I am spending my summer in a very rural boarding school in Nepal, which is officially one of the poorest countries in the world. Hot water is an unheard-of luxury and Internet access is difficult to come by. Toilets are best left undescribed. But even though the life here is quite harsh, it has taught me a lot about the value of religious poverty. I wanted to share my insights with you.

The price of chocolate, my much-needed medicine, is lower than it is at home – thirty rupees, or twenty-five pence, for a bar of Cadbury’s Dairy Milk – but I feel awkward if I buy too much of it. Thirty rupees is quite a sum to the local population. Staying in Nepal has, in an odd way, made me appreciate what religious poverty actually stands for. It is very uncomfortable to find yourself in a place where you are seen as fabulously wealthy. I bought a bottle of Coca-Cola for little Rosima’s seventh birthday – the kind that you can get for eighty pence in a vending machine at home but that costs thirty rupees here. When the older girls realised what I’d given her, they behaved as if I had been dealing in dizzyingly high finance. Twenty-five pence. It’s both beautiful and painful at the same time. Painful, because I’ve realised that a significant portion of the population doesn’t have access to the unnecessary luxuries I take for granted. Beautiful, because I’ve seen that it’s possible to get by without these things. The majority of Nepali people may be poor by British standards, but they remain faithful to a lot of things that we’ve lost sight of – God, regular prayer, friendly conversation on the bus or on a neighbour’s doorstep, a willingness to help a perfect stranger, trustworthiness. Mental illnesses like depression are almost unheard of here, and it’s not because medical awareness is poor. A lot of people here have asked me about depression in England; it seems to be a favourite topic of conversation. Is it true that your people have all these cars and computers and they are still not happy? That they work such long days that they have no time for talking? I actually had to tell someone what 'stress' meant the other day; he didn't even understand the Nepali word when I showed it to him in the dictionary.

Most of the people here, poor though they are, radiate a sense of deep peace and warmth. It's as if they've truly discovered that the best way to get what you need is to give what you have. It's funny that some of the most generous people I've ever met should also be among the poorest.

I have seen some disturbing sights, though - such as a starving child picking through a rubbish heap in Kathmandu. Please pray for that boy. Also pray for a student of mine named Satagam, who lives in the hostel because his mother has schizophrenia and is unfit to care for him. She often runs down the street naked. (She got pregnant with Satagam as a result of rape.) Satagam is ashamed to admit she's his mother. He pretends that she is not. As he also has learning difficulties (his IQ is not impaired, but he has abnormally severe difficulties with things like maths and physical co-ordination) life at school isn't easy for him. He's very much the odd one out. Please pray that he learns to be more hopeful for the future, more accepting of his poor mother's illness, and responsive to my teaching.

Thanks a lot for the insights, CA. I'm sure you'll keep these experiences with you for the rest of your life and that they will help to keep you grounded.

I went to Nepal twice in the early '80s, before Internet access even existed. At the time the only way into the country was via Royal Nepalese Airways. They had two flights a week into the country, Yeti One and Yeti Two. One originated in Bangkok and the other in Bombay.

At the time people still regularly rode horses and the average life expectancy for a man was 28 years. After seeing how they drove in Katmandu I'm not sure that riding a horse was such a bad idea. Have they settled on which side of the road to drive on? When I was there I don't think there was an officially correct side. It was scary.

I totally agree with your assessment of how poor the people there were. At the time they didn't know much about the west though. In fact the blond headed girls in our group were a real attraction. The old folks and the kids especially were fascinated by the blond hair. They would come up and just stroke it and marvel at the color, it was funny. I never saw any hint of Christianity while I was there, just Buddhism and Hinduism. Are there Christians there now?

. wrong account .

Wow, CA thank you for sharing. As OLAMdad said, I'm sure this will be an experience you will keep with you forever.
Some people question why God punishes part of the world and yet gives wealth to the other. Perhaps it is no punishment as it seems. With the physical sacrifices and involuntary poverty, they seem to have a much better grasp of reality than we do. They are continually searching for the pleasant side of life and where as I'm sure most of them either haven't discovered God or refuse to accept Him but they have learned the real values of life mainly from their simplicity and time they have- which is a state that some of us will never reach in between our busy schedules and crowded lives. I pity the children as you have given us examples of, it makes me sad just reading about that little boy, but it just means another intention that I will most certainly keep not only that place and that boy but all the world shadowed by the distractions of evil and this world in my prayers. Thank you once again for sharing, God Bless you and Mary keep,
in Christ -uruviel

btw, sorry for posting on my sisters account.

Wow...what a reality check...Thanks!