It was sad to see how these families have been living for generations. a couple thousand people live in this slum area…. very small rooms where a variety of generations work seemly all day carving puppets, painting them, and costuming them. After we visited a school room (maybe 10 foot by 6 feet with a dozen young kids getting a music class), and having them sing for us, then demonstrating a bit of Annie’s frog costume (just the head and hands while sitting down) and me having some fun with a couple balloons), they took us to a room where the main puppeteer offered to sell us puppets his grandfather made (and the puppets he was performing with the other day). The head music teacher wanted to show us the kitchen, where he hoped we would buy the food for the kids for a week or month… or maybe pay for a new roof that wouldn’t leak when it rained….. this wasn’t just an artists demonstration leading to a sales room… this was a desperate call for sympathetic help. It was tough seeing their living conditions and how hard their lives are.
Comparing this visit to the tour of the royal palaces, temples, and forts is mind-boggling. The old kings here spent unbelievable wealths creating life styles for the select privileged and the only benefit the regular poorer folks saw was that they got employment creating arts and services for the royalty. The beauty of the art works we’re seeing is wonderful…. but I keep seeing the poverty that most people still live with and it colors the artwork with a slightly negative pigment for me.
It feels so good to bring smiles to these families who have so little…. but feels so frustrating to see how much they need and how little we can do for them. I get more respect for our son who is so active with a group of “effective altruists”. You want to help, but you want the money to really get to place where real help is happening.
Sorry, I have to do more balloons tomorrow…. that will cheer me up.
I know I can create smiles in the kids…. and when the kids get a special “high” for the day, that gives their parents a special ‘high” as well…. but this is like a distraction… a band aide for a problem, not a solution.
I sure do resonate with your sadness. I wonder if, with your photos and personal accounts, there could be an online fundraising thing – so many sites like that. A friend of mine has been fundraising for a project with a site called Give It Forward. Lots of people make small donations, and then, maybe a there’s a new roof!
Diane, Good point and nice suggestion. We’ve run into people here who have taken on special things… like footing the bill for some kid’s operation…. paying for another kid’s school…
In Kathmandu we ran into a guide who asked us to contact some guy in Chicago…. a guy who had sponsored him to get an education.
When we return home we have a lot of processing to do.