So I have arrived in Kathmandu - and despite being delirious from lack of sleep and jet lag, the huge increase in heat as KTM is in a completely different climate than Europe was when last I left it, I am feeling joy in my heart upon being back in this place I love so much. I was preparing myself for the worst of course.
Though one could try and plan on how we will react to something of this magnitude, when we finally come into the thick of it, telling ourselves over and over that we can handle it and it won’t be as bad as we thought. I had prepared myself to land in the middle of a war zone, with buildings toppled in all directions, from the fragments of what we have seen represented on the news it seemed that I should be wearing a bullet proof jacket or at least army fatigues. Though I have only been here a few hours and have only seen just a few small fragments of the city, I can say that I am hesitantly hopeful, cautiously optimistic, and maybe slightly more weightless than expected given the circumstances. This city was just hit by a devastating earthquake, so many lives were lost, and as it usually does, this type of tragedy hits the poorest of the poor most of all, toppling their mud huts and poorly built structures, buildings far from code, trapping people inside in a heart wrenching mess of suffering. As I am trying to simply take it all in, maybe I am in a state of shock on some level, but it seems as though many parts of the city have actually fared better than I had expected. As I have the chance to see more of the city, to see more of the devastation, this is a perspective I fear I will not be able to hold onto.
Making my way to BIA Bodhisattvas In Action headquarters in Swayambhu, located in the SOH Orphanage that all your donations have come to support, I am filled with hope. I am greeted by Chogyal Rinpoche and all the smiling children, and after a debriefing from the others that have been here these past few days in the worst of it, I am relieved to hear that they now all have enough food and water. Times have been tough, they were sleeping outside due to structural damage but finally the boys dorm is now safe to sleep in. There are cracks in many of the walls, there is still no internet, but the electricity seems to be working, and the general energy here is that of a community more so on the rise and beginning to take shape again, slowly attempting a move back to normalcy. Even while writing this we feel an occasional aftershock, a little swaying, though it seems to be the norm for those who have been here, and I guess it will quickly become so for me as well. From what I have seen so far it seems that some of the places that we all have come to call home when we think of Kathmandu have been somewhat unaffected - that is to say that the devastation has been limited on some level, the lives of those I know well haven’t been lost, and the buildings remain standing. The same cannot be said for the neighborhoods surrounding us, where a nearby building collapsed taking with it over 70 lives in one fell swoop. For the center of town and the outlying villages where the damage was most present, things are still in a continual and moving force of chaos. Continuing aftershocks, mudslides, lack of food and water continue to be a constant and real problem, even with the government sending the rescue teams home. The current stats: the death toll is officially 7,365, with more than 14,000 injured, and almost 200,00 homes have been destroyed. This isn’t counting the families torn apart, children who are now orphaned and the damage that has been done not only to the buildings and lives lost, but to the already struggling infrastructure of Kathmandu that has for decades had major problems, and now that will continue for years to come.
Tomorrow we will be heading out to a village outside the city limits where things will most certainly be less controlled and more dangerous, bringing blankets, food, medicine and water to those who have been cut off from supplies and aid. I’m sure that as the days go on and I'm able to see more of what has happened here it will be more clear how much damage there really is. However, I suppose it could be said that things could have been worse, that in some hard to swallow way we were lucky, and that even after just a few days since the catastrophe things are looking a little less bleak, and the possibility for hope is slowly coming to light. The children are safe, in no small part due to all of the generosity and support coming from people from all over the world. And these are very special children indeed. As they do every evening, the children of SOH come together with Chogyal Rinpoche and pray as a group, sweetly singing together, lighting butter lamp offerings for the dead and making wishing prayers for those who have been less fortunate than them. This was exceptionally touching, not only as these are the very kids that we have all come together to support, but that they have such amazing and pure hearts. The way their faces glowed with hope, how deeply they prayed, it was amazing to see children of this age with such powerful expressions on their faces, so deep in concentration. This moment was very powerful, amidst all that has happened here, in the middle of it all, these children have found their real basic Buddha Nature and this reminds me of what we are actually fighting for. It is not only to remember what we have lost, what is no longer, but what will continue. Kathmandu will endure, these children are proof of that, that their hearts are untamable and ever glowing. Though they have so little, they light candles and pray, praying for those who have lost so much, those less fortunate than them. As my first day comes to an end, as the night creeps in, I am reminded of just how much I have, and how much I can be thankful for. From those with so little, sent out with all the love their little hearts can make, from Kathmandu - lighting candles and bringing hope.
Though one could try and plan on how we will react to something of this magnitude, when we finally come into the thick of it, telling ourselves over and over that we can handle it and it won’t be as bad as we thought. I had prepared myself to land in the middle of a war zone, with buildings toppled in all directions, from the fragments of what we have seen represented on the news it seemed that I should be wearing a bullet proof jacket or at least army fatigues. Though I have only been here a few hours and have only seen just a few small fragments of the city, I can say that I am hesitantly hopeful, cautiously optimistic, and maybe slightly more weightless than expected given the circumstances. This city was just hit by a devastating earthquake, so many lives were lost, and as it usually does, this type of tragedy hits the poorest of the poor most of all, toppling their mud huts and poorly built structures, buildings far from code, trapping people inside in a heart wrenching mess of suffering. As I am trying to simply take it all in, maybe I am in a state of shock on some level, but it seems as though many parts of the city have actually fared better than I had expected. As I have the chance to see more of the city, to see more of the devastation, this is a perspective I fear I will not be able to hold onto.
Making my way to BIA Bodhisattvas In Action headquarters in Swayambhu, located in the SOH Orphanage that all your donations have come to support, I am filled with hope. I am greeted by Chogyal Rinpoche and all the smiling children, and after a debriefing from the others that have been here these past few days in the worst of it, I am relieved to hear that they now all have enough food and water. Times have been tough, they were sleeping outside due to structural damage but finally the boys dorm is now safe to sleep in. There are cracks in many of the walls, there is still no internet, but the electricity seems to be working, and the general energy here is that of a community more so on the rise and beginning to take shape again, slowly attempting a move back to normalcy. Even while writing this we feel an occasional aftershock, a little swaying, though it seems to be the norm for those who have been here, and I guess it will quickly become so for me as well. From what I have seen so far it seems that some of the places that we all have come to call home when we think of Kathmandu have been somewhat unaffected - that is to say that the devastation has been limited on some level, the lives of those I know well haven’t been lost, and the buildings remain standing. The same cannot be said for the neighborhoods surrounding us, where a nearby building collapsed taking with it over 70 lives in one fell swoop. For the center of town and the outlying villages where the damage was most present, things are still in a continual and moving force of chaos. Continuing aftershocks, mudslides, lack of food and water continue to be a constant and real problem, even with the government sending the rescue teams home. The current stats: the death toll is officially 7,365, with more than 14,000 injured, and almost 200,00 homes have been destroyed. This isn’t counting the families torn apart, children who are now orphaned and the damage that has been done not only to the buildings and lives lost, but to the already struggling infrastructure of Kathmandu that has for decades had major problems, and now that will continue for years to come.
Tomorrow we will be heading out to a village outside the city limits where things will most certainly be less controlled and more dangerous, bringing blankets, food, medicine and water to those who have been cut off from supplies and aid. I’m sure that as the days go on and I'm able to see more of what has happened here it will be more clear how much damage there really is. However, I suppose it could be said that things could have been worse, that in some hard to swallow way we were lucky, and that even after just a few days since the catastrophe things are looking a little less bleak, and the possibility for hope is slowly coming to light. The children are safe, in no small part due to all of the generosity and support coming from people from all over the world. And these are very special children indeed. As they do every evening, the children of SOH come together with Chogyal Rinpoche and pray as a group, sweetly singing together, lighting butter lamp offerings for the dead and making wishing prayers for those who have been less fortunate than them. This was exceptionally touching, not only as these are the very kids that we have all come together to support, but that they have such amazing and pure hearts. The way their faces glowed with hope, how deeply they prayed, it was amazing to see children of this age with such powerful expressions on their faces, so deep in concentration. This moment was very powerful, amidst all that has happened here, in the middle of it all, these children have found their real basic Buddha Nature and this reminds me of what we are actually fighting for. It is not only to remember what we have lost, what is no longer, but what will continue. Kathmandu will endure, these children are proof of that, that their hearts are untamable and ever glowing. Though they have so little, they light candles and pray, praying for those who have lost so much, those less fortunate than them. As my first day comes to an end, as the night creeps in, I am reminded of just how much I have, and how much I can be thankful for. From those with so little, sent out with all the love their little hearts can make, from Kathmandu - lighting candles and bringing hope.
