Justin's Blog

 Archive for the ‘Nepal’ Category

Hello Southington (and whoever else happens to be reading this).  It’s Iona, and this keyboard is unusual.  The @ sign is down low and there’s a $ above the 4 and a £ above the 3.  Weird. 

Today we did a whole lot of work outside, cleaning the paths and the stairs outside the cathedral and generally helping Helen.  Everyone did something, either with a pitchfork, shears, shovels, a wheelbarrow (Dad: “The front wheel went round.”), or just their own two hands.  It looked a lot nicer when we were through.  (Dad: “Bryan and I did a whole nother section after tea!”) 

Then we went into town for lunch and out free day, and split into two groups for rides on a seven-person bike…a septcycle?  Maybe.  That was fun – though I’m not sure who was least trustworthy at the wheel…my dad, Jason, or Mr. Kenney!

 

Everyone has spent at least some time with Helen’s giant super-dog Bailey.  (Side note: St. Bernards do not only grow massively; they slobber massively too.)  Even though he weighs more than most of us and is the size of a small horse, he’s a huge softie and simply adores attention.  Just…try not to let him kiss you.  Smelly.

Then we got to ring the amazing set of bells up in the church tower.  After a rather steep set of winding stairs, there were maybe ten strings on the wall to pull, each ringing a different bell hidden up above, out of sight.  There was a play-by-numbers sheet pinned up behind then.  If that doesn’t amuse you, you could always pick out the notes to the Star Wars theme…I really shouldn’t be allowed near anything musical.  The cool part about the bells, though, was that our playing attracted four people to come walk up and see where the noise was coming from.  Pastor Terry was there to greet them and show them around.  (Dad: “If you play them, they will come.”)  That was just bad.

And a note to parents…if your pilgrim is a girl (or Jason), when she (or Jason) arrives home, be sure to inquire who “Steven” is.  (The word ‘toast’ may prompt the memory if necessary.)

It stays light so late here – it’s already 10:00 pm and the sky isn’t even close to black.  more of a smoky grey, but the numerous clouds must be taken into consideration.  That would be 5:00 pm Eastern, 3:00 pm Mountain, 3:00 am tomorrow in Bangladesh, (Dad: “2:45 am tomorrow in Nepal!”)

Bonus points if your last name is Writability or Zwart.  (Dad’s watching and reading the phone book…Zwart is the last name and honestly, who doesn’t want the name Writability?)

(Dad: “Are we there yet?”)  I’m being subtley kicked off through bad jokes, so I hope the weather is nice but not too hot wherever you happen to be, that your summers are going amazingly, and thanks for commenting, you guys make us feel special.

Thanks especially from me to comments from Mom and Tom…that rhymed…miss you guys.  And thanks to my prayer partner Elaine.  No more, I feel like I’m making an acceptance speech.

Much love from all the pilgrims (even the old ones),
Iona

 

PS  That was easy! Now all that is left for me to do is to say that tomorrow we are off to Edinburgh.  I hope to find somewhere to blog from on Saturday, but will for sure on Sunday when we go for lunch with my folks.

:: Justin :: 

Be sure to keep up with Priyanka, who along with Asif and Shawon is visiting Nepal this week and working with agencies there.

You can follow their progress on the Customer Support Blog.

With all this Therap blogging going on you might want to look into an RSS Feed Aggregator, I use Bloglines.

:: Justin ::

Today we split up and Shawon and Priyanka went back to work some more with NFD on setting up their account and starting to use Therap while Richard and I went off to meet some other people.

We started by meeting with the Nepal Association for the Blind who do a wide range of advocacy and skills teaching and even have their own computer lab.

We then met the association for people with intellectual disabilities at one of their schools. What was particularly impressive here was that they instantly saw the benefits of using Therap to help them keep track of the people that they support from early childhood through to their adult life. It is hard to explain how exciting it is to see the possibilities for Therap helping people make others lives better in a environment like this.

I also learned a couple of things. Nepal has a timezone that is 15 minutes behind Bangladesh (I just thought the clocks were slow). In the Nepali calendar it is 2063 (no wonder I feel old!).

After a day’s running around and meeting people, we then headed back to Dhaka with more fine views of the Himalayas on the way. I am already looking forward to going back to Nepal!

Enjoy the pictures, click on them to see more.

:: Justin ::

Kathmandu 002

After such a productive day we took a quick jaunt into town for some shopping and dinner.

I love to haggle (my family hates to watch, so this time they were safe) but it just means that it takes so long and you never end up buying anything as you are always convinced that you are about to pay way too much!

This is a wonderful vibrant city, but with the four of us crammed into a tiny taxi, getting about can be mildly alarming!

Yak Yak Yak Yeti Yak

:: Justin ::

Today was really exciting for many reasons:

1. I’m in Kathmandu – that’s pretty exciting!

2. We were setting up a new customer – that’s always exciting!

3. T-Logs are the answer to a bunch of issues for an agency in Nepal – unexpectedly exciting!

4. People in Nepal can see their organizations reaping many of the same benefits as agencies in the US from using Therap – is this a cool world or what?

5. I walked into the National Federation of the Disabled – Nepal (NFD-N) with one idea of what they needed and what we could do to help, but by working together we solved more, bigger issues – I’m running out of superlatives!

It was just the best kind of day in Therapville, Nepal. Working with some great people to set up an account and find solutions, I can’t wait to do more tomorrow!

:: Justin ::

Nepal 023

In all the excitement (and tiredness) or blogging about the folks I met with last night, I forgot to mention the views as we flew into Kathmandu from Dhaka.

WOW!

Seeing the Himalayas rising up through the clouds is something that I won’t quickly forget, to the terraced fields in the valleys of Nepal.

Click on the photo above to go to Flickr and see more

This morning I am off to learn much more about the needs and the provision of services for people with disabilities in Nepal.

More later…

:: Justin ::

I have thought for quite some time that I have the best job in the world. It is days like today that remind me quite how sure I am of that!

Having been in Dhaka for a couple of days Richard and I took the hour or so flight to Kathmandu.

Tonight we met and had dinner with the President and staff of the National Federation of the Disabled – Nepal, an umbrella organization for disability groups and providers across Nepal. Over the next two days we will be meeting more with them and with some of their member organizations as we begin to set them up in Therap.

:: Justin ::