Struggle with loyalties...

Since we have been in Nepal, or more so the past couple of weeks, I have been struggling with loyalties (among other things). Several taxi drivers have given us their business cards and asked us to call them if we need a ride or a tour etc. My first instinct is to do that. After all you have made a connection. He has taken the time to solicit further business. Every cab ride in Nepal is a negotiation that leaves you feeling like you just stole from someone who has nothing. I feel that I should take them up on their offer. However Nepal is overcrowded and there are a few thousand taxi’s. When you want a cab you just hop in the closest one you don’t wait 5 minutes, Nepali time (which could be an hour) for your driver to come and find you. I bring this up because today a taxi driver took us to the airport as we were going to take a one-hour mountain flight. He was going to wait for us and then bring us back to the house. The flight ended up being cancelled due to poor weather conditions and when we went looking for him he was nowhere to be found. How long were we obligated to keep looking – keeping in mind that the 100 other cab drivers at the airport were all trying to solicit our business? Is there a right & wrong here?

My other struggle with loyalty has been with the church.  The teacher I have been working with belongs to ‘The Church of God’ I think I mentioned this previously. She brought me to her church a couple of weeks back and has wanted me to return for more instruction/teachings. I somehow got cornered into going there today after school. I spent an hour and a half being shown passages in the bible and video’s supporting their interpretation of the bible and the holy mother. Everything they showed me completely supports that there is not just one God but two Gods, the second being the holy mother. Now I’m not saying I don’t believe what I read but I think taking a sentence from one chapter and a passage from another disciple and mixing and matching I could probably make the bible say just about anything I wanted it to. As I sat there for the hour and a half I was trying very hard not to be rude and just stand up and walk out but at the same time I was thinking to myself do you really think I am going to throw away everything I have learned for the past 46 years after two small meetings and start following ‘the holy mother’ who apparently is alive, is Asian, and looks to be about my age.??? Am I being disloyal to my own faith by sitting and listening to all of this…oh and yes I was put on the spot and gave them my address and e-mail so they can follow up with me later. Am I being disloyal to them by politely giving them my information allowing them to think that there may be hope that I will join the ‘Church of God’ and be saved from destruction when it comes? Apparently it is coming soon.

So the only really fun part of all of this is that the ploy to get me to the church was the offer of a ride home after school. I took a walk on the wild side and rode home on the back of a motorcycle without a helmet in the middle of the crazy Kathmandu traffic just like a true Nepali!

This was my last day at Orchid Garden and while everyone else who has left has received a thank you and certificates of appreciation I got a religious book, a video about ‘God the Mother’ and a sermon. Oh well, it was a life altering experience that I will never forget. (The children that is)

I have left my mark on the school. The alphabet has been put up. Managed to learn almost all of the kids names and taught them a few English songs. I held a few hands, rubbed a few backs, wiped a few tears and in the end I think I made a difference. Not exactly the contribution I was thinking of when I left Canada but a contribution none-the-less.