So Small

Wow, I cannot believe I have been here for over a week now. Everything has flown by so fast. This weekend I got the chance to go paragliding and white water rafting! For paragliding we hiked up to a place called Sarangkot which was about a two hour hike.  All the way up their were small villages. That's the thing I've discovered about Nepal, there are people everywhere, even in the middle of nowhere. Little kids would run up to us and ask for sweets or money. One boy looked through half the pictures on my iPhone, loving how you could swipe them back and forth.

After reaching the top, in less than 5 minutes I was strapped into my harness and to the man I was entrusting my life to. Owen yelled run and I pushed forward as hard as I could with the wind blowing the parachute behind me and walked straight off the edge of the mountain, on purpose! We lifted straight into the air and travelled between 30 and 50 km per hour. We had amazing conditions and lifted straight up to 2,500 meters with ease. I guess this is pretty high because Owen was VERY excited.

Looking down at Pokhara and the millions of tiny houses and the vast lake, and remembering the view of the Himalayas I'd seen the day before (it was very cloudy otherwise I would have seen them then) I felt tiny.  So small and insignificant in this huge world full of people, ideas, problems, and definitely not enough solutions.  And then I thought about my family, and my friends and especially Nikita. To them I mattered. Without GVI volunteers like me, no one would help the little girl who isn't allowed to go to regular school because she has no sensation in her legs and therefore can't move around on her own. With the help of staff and volunteers Nikita is going through some physical therapy and will hopefully one day be able to move around with the help of medical devices. In the meantime she is studying to pass her grade 4 exams at Children’s Paradise. 

I think the most important thing is to appreciate the little things in life we take for granted every day. I know I have a new appreciation for hot water! But more than that to realize that there are millions of people living without basic healthcare, education, safety and their families and they can find happiness in this world. So maybe none of those things matter and we need to find the small things we love and appreciate them. Whether we are jumping off mountains or screaming through rapids, or maybe just reading a book cuddled up in bed, appreciate every moment :)

Until next time!

Sarah Werbalowsky

So Small