It's for the CHILDREN!

January 4, 2010
I really can’t believe I just typed 2010. It seems like just yesterday I was awestruck with the fact that the date started with a 20 instead of a 19! Whoa. Anyway, back to your previously scheduled program. So, once again Uncle left home, this time with Auntie and their two boys. They went to Ghorka and Chitwan and were gone from Sat afternoon till Wednesday afternoon. So, Didi and I stayed with the kiddos, and one of the deacons from church has stayed here every night.

Monday, the call came. The one that I always look forward to. The only time the kids ever yell, “SISTER! TELEPHONE!” Then I know. Before I even pick up the receiver. And that nice lady’s voice floats over the line, “You have a notice of a package at customs. You need to come pick up the form and go to the general post office to claim it. Thank you!” This time, it was a little different. “You have FOUR notices of packages at customs!” YESSSSS!

New Life Church in Spring, TX sent Christmas gifts for the kids, one box of Bibles (with the kids names embossed on the front of 17 DIFFERENT Bibles, how awesome is that? in a home of 17 kids, it’s VERY awesome!) and three boxes of other gifts. Now, the Bibles arrived first, about a week ago, and they went straight to our normal post office, which was quite the surprise when I got to the post office on the bike and the lady drags out this HUGE box in a big white bag and says “Here. Take it.” And I realize that I now have to lug this box and the bike back up the 20 minute ride home. Well, walking the bike with one hand while dragging the box with the other was out of the question, so finally I managed to get on the bike, resting the box between my forearms and knees, trying to keep it totally balanced as to not throw off my own balance! After much huffing and puffing and only one near death experience (never play chicken with a car, even if they are driving on your side of the road, especially when you have a big box in your lap!), I made it home. And the children were sooooo excited to have their very own English Bible with their names on them... pretty awesome!

OK, back to January 4. After school, Rami, Prabin and I headed to the post office to grab the notices. Unfortunately, since Uncle wasn’t here, I didn’t have a way to get a letter from him to claim them, so I was praying that at least one would be from my mom so that it would have my name posted all over it! Well, we hiked down that hill that I had huffed and puffed up just the week before and picked up the notices. Then it was off to the general post office. We took a micro-bus, which is basically a really big van with about 40 people packed into it. A very cheap, very interesting way to travel.

So, we got to the post office, and I gave them the notices, and the lady was like, “Are you Krishna? Are you Nepal Children’s Welfare Association? Why doesn’t your passport match? Who are you?” So, I attempted to explain that I work in a children’s home (always good to play the “I work with the poor Nepali children, would you deny them their Christmas presents?!” card. it usually works.) and Uncle was out of town and one of the packages was from my mom and would have my name all over it. So, she walked us back to the store room for packages. And now I know why sometimes it takes me weeks to get notices- I’m surprised more packages haven’t been lost!

It was a jungle of a disorganized mess, enough to make a hyper-organized person want to jump off a bridge. So, we began searching for the packages, which thankfully have numbers scribbled on their sides corresponding to the notices. Well, we found one from my mom, and sure enough, my name was pasted all over the front of it. Which was enough for the man working back there, but two other officials had to come back and OK the transaction. It helped that my mom’s name was on the package and I was able to say, “Look, miro ama!” which means “my mom!”

So, then we hunted for the other 4 packages. Oh wait, did I say 4? Why yes I did. One of the notices had 2 packages listed on it, so, we had a total of 5 packages to claim. Well, we found another one from my mom, sent about a month before the first one we found (funny how that works here...), and then we found the one’s from New Life. Well, Rami found one, and the kind man found the other two. I think he was amused by the white American in the Nepali Kotessera with two orphan children in tow. I seem to have that affect on people! Back to the packages- they were big boxes. So, me, two kids, three BIG boxes, two smaller ones. All heavy!

Well, I do the Customs office dance (I have it memorized now), and get a signature here, pay a few rupees there, and then comes the moment of truth- the moment the man takes the knife and plunges it in to open them and make sure everything’s ok. The first two from my mom are just “chocolate” as they call anything edible that they don’t recognize. Then, the other three are filled with the wrapped gifts. And I’m afraid that he’s going to make us unwrap all the presents, but he looks at the two kids standing there with HUGE eyes, gaping at these boxes filled with gifts for them, and he chuckles and leaves it. And charges me a whole 90 rupees per box, meaning a little over a dollar for each one! WAY cheap compared to past trips!

We head out after emptying one of my mom’s packages into my backpack, sagging under the weight of love from Texas! I knew there was no way we were getting on a Micro-bus with four boxes and an exploding backpack, so we hailed a Taxi. And I feared how much it was going to cost, and the kids warned me that it was expensive. But we got one, and to my delight, it was a mere 250 rupees, just under $4. Definitely manageable! We pack in, and I’m pretty sure the ride home was scarier than riding uphill with a box full of Bibles! We narrowly missed crushing a motorcycle with tires screaming and rubber burning as he hit the brakes! Then, we danced around a Micro-bus, and I’m still not sure we didn’t leave some paint as a memory for them.

When we finally made it home, the kids came running out to “help” with the packages, and they had the joy of Christmas in January! They loved their gifts, and this time I made them open them one by one so that there was a little more order to the chaos! I think they had as much fun watching each other open presents as they did opening their own presents! It was just another unforgettable day!