If you see me with scissors, you might want to run. Fast.

November 16, 2009
When I was little, I had this image of missionaries in my mind as these tribal people who braved all sorts of dangers, fighting off lions and tigers and “uncivilized” people every day! Now, there are definitely some missionaries who probably live like this, but I’m learning that missions work is just as much about the small daily events as the big glamorous ones. This would include those times when the boys have to cut their hair, and there’s no one there to do it...

So, this morning after breakfast, the boys informed me that they needed to have their hair cut short before school (which was in an hour). Problem being Laxman’s the only one who knows how to cut hair and he was gone with Uncle. If we waited until school, it would cost each boy 50 rupees, which we didn’t want to spend. So, the older boys informed me that I only needed to cut Raju, Darshan, and Rajkumar’s hair (meaning they didn’t trust me with the scissors; probably for good reason!).

So Raju comes out in just his pants, his tiny arms and body covered in goose bumps from the cold, teeth chattering, and a slight look of fear encompassing his dark eyes. I start on his hair with a pair of old scissors and a comb, and Arun promptly tells me I’m doing it wrong and grabs the scissors. He then begins butchering Raju’s hair, and I ask him if he knows what he’s doing. He says, “No, I’ve never done this before!” with laughter spilling over. I grab the scissors back and tell him he’s not allowed to touch them anymore and begin to try to fix the damage done.

Well, soon Shiva comes out and says, “Oh, sister! You’re cutting his hair! I will finish it!” Assuming he knows how to cut hair as the oldest boy, I hand over the scissors, as my second mistake of the morning. He spends a LONG time trimming this way and that, and pretty soon Raju’s hair looks decent all around. The one problem: the front was about as crooked as crooked gets. It was hilarious! So, Raju obviously couldn’t go like that, but I had to start Rajkumar’s hair, so I passed Raju off to Bimala who took another pair of scissors to his head. She got it as even as was possible, and he finally looked presentable!

Meanwhile, I had 20 minutes to finish Rajkumar’s and Darshan’s hair, which was just not looking too good. But, practice makes perfect, errrr, slightly better than before, and they improved over time. I combed this way and that, with a snip here and a slice there, and got their hair shorter. There may have been a few dents, but, overall they weren’t terrible. Well, from the front. The backs were a little hilly, but, hey, it was my first trial by scissors in a time crunch!

So, we finish in the nick of time, and all of us run to get ready for school, brushing shreds of hair off us as best we could! And we’re off, and I’m thinking, “gosh I hope no kids make fun of them!” We get to school, and Darshan told me later that all his friends asked him what type of haircut did he get! He answered that he had an “American” cut and everyone in America wears their hair like that! Great response, right?! Now we’re going to have a generation of Nepali’s thinking American’s have the weirdest hair EVER! But it was my first time, and I’m sure when I leave I’ll be an expert! It’s all in a day’s work as a missionary :).