Worshipping the God of Wealth

On Monday we'd had the last of our working days, finalised our schedules, budget etc. for the rest of the project and discussed what conclusions we could draw, at this stage, from the data. A very satisfactory way to end the workshop. I'm working with a great team here - there's been no politics of any sort, just a group of people who REALLY want this work to end up helping children.  And by the end of the workshop we could see that this research will go some way to empowering children who've been sexually abused - just by the fact that the research highlights how they OVERCAME the terrible situations they found themselves in (most research highlights how they got into these situations or how they suffered in them). So, a good, strong ending to the work.

But on my last day in Nepal it was the festival Divali and I was deeply honoured to be invited back to the family home of Milan (the lead researcher in Nepal). At his home I helped cook puri (puffed up little pancakes) as well as a 'mandala' - a drawing on the ground outside the front door that is made of coloured powder with marigold petals all around it - all the houses have a trail of marigolds and mandalas from their gate to their prayer room - to allow Laxmi, the God of Wealth, to enter the house. I felt so honoured to participate in Milan's family's celebrations, his grandmother, mother, father, sister-in-law and two nephews were all there.  The ceremony bit started at the gate of the house, went through the courtyard, stopping of at the family shrine, then in front of the door (where the mandala was), another shrine by the door and over the door (everyone wants to make sure Laxmi comes into the house!!) and then up the stairs to the prayer room.  Along the way Writu (Milan's wife) and her sister-in-law performed ceremonies with a little tray of bits and pieces (powders and seeds it looked like), and they lit candles and the dad rang a bell.  Milan gave me a running commentary explaining the story of Laxmi and the significance of different aspects of the ceremony - for example, on the tray of bits and pieces there was a coconut which he smashed open and then sprinkled the coconut milk along the path of marigolds. Milan explained that they use a coconut instead of an animal sacrifice as the coconut milk is considered 'pure' - similar to the purity of blood. Milan let off a few fireworks (didn't follow the firework code of course like us safety conscious Brits!).  Then upstairs to the prayer room with lots of singing led by great grandma.  Before we ate I was given a tika blessing (red dot on forehead and marigold petals on head) and drank some special spiced milk (with my right hand). The meal was delicious but by this time I was starting to get twitchy about making my flight on time so had to make some rather hurried goodbyes, screeched in to the airport just in time for check-in (I was the last one!).  It was an amazing ending to my visit to Nepal...not particularly looking forward to facing the reality of all the admin and fundraising tasks I have piling up on my desk...thank goodness I've already worshipped the God of wealth, should have her on my side at least!