Child to Child
Sunday 4 October-Bhaktapur Nepal
Child To Child is a program Unatti has been administering for seven years. Before each journey to Nepal, Unatti officials and supporters gather slightly used clothes and shoes, hand carry them to Nepal, and arrange for the Unatti girls to distribute the clothing and shoes to children more needy then themselves in their town of Bhaktapur.
For this journey Unatti received the support of a 3rd grade Brownie troop at Carlthorp School. They packed up bags of clothing three weeks ago in Brentwood, California, and yesterday the Unatti girls invited the children of the Sarda School in Bhaktapur to receive the clothing. 
The Sarda School is a government school attended by some of the poorest children in Bhaktapur. We were having lunch at a restaurant overlooking the majestic and century old temples of Durbar Square when Ramesh informed me the ninety plus children of the Sarda School were already waiting.
Waiting in the garden, which is really an empty dirt lot where the Unatti girls run and play, were the ninety plus children sitting quietly, shoulder to shoulder, around the entire
perimeter of the lot. 
As I took a few steps down the metal stairway leading to the dirt lot, the entire group, as if rehearsed like a choir, said “Namaste” and I stopped, looked at them and thought to myself, “look at what we are doing here, giving a gift of clothing to these beautiful children who are truly in need,” and a waterfall of tears poured from my eyes. So I picked a few shirts from the bag and walked to a mother, who only had one good eye, and held up a shirt to her young child’s body and a tear filled her eyes too.
Ramesh was distributing toothbrushes and toothpaste as the Unatti girls were fitting the young children with new clothes and shoes. I began picking five or six articles of clothing at a time and walking them to each child. I looked for the quiet ones, the shy ones and that is who got the next gift. Then in the back I saw a familiar face, Deviki. 
Deviki is the mother of one of the first two boys I put in school close to ten years ago. Without exchanging words we took each other in our arms and wept. So many years have passed, and although her son never did finish school, we remain sisters in our hearts and always will be.
Then like each prior Child to Child clothing distribution, chaos sets in, with mothers and children all pillaging the duffle bags, hoping to grab as much as possible. We all try to keep some order but it is no use. I don’t know if it is cultural or a reaction to their circumstances, but what feels like chaos is everywhere, on the road, in the school yard, in the marketplace and here in the dirt lot.
This is always how Child to Child ends: with needy children benefiting from the generosity or other children.
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