Every 6 months we have the great opportunity to present certificates of completion to graduates from the classes on sewing, knitting and computer for the blind. In the picture above is Shradha Shrestha. She is a graduate of the Sewing Class for Disabled Women; she is completely deaf.  She is from Ason in Kathmandu and lives with her mother and two younger sisters.  Like many of the other students, she learned about the class from a friend.  She has already started a job sewing in a local shop.  Her favorite item of clothing to make is the kurta, a long, colorful top worn over pants or leggings. She is one of those happy people that smiles all the time and uplifts others spirits.

This is Rakesh Thakura, 21, is from Sindhuli in the Tarai (southern) region of Nepal.  He completed his “plus two” education (grades 11 and 12) in Sindhuli, then came to Kathmandu to further his education.  He has just completed the JAWS class, which teaches blind and partially-sighted students how to use a computer.  He will now be able to pursue a bachelor’s degree in education.  He wants to be a teacher.

It was a beautiful day and we decided to walk back to our apartment from a meeting. Right along the side walk was a banana plant. The word for banana in Nepali is Kayrraw. As we said in an earlier post the bananas here are better than what you get in the USA. These are tree-sized plants and you can see the bunch of baby bananas. These were growing in somebody's back yard.

He was a rat, he was dead and he was on the sidewalk. We have seen a few of these carcasses during our on-foot journeys around Kathmandu.

This is a picture of two men on the rooftop next to our apartment. You have heard the term "beat the stuffing out" of something or somebody. Well that is exactly what these men are doing. They are beating a mattress. Actually they took the stuffing out of the mattress first then beat and fluffed the stuffing. Then they put the stuffing back in the mattress and gave it another sound beating. The freshly beaten mattress was then taken back downstairs and re-installed on a bed. We are sure that the mattress was much softer and sufficiently chastened.