Nepal part 2 PLEASE READ AMD SHARE

So I know I briefly talked about what was going on in Nepal and how desperately we needed to pray for them, but I wanted to talk about it a little bit more. Nepal has been apart of my life for as long as I can remember. My grandparents have probably been to Nepal at least twenty times over the span of say, fifteen years. My grandma has many many many friends there and people that she has grown to love and that my family has grown to love, and we don't know if they are okay. I have been to Nepal twice and I still remember a lot of it. Nepal is kind of like Africa. It needs more attention drawn to it then it receives. Nepal is a third world country. No one has clean water because their main source of water comes from the Bagmati River. The Bagmati River is gross. It is filled with trash; it is where everyone bathes, it is where the animals bathe, it is where the ashes of the deceased get pushed into, and I'm sure there is quite a bit of human waste in there as well. And this is what they are drinking. Nepal is also one of the few societies that still use a caste system. The lowest class are the untouchables. And it is clear when you are there who they are. They are the ones eating out of the trash because they can't get jobs. They are the homeless people on the streets. They are the ones putting their children on the side of the road, hoping someone will take them because that's one more mouth that they cannot feed. Nepal still has a huge amount of lepracy. And lepracy is scary. They are cast outs who beg for money on the side of the road. Some of them don't have noses, or fingers, or toes, or majority of their legs. Lepracy is real and it Still lives in Nepal. Nepal is so poor that the equivalent of one dollar there (rupies) is one penny here. And just recently, Nepal over threw the king and became a democratic society. When I was there, the king still ruled. The pollution is so bad there that when you blow your nose, it's black. This is real. This isn't Africa. It's the forgotten country of Nepal. 

And now the earthquake has hit this country that was struggling immensely already. The death toll has risen to nearly 4,000. Still, a majority of the people we know are unaccounted for. One of my moms friends from high school lives in Kathmandu with her husband, and their two kids, and they are unaccounted for. These are people that we love and care for. 

One of the worst parts of it all is that, I will probably never know if some of the victims are the children I love from the orphanages. And I think there are some of my orphans that lost their life, Just because of the amount of orphans I worked with my two years visiting. Oh, how it breaks my heart. I wish I could just hop on a plane and fly the 32 hours and go and find every last one of those orphans that I love. But, the reality is, is most of the, have aged out of the orphanage by now. And are probably homeless, or have already passed. Very few of those kids I worked with are still under 18. And when they are 18, they can't stay at the orphanage anymore. These kids have no family, no money, and no where to go. And this is real. And this is Nepal. And these kids aren't adoptable. Nepal has strict rules on who can adopt. It's almost impossible to adopt a child from Nepal because believe me, if it was easier, we would have taken some home with us. But this is life. This is their lives. And we don't know if they are okay or not. And it breaks my heart. I look at all my pictures and I remember each kid and the time we spent together. Some kids I saw two years in a row. I know them by name and yet, I don't know their safety. 

So I ask you to please read this and pray for the safety of all of our loved ones. Please continue to pray and please share this. Share the heck out of this page. Let people know that it's not just some random place, it's a place that we need to hold near and dear to our hearts. And that these victims have names and stories and loved ones. They have a face and they are real. Because Nepal is real. And it needs our help right now. I'm going to attach some more pictures now, with a few more faces with names that you can pray for. We love these kids. This is so real to my family and I. It's so uncontrollably heartbreaking for us to face the reality that not everyone is okay. Hey, smiles from the mountain hotel, I hope you're safe. Hey, guard that opened the door for us, and we had an unspoken friendship that lasted two years, I hope you're okay. These are people that are real. This place, no matter how far away, is real, especially to my family. Please, please, please, continue to share and pray. Let the world know, that Nepal needs our prayers. 

Sita, is the little one In the hat. She is eating Dahl baut which is what most Nepalis eat. We spent two years with her. She's probably 12 now. 

These are some of our favorite boys. The one behind me name is Shankar, and he was so sweet. And the one next to me name is Jala. We sponsored Jala. The boy next to Meaghan was also one of our sweet boys we saw two years in a row. 

This little boy has a family. His moms name is Geta. I painted this a few years back and it's currently in my parents bedroom. This little boy is probably six now. 

Last, but not least, is Bebic. Oh how we love Bebic. Bebic has enough personality and charisma for the entire world. We met him our second year and we all fell in love with him. He was so funny and sweet. He called me Barbie the whole time. 

Thank you for reading this post. Again please share and spread the word. Show the world these faces. The world needs to see these faces. 

I love you all!

-Jessica