Family

Right after returning from Jhapa I headed to Godavari for my home-stay. To be honest it was something that I was not looking forward too, I was really nervous about staying with a family I did not know for a week, especially since my Nepali is still weak. But after about an hour with my family, I knew it was going to be wonderful! My family has three children all who go to St. Xaviers Godavari, where the three JV’s teach. The oldest is Sujhana who is in level 9, Pouja who is in level 6, and Shrimat who is in level 3. They are absolutely fantastic children and enjoyed all the time I got to spend with them. My bua (father) is a chief inspector for the police and spends most of the week at work. My aama (mother) is a beautiful woman. She works at home and like most women that means she does everything. She speaks little English, but I still felt very connected to her. Their house is about a half hour away from school on top of a hill that overlooks a valley of rice fields. For the first few days I hung out with the kids, playing cards, games, and the girls even got me to dance. Though I now know why Nepali women are such good dancers, the girls have choreographed dances for all the songs. It is what they do for fun, and even the little ones can shake their hips. It was a lot of fun, and taught me a lot about not being self-conscious and to just have fun! Then on Friday I was able to help harvest one of the rice fields that the family owns. It was a great experience. To harvest rice you use a machete like knife to cut the stalks at the roots, then the piles of cut stalks are beating over a drum, causing the rice to fall of f onto tarps. The rice is then bagged, carried up the hill to rooftops where it is laid out. Once laid out it is re-bagged, stored or sold. This is all done by the women. I think that is why I enjoyed it so much, because I was able to bond with my aama, aunties, and Sujhana. One thing that fascinates me here, especially in the villages is the bond between women, it is more then just this idea of being in it together, it is their life. Many of their husbands work outside the valley or even home like my bua, so it is the women who run everything, and they do it together. It is such a beautiful connection that they all have, mothers to daughters, sisters to sisters, everyone. I really enjoyed being able to laugh and talk with them. Though I was fired from banging the rice, though my Nepali was not good enough to know why…. Something about a head covering or not hitting hard enough? The rest of the week was filled with good memories and experiences. It also gave me insight to how Nepali’s live. For example, Pouja, gives Pouja (the offering to gods) twice a day, for the family. They have a room that is meant just for offerings, in which they have a small alter under pictures of various gods and goddess. Within the offerings there is Ahrwati, which is the ringing of bells and lighting of incense. It is also the Nepali name my aama gave me. She also blessed me with Thika, recognizing me as her Thulo Churi, or eldest daughter. It is just nice to have a family connection here. Though, there are definite differences in lifestyles to state the obvious, but I think one of the funniest ones I experienced was the use of oil. After washing my hair at the tap, I came home, and the girls asked if I wanted to put oil in my hair. I asked what that does, and was told it is what makes their hair black. They believe that by putting oil in their hair it makes it black, so I was like sure why not, thinking maybe it’s special oil, but nope it is the same oil that we use for cooking. So there I was in the kitchen, with freshly cleaned hair, rubbing sunflower oil in my hair. I laughed to myself and stayed away from the fire. Though that night as I went to bed, I just reeked of the oil, so I open my trusty purrell poured a little in my hand and ended up with a fresh rubbing alcohol smell to my hair. It is experiences like this that remind me how far from home I am. But oil aside, it was one of the most wonderful things I have done since being in Nepal, and I am incredibly grateful to have a family like them here in Nepal.


Fields I helped harvest