Power & banda's making life more challenging!

Power outages are pretty regular so I am having a hard time keeping my computer charged. Apparently there is not enough power for all of Kathmandu to be powered up at the same time so they rotate the power in segments so it can be off for a couple of hours at a time and we are never certain when that will be. Our first night the power came on at 2AM, we know this because all of our lights came on. As when we went to bed it was black. We were very happy to have been given two small flashlights from Nancy just before we left.

Transportation strikes – called banda’s are also very common. The political party mandates the strikes, usually as a means of disrupting either work or school. I’m not really sure why yet. This can essentially cripple the city. Today there was a banda until 10AM, which means anyone going to work will be walking or waiting until 10.

I was told that the walk to the orphanage/school is about an hour or there is a short cut that only takes 35 minutes. I’m OK with this but am not familiar enough with the route so I waited until 10 and took the bus. I waited for a half an hour while about 8 busses stopped with so many people crammed onto them I couldn’t even imagine trying to squeeze myself in. Finally I squeezed myself onto one, as did about five other people. I was let off at what I was told was my stop but did not recognize anything.  I walked for a minute or two in one direction and still no luck so started walking in the opposite direction. By the time I started to recognize things I figure I was about half way back to our home. So two hours later here I am back at the house. Shit. Oh well, tomorrow is a new day with no mistakes in it.

Time to learn a few Nepali facts:

• ·      Average annual income $400/year
• ·      Population in Nepal 29 million, 15% of that is in Kathmandu
• ·      47% of children under 5 suffer from malnutrition
• ·      Women are treated very poorly in Nepal.
• ·      There is a 17% suicide rate in women in child bearing age
• ·      There is significant power shortage, gas shortage and transportation strikes are common