Wednesday, August 19, 2009

A small summary about my general impression.

Life here is indescribable, it's stunning and heartbreaking.

Under stunning I mean:The incredible warmth of the people in the monastery and the people in the mountain village.The simplicity and sobriety (poverty by our standards) in which people still find their happiness.

The breathtaking nature, which I enjoyed enormously in the mountain village and the two-hour walk to get there. The flashback in time back by two centuries` (but with occasional power) in the mountain village.

The incredible discipline of the young monks, children from 10 years getting up at 4:30 AM for learning their texts, afterwards from 5:30 to 7:00 AM they join the morning prayer. They continue with a whole day of lessons till 6PM. In the evening they attend the evening prayer from 6:30 PM till 7:00 PM. Finally they end their day by philosophical discussions in the courtyard. finally they go to sleep at 22:00 PM, restarting again at 4:30 AM.

Additionally, the indescribable gratitude and motivation for the sports lessons is a joy being a teacher. Most of these children come from remote mountain villages (the majority from outside Nepal)like I have visited. Villages where they have to work in extreme conditions, and often are neglected an maltreated .... it is wonderful to see how they literally throw themselves at this gift of a better life.

Also the courage of the local population that we are working together with, is incredible. Their motivation for making things change in their difficult situation. I have met many people that I will hold as an example in my own life after this trip.

Under heartbreaking I mean: the incomprehensible corruption of people with power, police, politics, doctors ...

Everyone, really everyone complains about it and you see this country lives in chaos.
The streets are really no streets,there are no traffic rules here,
Most of the streets are unfinished, due to road works, electricity cables are sometimes hanging head height with hundreds together. Every dirt they just throw around the corner. A VERY large proportion of the population lives in unimaginable poverty. The pollution of the thousands of cars alone in Kathmandu is just incomprehensible.

These people really need all the help they can get!!

I honestly can say that this has been the most meaningful trip of my life!

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