Thought I’d shoot a quick update out with regards to the
Kopila Valley Badminton Team, the deep cleaning occurring at Kopila, and the
nest of creatures from under my bed.
The Badminton Team is looking great over here at
Kopila. A few weeks ago the principal
asked me to put together a team for the Nepal National Badminton Associations
annual tournament. Prior to practices I
used a bit of the funding provided to me by our fundraiser to purchase new and improved
badminton equipment for the team. We
bought three new sleeves of shuttle cocks and 12 new racquets which have been
hugely helpful when trying to conduct an organized practice. Additionally, the kids have been playing
barefoot and in jeans, so I’m currently working to design and purchase athletic
uniforms and sneakers so we will look like the team that we’re becoming when we
get to the tournament. Beyond these
purchases, I’ve been spending a good deal of time researching badminton techniques
and drills in order to get the kids up to speed. Unfortunately, after a week of practice we had
to narrow the teams down to two players each.
As the first week wore on, Matt and I discussed in great detail how hard
the cut was going to be, and rather than choosing two children subjectively we
played a round robin tournament amongst the boys. Thankfully the girls’ team weeded itself
down, and we now have two superstars, Goma and Socializa. I’m actually not kidding when I say superstars;
there are two of the most athletic middle school girls I’ve ever seen (Including
at home). The boys narrowed themselves down
to three before we had to play the tournament.
In the first two rounds Avicheck beat Uraj and Arjun to secure a spot on
the team. This development led to a
winner takes all third game for a spot on the team. Uraj advanced in a heated contest, which was
hard to watch knowing how much each boy wanted the victory. What made this pill
even harder to swallow were Arjun’s tears after he lost his match that combined
with the recent passing of his mother, father and brother melted my heart. All of the boys were working their butts off,
and it was a challenger to stomach this cut.
On a more uplifting note I spoke with Arjun and he’s going to come back
out as a member of our 1 man practice squad starting tomorrow. This was good
news to me, as it gives him an excuse to stay at school and eat a healthy
breakfast here at the home. All of our
badminton players have been coming in for tutoring at 6 am during the holiday,
however, don’t eat breakfast and aren’t able to eat anything until lunch. Matt and I found this out last week at
practice, when some of the boys were acting sluggish. We asked if they were tired, only to find out
that they were all starving, and don’t eat anything all morning. After talking with the Kitchen staff, I was
able to get breakfast arranged for the entire team before breakfast.
Beyond athletics, things have been very busy at the
house. With the return of Maggie, things
have picked up and she’s been working to get the house back in order. As a result of this initiative we did a “Deep
Cleaning” two days ago, where we cleaned out each of the bedrooms washed the
walls, and prepared a few rooms for a fresh coat of paint. You wouldn’t believe the hoarding that goes
on at this house; there were piles 6 feet tall of assorted things coming from
under some of the kids beds. Thankfully I was in charge of the “pissing room”
and they don’t have nearly as many possessions stored. This made my life much easier than Kelly and
Safira, who had to deal with the girl’s rooms.
In addition to cleaning out the kid’s rooms, we also did some much
needed upgrades to my room. We removed
the two little beds in favor of one larger one. In hindsight the next
development was somewhat amusing, recently the other fellows have been laughing
at me because I’ve insisted that there is a snake in my room. I’ve constantly mentioned how I hear hissing
sounds at night, but the other fellows have dismissed the notion as my
imagination or from outside. Well turns
out it wasn’t the snake at all, but about twenty cockroaches keeping me up at
night. Much to my dismay, when we lifted up the bed I’ve
been sleeping on for the past 7 weeks a swarm of about 20 Cockroaches came
storming out. I went on a tear with one of my sneakers trying to kill as many
as possible before they could escape back into my room. I think I did a fairly good job, and I haven’t
seen one since we removed the bed. Hopefully
this new bed will treat me better; the carpenters just put some legs on, which
should keep them from nesting beneath.
On one last somber note, one of the 5th grade
girls from the school passed away last night, which has been challenging for
everyone at the house. I did not have
the pleasure of knowing her, but from I’ve heard she was an amazing young woman. As you can imagine this has been incredibly
tough for Maggie, the children, and staff.
I know prayers are spread thin right now in the wake of Hurricane Sandy,
but an extra prayer for some healing here in Surkhet would be much appreciated.
John
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