You can also refer to the God-awful movie Ashton Kutcher was in by the same name back in 2004, or I can put it in even more simplistic terms -- you never know what effect one action might have on a future action. Most people use the analogy of an African butterfly wing flapping, causing a disturbance in the meteorological system that results in a hurricane half a world away on the Florida coast.
Why am I choosing to talk about the Butterfly Effect? I assure you that I have started writing this blog entry in my mind no less than a dozen times, but I truly don't know how to reflect what our trip to Nepal was like last week. So, I'll talk about the Butterfly Effect.
A little over a year ago, Jill and I decided we would take a job in Malaysia. We took a job at Mont' Kiara International School. This is a school where Michelle Bliss used to teach French.
Michelle became acquainted with the country of Nepal as a tourist and began working with children there to make sure they had the best opportunities possible for education in the world's 3rd poorest nation based upon national GDP figures. She left her job at MKIS four years ago and dedicated her life to helping these kids full time. Now, the home she has created is self sustaining and managed by 23-year-old Leela -- the first Nepalese student Michelle sponsored over a decade ago. There are currently eight children ranging in ages from 3 to 18 living there. So, instead of a 2 hour hike down the mountain to get to school each day (and yes, the 2 hour hike back up the mountain), the kids have a 5-minute walk, a place to eat two meals a day and study. And, when I say study, throw your concept of studying out the window. While we were there, we were entranced by 4-to-5 hours a night of continuous study time. Many times, as they read their notes aloud, the humming of the house echoed similarly to the Tibetan monks we had heard chanting days before in our excursions.
The house itself is a rental and is approaching its second full year of operation. Michelle and her friends who comprise the Board of Directors devised a plan to help finance the home through a travel program she calls, "A Taste of Nepal." Several MKIS teachers have taken the trip in the past. Michelle depends on word-of-mouth advertising to get other folks interested. It helps pay the bills and finance upgrades such as solar powered water heaters and upkeep of the organic garden that supplies the majority of the food they eat each night. Sustainability isn't just a buzzword in Nepal -- it's a way of life. Go a day without clean drinking water or eight-hour periods without electricity to get a feel for Nepal. Leela told us, "God did not bless us with great material things, but he gave us this to wake to each morning," as he pointed to the Himalayas surrounding the home.
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| Our actual view from "the Garden" each day. |
Last fall, I randomly opened an email from a colleague discussing a travel opportunity in Nepal. Jill and I were enthralled by the opportunity and soon booked it for our spring break last week. As you probably have figured out by now, this was through Michelle. Her eye for detail and strong sense of organization made for an unforgettable start to our vacation, but when we boarded the 25 minute flight from Kathmandu to Pokhara, our vacation (and maybe even our family's life) changed.
We immediately fell in love with the children at the home in Pokhara and realized that the revenue from our trip was going to be well spent. But, we wished we could do more. We also wished there was some way we could describe the magical feel of Nepal to our friends back home, but we also realized that a few snapshots and some blathering on a blog would never do justice to the way we felt when we were there. We left the home with a heart full of blessings and a feeling of inadequacy.
On our final morning in Kathmandu before flying back to Malaysia, Jill and I decided to take the steps instead of the elevator to breakfast from our 7th floor room. We nearly ran into a woman at the fourth floor. Jill paused and allowed the woman to pass with a smile and apology. Good ol' fashioned Southern hospitality travels with you world wide, you see. We sat down at breakfast, and a few moments later, the same woman asked to join us at the breakfast table.
After an hour of talking with Jennifer from Montana, we shared our experiences as educators (she had taught art and English to a village in Nepal years ago and was returning for the first time since the experience) and also the program Michelle had started known as "the Garden." We also talked about Bimala -- a native Nepalese woman who also had started a school that had grown to 170 strong. We joined Bimala for dinner the night before where she shared her exuberance for her country, her culture and her school. She and her husband had rallied support and financing for the school from locals (remember that this is the 3rd poorest country in the world) to give Nepalese kids a chance at a proper education. The three of us marveled at the resiliency and determination of these two special women, Michelle and Bimala, in their desires to make a difference in this world.
At the close of the breakfast conversation, Jennifer admitted she was painfully shy and Jill's sweet spirit at the stairwell had helped draw the courage to ask if she could sit with us. She also shared that many of her friends and family back home had given her money prior to her trip and asked that she find a good use for it in Nepal.
A sweet smile, a little courage and a few cups of coffee later, we were sharing both Michelle and Bimala's contact information with Jennifer because she felt the work they were doing would be worth the money she had to share. And that, my friends, is the Butterfly Effect.
Butterfly wings are beautiful and deceptively strong agents of change. Moments of kindness, humility, graciousness and maybe even chance added to our Nepal experience that morning. I could tell you about the paragliding and the mountainside resorts, the hikes and the food. I could tell you that both Ethan and Jared have pledged to be better people because of the experience. But, instead, I'm just going to share this story and hope it may cause a small change in one state of a deterministic nonlinear state that results in large differences in a later state in your life.
If anyone would care to help Michelle in her noble endeavor, feel free to do so at their website: http://sansarnepal.org/welcome/about/.
Namaste.
