Rubbing Buddha's Belly Success

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Tara covered in red.

Tara is covered in red powder but that’s not stopping him from chasing down others with his own ammo in hand - his six-year-old-self resurfacing. Our team lost the charitable trust challenge which means we are (well, were) tasked with sneaking up and awarding the winning team with a face full of red powder – a truly nepali tradition or so we’re told. Our surprise attack has been abandoned because when Tara, my team’s honorary Nepali member, saw the powder, he grabbed some and started throwing it all over all of us, the losing team, with all the enthusiasm of a winner.

GVI Nepal just completed our first challenge – Rubbing Buddha’s Belly and successfully raised £1082 GBP that will go towards feeding the Street Children’s Rehabilitation Center for the next eight months. On Thursday, two teams of seven people risked rope burn and blisters as they hand built two rafts out of bamboo, big barrels and rope (harder and more complicated than imagined). On Friday the teams carried the rafts (also heavier than expected) down to Pokhara’s Phewa Tal lake and paddled hard to the center where two statues of Buddha were waiting to be rescued and safely returned to shore.

Phew, the rafts actually float.

I’ll admit my team didn’t even finish close behind the winning team. We were still in the middle of the lake giggling because our raft wasn’t going anywhere. I must also admit that the Nepali tradition of throwing red powder on the winners is ridiculously satisfying and highly recommended. It was an event where everyone won – especially the street children. Donations are continuing to appear and we’re leaving the website up for a few more weeks in hopes that we are able to raise enough money to provide an entire year’s supply of food http://www.justgiving.com/GVI-Pokhara-Nepal. Thanks again for all of the donations and support.

Rubbing Buddha's Belly is believed to bring prosperity and with so many kind donations the street children will eat for the next eight months. Thanks everyone for your support and encouragement.

Rubbing Buddha's Belly Success