affords spectacular views of the Himalayas as I walk the dogs down the Godawari Road. The dramatic scene from my front lawn this morning is pictured right.Each morning our guard/factotum Habula plays a key role in coordinating the four dogs before they pass through the front gate. He's a very lovely man, probably well past it when it comes to 
providing strong arm security, but his strength lies probably in his being a local man and in his friends and neighbours who therefore provide local surveillance. This service is vitally important as being Westerners we are automatically considered by Nepalis to be rich and are potential prey to thieves who think nothing of robbing at knife-point. One of my colleague's brothers was murdered in such a theft last year.
providing strong arm security, but his strength lies probably in his being a local man and in his friends and neighbours who therefore provide local surveillance. This service is vitally important as being Westerners we are automatically considered by Nepalis to be rich and are potential prey to thieves who think nothing of robbing at knife-point. One of my colleague's brothers was murdered in such a theft last year. Last week Habula was in great distress as his wife was admitted to hospital requiring surgery for gall stones. This simple man sat on the ground outside the house in tears as he talked to Bev, fully believing that his wife was about to die just like the young adult son he lost a few years ago. He was also concerned about the cost of the operation. We funded that in the end for the princely sum of £80 and she's now home and well. However talking to him this morning it emerged that the lady who had been in the adjacent bed to his wife had been sent home as they couldn't afford the surgery. It appears that there is provision for poor people to obtain hospital funding for such eventualities but illiterate rural people don't know how to access the funds. On the other hand well off people cheat their way through the system and get free surgery. C'est la vie in Nepal.
Bev has just spent ten minutes on the phone to the new outgoing Nepalese Ambassador to the UK discussing the adoption interests of the three sets of British nationals, selves included, who are currently living in Nepal. He readily agreed to meet with the three prospective mothers. It then turned out that she had actually been given totally the wrong number and had been making this arrangement with a policeman. No doubt he spotted a possibility to make a few pounds from our intentions and felt that goddess Laxmi had indeed visited his home over Tihar.
