Nepal 19, Ann’s House

Most of you know I belong to couch surfing and a couple of other similar organisations, where you stay with a person or a family and live like they do. Its got it’s pitfalls as you can guess and you have to be careful but, I love the idea and have hosted several people myself.
Anyway, I went to stay in a suburb of Kathmandhu for a few days with an unconventional American woman.
I’m going to call her Ann and keep her true identity private for a couple of reasons;

1, She is doing amazing work with some street children and I don’t want her to be targeted (she has had a few problems with neighbours and more recently with people wanting money) and;

2, Her status in the country could be scrutinised in the future, her husband is Nepali and a great deal older than she is, when he dies she will most likely have to leave….or…find another husband!

Ann’s home is in a fairly wealthy suburb. She has lived in Nepal for many years and is of independent means. She seemed a bit cagey about her address, this may have been because its hard to find. I’d spoken to her on the phone and felt OK about her so, I arrange to meet at a certain place and she sent two boys to come and get me.
The boys aged about ten or eleven, scruffy and guiless met me and walked me to Ann’s house. They wanted to carry my backpack for me but, as I think it weighed more than the both of them put together, I carried it.
Ann was very welcoming, her appartment is large, mordern with six rooms, it is very much a home.
The kitchen is on the top floor and the focal point for everyone. I met the three boys ( including my two escorts) that Ann has fostered (aged 10 to 14 years). There were other children there too. All have families but they are all neglected, through poverty I’m guessing. Ann treats them all as if they are her’s. Her own family in the US are all adults now.
Ann explained that Non Governmental Organisations (Charitable) operate in Nepal and through one of these she became a formal foster carer to the 3 children. Initially she had volunteers help settle them in and now she has a couple of young (in their twenties) house keepers. They seem to act as surrogate parents too, although Ann has the final say. The government supports these boys to go to school, Ann pays for their upkeep and for the two housekeepers which she absolutely needs ( just to keep the house under some semblance of control)!
Apparently at first one of the boys kept going missing and back to the streets but, after a couple of weeks he returned of his own volition and has not gone missing since. The boys used to trash everything too, nothing had any worth to them but, within a few months they all seem to settle.
Boys being boys the house was full of teasing and shouting, so it isn’t restful. Ann seems to love the mayhem and the boys seem to love her, they call her Ama which means mother.
She had to work hard to get their education up to the right standard before they started school and she’s done a good job.
Ann seems to understand much Nepali but, doesn’t speak it, I sent her a link to a YouTuber to get the basics, she seemed keen on this. That said she’s a whiz at understanding body language… one boy (not hers)was reluctant to go to school, he arrived in his uniform, looking nervously at the others. After a few questions she asked where his hat was, he didn’t have one. Luckily she had a spare he could borrow! He was off to school happy! The kids do their own chores, washing their own clothes by hand on the terrace and cleaning up after dinner etc.
I went on a shopping expedition to get socks and school hats (one especially for that one boy), it was mad! No supermarkets here, just dozens of shallow fronted shops with there wares spilling out into the road. Nearly everything synthetic and brightly coloured. You can actually by a single sock!

We visited a farmers market, and I paid for the vegetables for our dinner, it was the least I could do, it came to about £2.50 and had the whackiest fungus Ive ever seen.
While I was with Ann, I started to get a cold. She then treated me like she treats the boys and gave me some black goo! Don’t worry it was a regular over the counter thing and when I read the bumf it contained at least traces of two types of nightshade among a whole pile of plants I don’t know! It was quite nice actually but, it didn’t stop my cold.

The day I left a bunk bed arrived. Ann had been trying to encourage the boys to sleep separately but, they always ended up in a bundle on one mattress on the floor, after a bit of coaxing the older boy will now have his own bed and soon his own room. Maybe the others will follow suit, its a slow process from street to home.
Many of Ann’s neighbours weren’t keen when they realised where the children were from and Ann had to manage a number of issues and accusations but, she is quite charming and tough.
One of her neighbours who is friendly chatted to me about language and bought me a children’s ABC (well the Nepali equivalent) book so I can start on the writing. I suggested he listen to Life On Our Planet and maybe the BBC to improve his English. He thinks I should study Sanskrit so I can recieve understanding of all languages, maybe he’s right!

My stay with Ann was so interesting and I think she is amazing! I definitely could not do what she is doing, it was exhausting just thinking about it all! For Ann it was a chance to show visitors a bit of the reality for many and I think she enjoyed my company because I’m nearer her age than most of her company these days!

I may revisit her before I go home.