"...And a Child Shall Lead Them" (Isaiah 11:6)
By Carla Friedrich
“If you Love me Keep my Commandments” (John 14:15)
“The Kingdom of Heaven is a Kingdom of Uses” (Heaven & Hell 387)
Nepal is a diverse and fabled land of the Buddha, Hindu temples, and mountain views. It’s bordered by India to the southwest and the Himalayas and China to the northeast. The population of Katmandu, the city we visited, has doubled in the last year. A first impression is that poverty is everywhere and economic and political strife are extreme.
Yet, in the face of much misery, the people of Nepal are generally happy, friendly, welcoming, smiling, and gracious. They are also very beautiful of face and spirit. We were always greeted with the prayerful “Namaste,” which is a Sanskrit word with a multitude of meanings, most of which translate to “I recognize, greet, or honor the spirit in you which is also in me.”
Amid the bleak surroundings, one gets the impression that the enjoyment of bright colors, spices, savory foods, and music might border on something close to a religious experience. Bold smells, a high ambient noise level, and colorful signage everywhere overwhelm the senses. Each morning as early as 4:30 AM, we were awakened by barking dogs, crowing roosters, clanging bells, shouting, running, and laughing children, prayers, chanting, birds in the trees, motorcycles, buses, and honking car horns.
Katmandu was a lot to absorb, and before departing, I had precious little time to learn about it. I did, however, rely on the research and vast experience of my traveling companions.
I was grateful to be able to join the Rev. Dave Brown’s Swedenborgian service trip to Nepal as a latecomer when cancellations made some space available and the San Diego congregation, who believed in what we were doing, supported the project with donations. We were to represent the denomina- tion through mission work, thus uses.
My desire to be useful in the project complemented my long-term motivation: A dream to establish an orphanage. In fact, this “call” preceded my call to ministry. I know from per- sonal experience how our teachings— or the Lord’s presence in them—have the power to save, heal, or set a person free, to enrich, restore innocence and trust, build confidence, inspire hope, and bring joy. So, with this trip, I intended to begin an informal feasibility study of orphanages, and to begin by experiencing one in a Swedenborgian context. In addition to visiting Ama- Ghar, I planned a visit to Loving Arms Mission/New Life Home for Children, founded ten years ago by Kent Rogers, a Swedenborgian in the General Church. Kent was almost immediately joined by his (now) wife, Shova, and not long after by his sister Nadine, and her husband Rajendra (who is Shova’s brother).
I wanted to see how and to what extent our New Church teachings translated into useful service— into real work in the real world with real people. I wanted to absorb any aspect that could be duplicated. I went to discover how and if this kind of good could be multiplied if we supported such endeavors denominationally and organizationally. I also wanted to spread the word, inspire, and build hope within our denomination about the good we can do collectively with our focus on saving children.
By departure time, I’d prepared about 200 questions about how the orphan- ages were founded, their histories, what daily life was like, schedules, activities and responsi- bilities, difficulties and challenges, suc- cesses and joys, original inspirations and goals, organizational structure, staff, education, funding, the layout of the physical plant, and the dynamic interactions of all involved. I needed help. I needed to record data and document in visual form so that we could bring our experience home to inform and inspire others. I needed help formulating a business plan and an executive summary, and I needed people of good spirit to bring joy and happiness to the children and their parents.
I put a request on Facebook (an Internet social networking site) of all places. Immediately, four people enthusiastically responded and “signed on.” The Swedenborgian Church of San Diego supports the arts, so one request was for a filmographer to make a short inspirational film from the videos and photographs of our trip.
Within two hours of posting the request, Kymri Wilt, a professional travel photogra- pher who lives in San Diego, had posted that she was interested. Kymri grew up with parents involved in the live theater community here at Swedenborg Hall (at the San Diego Swedenborgian Church), so the connection was a natural one. Rev Felicity Wright, a friend from my time at seminary, offered to be my “mental Sherpa,” collecting information from our experiences to help write a preliminary business plan (executive summary) for establishing an orphanage. Also immediately responding to the call from the Facebook post was a childhood friend, Kalar Holland and her husband Brett, who is a profes- sional musician, and who both brought their lively and loving spirits to bear on our endeavor of service.
All of the very capable individuals who went on the trip risked much: collectively they gave up time at work and with their families, overcame health challenges, and delved into their savings to be a part of this worthy endeavor. We met and tried to overcome our fears and challenges of faith, physical stamina, ego (proprium), and strived to be the best we could be, individually and as a group. In the beginning I thought it would be nice if we were all Swedenborgian, but that is a luxury. We were a motley crew and a mixed bag of religions. We were Swedenborgians, a non-denominational Christian, a Catholic, a Sufi, a Jew, some mostly-Buddhists, and others perhaps not identifying with any single religion but all the world’s religions.
We were closer to a microcosm of the differences and diversity we experience on the planet. Amid the various conditions of origin and background, motivations, world-views, and personal challenges, we managed to make two groups one. Our striving and unifying agreement was that we were there to serve, that our common doctrine should be love, and our purity of purpose should be care for the children, as I believe it should be for our church’s faith stance toward the world.
For all my goals and intentions, I could not have had my wishes more completely fulfilled. My expecta- tions were met and then some. And the children at both orphanages are not only rescued and surviving; they are thriving, flourishing in fact!
We saw three successful models of orphanages, or homes for children. All strive to keep the Nepali culture and language intact; all enjoy tradi- tional foods. Loving Arms/New Life Homes is primarily a family-based model of love, belonging, and lifetime commitment with a mom and a dad and ten to twelve children in two distinct families.
Ama Ghar is family-styled, yet more community- based with thirty-eight children, and is tied to the local village and its culture, traditions, and customs. For instance, at Ama-Ghar, they eat very traditionally, sitting on the floor and with hands, as did we (something completely acceptable in many parts of the world!)
The third orphanage, Hamro Guan, is an eco-village that focuses on sus- tainability and is very tied to the land, offering agricultural development and educational opportunities for woman and children.
In each home, the experience of dance and song is a primary source of enjoyment. Each home tries to empower the children with life skills, a good education, and vocational training. All of them partner to varying degrees with other non-profit groups with the same interests and goals. All of the orphanages are moving toward the most sustainable model they can achieve. I believe a viable, replicable model can be developed using elements from all three orphanages. Being collaborative yet distinctly one, partnering and interdependence provide the key.
The orphanage directors, Kent Rogers, Bonne Ellison, and Rene Veldt, were transparent with me; willing to share their expertise, personal wisdom, and even some tangible items. They sat with me to pull organizational documents, mission statements, non-profit business plans, staff and job descriptions, fund raising plans, and other important paperwork.
Many people, after hearing the story, have come forward to of- fer their intention to help, ongoing commitment, and the possibility of financial support and land donation for a future orphanage. Many knowledgeable successful people, such as Rene Veldt, the founder of the sustainable eco-village and orphanage Hamro Guan, offered to come to the US to consult for the price of airfare.
The children’s progress is incredibly miraculous considering their experiences. Many were orphaned due to the effects and horrors caused by political unrest, orphaned or abandoned by parents too poor or ill to care for them, and others were rescued from the horrors of human trafficking, having been kidnapped or sold into slavery for sexual favor or other kinds of servitude. And yet what we encountered is the remarkable triumph of the human spirit and the miracle of love and the Lord’s mercy. As Brett put it, “the best thing about Nepal is seeing these children so full of love after such a hard life.”
We met remarkable and joyful children— strong and brave children, like Santosh Rogers, twenty, who loves nature and whose constant refrain is “I just want peace and to help people; I don’t want them to ever give up. Don’t ever give up.”
Our efforts paled in comparison to that kind of courage exhibited by the children themselves and what the “parents” have accomplished with love and care, but everyone brought their talents and spirit to bear on the experi- ence for the sake of the children: Mac, with his MacGyver instincts and innovations; Fran for her tenacity she communicated to the children; Peggy, with her organizational nursing skills and gentle, reassuring ways; Dave with his foresight to get us there in the first place; Tina for her young and adventurous spirit; and Serena for her fun-loving, knows-no- strangers personality. Everyone had something (much!) to offer.
At Loving Arms, Felicity, AKA Aunt Happy, who is a natural teacher, brought out the best in the children through caring conversation, and also gave a powerful and encouraging Sunday message. On the last night at Loving Arms, we produced a talent show. Brett helped the children learn songs and put their original lyrics to music. Kymri helped the young children SKYPE (communicate via the Inter- net) with her daughter’s stateside class- room, and she filmed the children’s powerful stories for a documentary.
Kalar offered “dream papers” and asked the kids to write their dreams on them and fold them into origami birds. Brett and Kalar later took the collected dreams to sacred and peaceful sites to be photographed—a visit to the Dali Lama and on a fishing trip for instance—and they’ll also be used to decorate Brett and Kalar’s Christmas tree. They are sending photo-postcards back to Loving Arms to show that the children’s dreams are being energized by people around the planet.
To learn more about our trip, I invite you to visit Felicity Wright’s blog (http://felicitywright.com/blog/) and Kymri Wilt’s extraordinary photography and travel journal (www.miraterra.blogspot.com [scroll down to find the Nepal blog and pictures]).
I invite you to stay in touch and keep your eyes and ears and hearts open to how you can help and be a part of the work to be done throughout the year as we bring forth various aspects of our trip in presentations and our short documentary.
Jesus, “Behold, I make all things new,” and I believe a child’s hope, in- nocence, and trust can be restored and be made anew. We need to fulfill not only scripture but fulfill and remain faithful to the writings as well. Please ask how your church community can help us establish another orphanage. If you care to make donations for the sake of the children, please go to www. lovingarmsmission.org or contact me at augi6555@gmail.com.
The Rev. Carla Friedrich is pastor of the San Diego Swedenborgian Church.
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