Kathmandu, part two
Tsedo's garden is a refuge; we had breakfast there, grateful for such simple and delicious food.
Aruna Uprety came by, teary and heavy-hearted. She knew of one girl in our STOP Girl Trafficking project who had died and was worried about what she and her team would find as they reached the areas and schools worst hit. We drank tea and talked and worked through a plan. For the first time in four days she laughed, this amazing woman. It was like the sun coming out again.
Then to Bhaktapur, one-time capital of Nepal. We passed the golf course, now a tent city. Bhaktapur was much harder hit, residences and monuments alike reduced to rubble. A stone goddess, intact, lay on the ground by a shattered temple, and the corner of a bed with pillows still on it hung out from a ruined house.
Coming back to Kathmandu, we were in heavy traffic for the first time, by the bus station. People were cramming into buses to leave the city, worried for themselves or for their relatives in villages where the damage is much greater.
It's raining today and everyone is still staying outside. But a few more shops are open. People here are resilient, and they will need to be. This will take time and work and help to recover from.
-Erica
