Nepal friends in Canada

My first stop on my trip out west was in Edmonton, where I went straight from the airport to meet Dr. Helen Huston, a Canadian doctor who lived and worked in rural Nepal for over 30 years. I had been inspired by her biography before going to Nepal, and it was excited to meet her at last, now that I'd been there too. We spent a wonderful few hours, sharing stories about Nepal, praying and singing together. I was touched by her warmth and ongoing passion for the Nepali people. It's not often you meet someone you've read about and thought a sort of hero. In some ways it was almost more impressive to meet Helen and discover how normal and down to earth she is, and yet to know that by being open to God's leading, she was able to accomplish great things.

In Edmonton I also met up with Chelsea and Christina, two Occupational Therapy students from University of Alberta, who came and worked in the OT department for a couple months each while I was in Nepal. It was really fun to see them again, but alas, I didn't take photos of our meetings.

A few days after I made it to Calgary, the next stop on my tour, I headed out of town again to Three Hills, Alberta to visit Carol and Dave Stevens, back for a couple of months on home leave. Dave is the director of the expatriate side of International Nepal Fellowship, and Carol is a physiotherapist who works with the disabled in Kathmandu. I spent my third last night in Nepal in their house, and it was lovely, but a bit disorienting to see them here in Canada. I had to take a picture of the two Carols from Canada, finally together in Canada!

A week or so later, I was in Vancouver and met up with Gillian Coates, a physiotherapist who worked in Nepal for 7 years, and completed her time there a month before I did. It was great to connect and discuss our perspectives on the transition from Nepal to home again, in the beautiful context of hiking up Mt Seymour on the edge of Vancouver (more pics here). We were out hiking together around Kathmandu almost a year ago exactly. How bizarre this world travelling thing is!

I also had coffee in Vancouver with Bruce, who's family I shared Christmas with in Kathmandu. He was home for the summer on leave, and we managed to connect up a couple days before he headed home. He's well connected in terms of the political situation in Nepal, so it was great to sit and chat about what's happening there (or perhaps more precisely what's not really happening in the government) these days.

In other news, the main Nepali festival of Dashain is about to start, and they are facing a goat shortage in the capital city. Everyone wants one to for sacrifice and feasting at the festival, so it's a serious matter (like running out of turkeys before thanksgiving, I suppose).

I'll post more on the rest of my time out west once I get the pictures organized.