Friday, September 14, 2012

Bansbari Road and the wonderful people there! " In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, til thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return."

Bansbari Road as I mentioned in the past is the road we live on.  Bansbari Road runs north east from the Narayan Gopal chowk or more commonly known as the Chakropot chowk which is where Bansbari crosses the Ring road which Nepalis call the Chakropot road.  Got that - me either?



 I just know when we go some where and go through an intersection (chowk) the name of the road changes, from one side to the other.  The picture to the left is of the intersection (chowk), the man on the bike is waiting patiently for the traffic police to stop the east west traffic.  You don't see many pickup trucks, mostly pickup bicycles.


Janet crossing the chowk.  She is getting very good at it.  Her approach is to take a deep breath and close her eyes and run like crazy.  By the way the hat she was wearing was the hit of Bansbari road today.  A woman yelled out "cool hat" and a young boy wanted to try it on.




This was a great day for us we went on an excursion around our neighborhood to meet people.  We found the greatest and friendliest people I have ever met.  As we walked and talked to the people I saw such resilience and fortitude in them.  They are an amazing example of God's children.  I am going to introduce you to these wonderful people of Bansbari, Kathmandu.



This man runs this fruit stand every day on this corner.  When I was talking to him I asked if I could take his picture and he said "yes".  The woman behind his I believe was his his wife and she did not want her picture taken, but when I showed her the picture she liked it and was OK.






Behind the produce vendor is a tailor and he also wanted his picture taken.  I told him he needed to be sewing when I took his picture and he started to sew, with a big smile on his face.  This man is on the street corner each and every day providing for his family.  Frequently we have power outages, these are controlled and we even have a schedule for them, so... how does he sew?  Treadle machine of course!









Just up the street is this little shop where we buy our gas.  Yes we have gas appliances.  A stove and oven, they actually work the best because when the power is out we can still cook.  Janet cooked cookies the other day and I was going to take a picture but they were so good that me and our gardener/guard ate them.  Moving on!







This is a  houseware store, this guy saw me taking pictures of the construction going on at the next store front and and wanted in on the action.  After I took the picture I showed it to him and patted his stomach and then mine.  The workers that were taking down the store front thought that was funny and really laughed at the two of us.  They do have a great sense of humor.







As we walked across the intersection (chowk) I spied these two women right on the corner The one in the back is selling milk tea and the one in the front other food she prepared and is in the little storage box.  Look closely at them how happy they are.  The woman in the front is an inspiration to me because of her demeanor and charm.  Life is good - written all over her countenance.








This man has a very unique talent.  Because of the monsoons we need umbrellas and they are very flimsy, soo.. the entrepreneurial spirit exists and he has a shop set up on the street where he can fix your umbrella.  Pretty good advertising with his goods laid out the way they are.










This shoemaker can repair anything and frequently with a recycled inner tube, I haven't seen tires yet but I won't be surprised if I do.  The coolest part is that he doesn't have a vise to clamp things in, rather he holds the shoes between his toes as he sews or makes other repairs. Amazing people!!






These two men were watching us with keen interest and wanting to see the pictures we were taking.  Janet went to them and said hello "Namaste" and asked them if they would like their pictures taken and they were excited  to have it done.  After the picture was taken she showed them and they thought that was very cool.  The man on the right really got into the pose for her.







Kids!!  They are the Hope of Nepal.  No matter where you go you can find them, fun and full of energy ready to change the world!  These boys are near us and see us often.  They like to try out their English on us.




As you can see we live in a very vibrant exciting neighborhood many people to see and visit with.  Even though we really cannot proselyte we can meet with the people and engage them and get to know them.  When we are thus engaged they ask us who we are and what we are doing and will remember us when the church is recognized Nepal.
Next Chapter rebuilding Bansbari road - Changing before our eyes
























The road we live on is being rebuilt.  Over the years people have encroached on the government land and now they are having to tear down houses and business to make way for the new roadways.
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