On cell phones, quality education, little children, and holidays

I thought of a few topics worth discussing this week and especially the first one I long wanted to mention. Cell phones! What a great invention for the developing world. The countries do not have to invest in landline infrastructure but can still benefit from connectedness and up to date information. The success stories are numerous and I do not doubt the positive impact cellular technology had. However here are the other facts that no one talks about: cell phones are making the people here just as consumed and stressed as westerners already are. They have their phones EVERYWHERE and ALWAYS on them. The teenagers play loud and annoying music in the busses and people pull out their phones during business meetings, dinners, and conversations. They do not apologize for taking the call, instead they scream into the phone (bad connection) in a way that makes you think they want to directly scream at them. But the most obvious hint to the fact that cell phones might have been brought to the East, however the rules of conduct were left behind, is that even the catholic sisters leave their phoned son during mass and adorations, they let it ring, and they take the calls with no hesitation. I often wonder if technology is really brining these people (and us for that matter) so much good?

This is church by the way! And yes there are cellphones ringing all the time!

J

The school year just ended and the next one is about to start in a week. The children received their grades last week and I asked them a little about the grading system. As it turns out they receive percentages. If one gets more than 70%, one already counts as top of the class. One needs only 40% to pass a subject. However if one fails two or three subjects with let’s say 30% one is most likely to still be promoted. You can see quality is really important here J
Another good real life example of this happened yesterday. Sister Tessa has had leg pain for quite a while now. Probably some strain or back problem. I tried to recommend her some exercises but she preferred medicine. It did get worse and so she went to see a doctor in the hospital yesterday. And you know what they did there? They took her blood pressure and a blood sample. I carefully asked her what she is expecting from these examinations and she said, well the doctor told her that they will figure out what’s wrong with her leg from the blood sample. Okay? The other sister had stomach problems. They did an x-ray, and showed her on the x-ray where exactly the uterus is and how big it measures etc. Too bad that her uterus got removed three years ago in India. That’s quality at its best J

Little children are a much more fun topic. First I have to tell you about Tschumu. Tschumu is about five years old and she is a bundle of energy. She always wants to play with me, sit on my shoulders; she jumps around or tackles my feet. The down side to this is that at 6PM when it is time for adoration and mass she is deadly tired. So last three times she fell asleep. First sitting, but then the sisters noticed and ordered her to stand up; it didn’t take long before she fell asleep standing :D  It was too funny!
Another delightful young girl is Sneh. She is the newest addition to the “Kinderhouse-Family”. Three-and-a-half years old she only has her mom left (for now). However her mother is HIV infected and also very poor. The older kids like her very much, as do I; but yesterday she cried her soul out for 45 minutes straight. The sisters tried so much to calm her down, but it must be hard for such a young child to get separated from the mother. By evening, she was all fine again and she even played with me and the other kids.
Yesterday I made a train with the help of a few children, with all their pictures as passengers. See for yourself but I think the few hours of work turned out pretty good

Took TookTrain

Tschumu the sleeper :)

Sneh is the one in my left arm!

This week there are a lot of holidays. I don’t know why or what they are for except tomorrow (it’s Nepali New Year) but the fact is that holidays are quite different here. Last week I had the pleasure of talking to a younger Nepali female co-worker of mine. She told me many things, including that she does not really like to work for Plan because there are many disputes and little fights between the co-workers. She also thinks that people are working so slowly and no one is really committed. And she also often experiences discrimination from her male co-workers. She also told me however, that on holidays, all Nepali usually work. She said that there is nothing to do at home and one day off is fine, but as soon as it is too people get bored and they voluntarily go to work. That struck me as odd, but the more I thought about it I understood. It is true, people really have nothing to do at home, they are not aware about how to spend time with the family, how to play or sing with the children, how to plan family trips, etc. Even for me, and I have a houseful of energetic little kids, it is sometimes painfully dull… so I guess I get why they are working on Sundays and holidays although they don’t need to.

Namaste for now, as I said there are many holidays and I am not sure when I’ll be able to use the Internet again. Maybe I’ll come in Sundays :D
Annika