change change change

Hi Friends!

We have made some changes!

As of December 2017, due to structural changes on their end, we are no longer working with Mission of Mercy Canada. Like any season of change, it has not been without its challenges but we continue to seek the partnership that is right for us! You are more than welcome to continue donating, but unfortunately at this time we can not offer tax receipts.

Donating can happen through direct e-transfers (e-mail me at marcierohr@gmail.com for more information)

OR you can purchase items at studio6.com/marcierohrart

Proceeds from each item will be donated to our 2018 initiative to expand the Girl's bedroom.

Our little blog will also be moving as of this time:

friendsofbandipur.wordpress.com

We look forward to keeping you all up to date on the adventures as they continue.

Bandipur 2015 Visit

We had a fantastic time on our recent trip to Nepal, thanks to the generous outpouring of love, support and supplies for the home and the community. We spent quite a bit of time playing with the kids, who were so excited to see new toys, clothes, and activity books. We were also given medical supplies, vitamins, and materials to compile maternity kits, and we were able to distribute these to the local community. Thanks to everyone who helped donate, these supplies went right into the hands of people who needed them. We said another bittersweet goodbye and will start to think and dream about another visit in the future! 

The kids had a blast putting together a lego city thanks to generous donors from Edmonton. 

Tis the season for corn, grown on the property annually at this time of year. 

After the earthquake, Depak thought the house could use a new paint job, to symbolize a new beginning. 

There were appx. 30 homes destroyed in the Bandipur area. They are hoping to rebuild eventually, with some help from the government and private donors. In the meantime have to live in houses like this. 

Trying to piece together a 3-d puzzle. Very difficult! 

Taking a walk in the stunning Bandipur area. 

Carmen playing soccer with the kids. 

Back to Nepal.

Hey Everyone

We are packing up and heading back to Nepal next week. Despite what is seen in the news and implied on government travel advisory websites, our trusted contacts in Nepal say that the trip is doable, although it will likely be without some staple creature comforts Carmen and I have come to know and cherish.

The plan is to be in Nepal for 10 days total, which is short but long enough given the critical shortage of cooking gas and gasoline for transport. The rest of the time we will spend in India for a bit of adventure and R&R. It's been a while since we have spent this much time together, and I am looking forward to the time we get to spend together.

I wish I could say I am not worried, but I am feeling pretty uneasy about the whole situation. I think it is just pre-travel nerves getting to me, amped up by the stress of uncertainty with some beloved individuals here at home. Packing is a big job in itself, but with the unstable/food shortage there, compounded by family life here -- kid's school activities coming up this week, packing them up for a long three and a half weeks without us, as well as balancing shiftwork, and dealing with our backyard veggie crop from the garden and greenhouse, I am feeling like I am going to buckle under all the pressure. My body is sending me signals too; I can't sleep (which is not unusual), and I am coughing up a storm.

I also should mention that I have been feeling totally inadequate. How do I get myself into these types of things? Am I really up to the tasks at hand? Sometimes I feel very alone in all of this. Then a few of you offer to help with something and I just feel so insanely grateful. So thanks a million to those of you who have reached out and offered support.

I am certain that all the love and prayers I can get will help me through this time...that and the thought of seeing these guys again.

Day Eight

This morning I received another update from Dipak. He told me that along with the children's home, the church and school community are scraping together all the resources they can muster for disaster relief at this time. Drawing funding from what they have immediately available to them, they have provided rice and oil to 30 families and tents for 40 families.

As a bit of an aside, I was supposed to read a psalm this morning in Church. I hadn't looked at it before. It was Psalm 22:24-30

The second line in, I could feel the tears welling up

"For he does not despise or abhor the poor in their poverty;
neither does he hide his face from them;
But when they cry to him he hears them..."

I couldn't get through the next few lines...

"The poor shall eat and be satisfied, and those who seek the Lord shall praise him."

Knowing that in this day our devoted friends in Nepal are doing all they can to help their devastated community, I was completely overcome with emotion. So thankful for these people. This is a photo Dipak sent me this morning, here they are handing out what supplies they can to the community people. To know I have any part whatsoever in helping this happen makes me feel gratitude from the bottom of my heart.