

It was now nearing sunset and we were all tired, so it was time to brave the traffic once again and return to the guest house.  Kushal and his father went to stay with family in the city and we went "home".  It had been a great day, we think Kushal had a good time and that we gave him some good memories of us as well as his first visit to Kathmandu.