Wednesday (23rd April) was day 3 for the MLC group and we had planned a complete change of pace for the activity that day… Everyone had to be on the bus bright and early for a short drive to the historic town of Bhaktapur, just outside Kathmandu. Once there we took the group to visit the Bhaktapur Muscular Dystrophy Centre (BMDC), home to 8 young boys suffering the debilitating effects of muscular dystrophy. Everyone was shocked to hear the situation these boys must face in having this disease and living in Nepal, in particular the fact that they are not allowed to attend school as it is considered as waste of resources. Despite the social stigma attached to such a disease (many Nepalis believe the boys’ condition to be a punishment from the gods and that they are cursed) a father of 2 of the boys managed to find enough support to establish the centre and provide some basic education and facilities for the boys. The mothers of the boys have set up a small workshop where they make paper goods such as cards and notebooks and then sell these at a local shop to help raise funds for the centre. The entire place, while very basic, is extremely inspiring and clearly had an effect on the entire group of visitors.
The main activity for the day was a treasure hunt around Bhaktapur. The MLC girls as well as some parents, teachers and friends were divided into groups and each group included a boy from the centre. Each group was then given a map and a list of tasks that needed to be completed within a designated time (very similar to the TV show ‘The Amazing Race’). Sounds easy enough? Well if you’ve visited Bhaktapur you’ll know that pushing a boy in a wheelchair around its rough cobbled streets and laneways is not an easy task! Some teams even decided to carry the boy, wheelchair and all, to save precious time.
Each of the teams had to complete the following tasks in 1½ hours:• have a photo of the entire team taken in front of a particular statue of lions;
• find the BMDC paper shop and purchase a card from there;
• find Potters’ Square and count the number of pots drying in the sun (new pots were being added all the time whilst others were being taken away!);
• find a particular man waiting in one of the squares to give each team member a tikka (a red dot on placed on the forehead as a blessing);
• buy a particular type of Nepali plate so that each team member can eat lunch;
• find a specified curd shop and eat a small bowl of King Curd (a sweetened natural yoghurt famous in Bhaktapur); and
• find a particular wood carving workshop and take a photo of it.
The reward at the end of this craziness was a delicious picnic lunch in the grounds of a traditionally restored Newari house. It was a particularly hot day so by the time all of the teams had finished they were ready to collapse! This however, could not keep the smiles off everyone’s faces, especially the boys from the centre who had definitely never experienced such a thing before.
After a rest and some lunch we had a small presentation to give each participant a certificate and the MLC group also generously donated some items to the centre including handmade blankets for the boys and some games, stationery etc. The day was a huge success and will forever leave everyone involved with warm memories.
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