Momo Madness 2011

Momo Madness, our first fundraiser for SMU tuition support, was quite mad. Guests were slated to arrive at 4PM .Sherab and Karma were still making dumplings ( momos in the Tibetan and Nepali style) at 3:30. The kitchen was covered with flour, and so was I.

But magically, when the big hand hit the twelve, the little hand pointing to four, the kitchen was pristine, platters of momos, both beef and vegetarian steaming on the table, and both Sherab and Karma resplendent in silk chubas—beautiful native Nepalese dress.

We had figured on about three momos per person, with the dieters hitting the crudités ( nasty raw vegetables, hardly worth eating in my opinion) and the unadventurous sticking to the pistachios. Well, these calculations proved inaccurate.

One six foot three neighbor who shall remain nameless and shameless planted himself in the kitchen and consumed a dozen momos in the time it takes to say Katmandu or Limerick, perhaps. His enthusiasm encouraged the less brave, and soon party guests—even those too timid to eat, shall we say, a stuffed olive of unknown origin—were fighting over the hot sauce.

As a result, all of the photographs snapped at this event reveal unglamorous portraits of my friends and neighbors squinting into the camera with their cheeks bulging, their eyes closed as they swooned with food induced delight.

At the end of the evening, one man begged " Just one more momo!" as his wife dragged him out the front door and pushed him towards the car with a sharp stick.

Well, there was some kind of magic in those momos, because the generosity in the air was overwhelming.

Karma, Sherab and I cannot thank you enough— and next year, we'll provide three times the momos!

As it was, people we were all just confused enough to have a fabulous time!

This event would have been totally chaotic had not my dear friends Mindy and Ellen showed up to manage the debris. And without Karen Furlong's photographs of her recent trip to Nepal posted around the room, guests would have endured my long winded, snooze-inducing appeal. Lucky for you, Karen's pictures told the story!

NEXT: Sherab and Karma 's Housesitting Adventure

Welcome and Introduction

WELCOME!!

Our blog, From Katmadu to SMU, will offer anecdotes and field reports during the next three and a half years years.

Background:

Sherab and Karma were born in tiny villages high in the mountains of Nepal with no running water, electricity, medical care, or schools. Their parents are illiterate, and survive by herding goats and farming. The nearest hospital is a four day trek and six hour bus ride away.

They left their parents at age 8 to live at Shree Mangyal Dvip a boarding school, K- 10. They won full IB scholarships to The Inter Community School in Zurich and received their diplomas in English. Both are now freshmen at Saint Mary's University in Nova Scotia.

Where does Meg come in?

In 1999 or so, I went to a cocktail party that turned out to be a fundraiser for a small boarding school for the impoverished children from the Himalayas. Not wanting to look stingy in front of all those other people, I wrote a check. And each year, I found myself writing another. To make a long story short, Sherab and her friend Karma now attend college. They live with me, my husband, our assorted progeny, two dogs and a canary. Chaos at its finest.

In Nepal women like Karma and Sherab have almost no rights. They cannot own property. Girls as young as 9 years old are sold into the sex trade. Others are sold into abusive marriages. Girls rarely go to school. Educated women are as rare as unicorns—and as precious.

At Present:

At SMU, the girls work on campus and carry a five course load. Both girls have considerable funding from SMU, but also rely on help from a growing family of donors.

Please check in from time to time for news, anecdotes , and photos as we move towards Graduation 2015!

Watch for our next post: MOMO MADNESS

Sherab and Karma wwhen I first met them!