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Give Back Hope India and NepalThe March-April Newsletter,
2015Articles by Ethan Barrett
Photographs by Ethan Barrett, Stan Barrett, & Bill Boehm
Give Back Hope is a charity seeking to do some good
in the world. This newsletter features 3 of the
GBH crew members in India and Nepal.
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S E Q U O I A C L U B
3
This Just Got Real
March 27
Its surreal. I go from playing house (playing traffickers in
movies) to actually being there where the human trafficking events
are going down.
" I just went into Nepal an hour ago. It took a few scribbles of
a pen and $100 to the cops. I could have just avoided them, but I
wanted to be polite." Traffickers can get across the border by the
dry stream. People walk in and out. We
were only noticed because I was a Westerner and had money. Shady
characters watched the crowds as they conversed openly and on
friendly terms with the guards." Mrinals older brother, Kishore,
was
Hill GirlsFrom our expedition into the Himalayas, we discovered
the kinds of girls that traffickers are looking for: extremely
naive and simple, poverty included.
Quisque Massa
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Our expedition saddened and maddened us, as we saw the girls at
risk, especially with the emerging interest of China and Korea in
Nepali women and children for sex work.
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G I V E B A C K H O P E
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my guide because Mrinal had to look after Amma whos violently
sick (I dont have enough battery life in this power cut to go into
that right now)." Kishore smiles brightly, says Jamasy (Praise
Jesus) loudly to a woman and man who sit on a bench watching the
crowds, they respond nicely. " Kishore told me they work for an NGO
that tries to stop traffickers from smuggling women and children
from Nepal into Indian brothels. They know how to see who is a
trafficker, and who is the victim.
" Once the woman and man see that, they contact their people,
who intercept them and get the women and/or children out of there
to safety." I was amazed: hundreds of women and children have been
rescued this way. Just 2 people sitting on a bench! Why arent other
people doing this kind of thing? 2 people against a daily growing
profession in crime with women and childrens bodies? Cmon, this is
inspiring!" Kishore has Christian friends who run a hotel. I am in
it right now. Havent had a meal yet, and its
been a long journey. " Kishore is a terrific gentlemen, he and
Mrinal (and now this hotel and their staff) are true gems." I will
be staying in Nepal for 3 1/2 months. Are you excited, a Newsletter
in a whole new country? I sure am." I have a friend I met years ago
in Nepal who will receive me at the airport at 1pm tomorrow. Flight
cancelled today due to cloudy weather." Kishore is gone, Im here
alone with the Christians at this wonderful hotel, just opened last
moina (month).
continued
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continued
My ali (little) Nepali is opening so many doors. The locals are
looking at me as more than just a taker, but a participant in their
lives, joys and struggles." Ill...admit something. I saw a
Westerner get his Nepali visa alongside me, and my mind went to the
movie I made, The Human Traffickers Part One: Work and internally,
I was boiling, because I didnt know if he was one of the clients."
Man! To create films based in Nepal about trafficking...to actually
be in Nepal and see the traffickers playground is, like I
said...surreal." Okay, Ive got 12% battery life, thats enough time
to tell you about Amma: I had 1
1/2 hours of sleep last night. Partly because I was packing,
partly because I didnt want Amma to kill herself by falling down."
She fell over 3 times, and each time with a loud CRACK! that shook
and disturbed me. Id wake Mrinal up, and wed bear hug her back into
her bed as shes delirious and babbling and sometimes vomiting--yes,
I got some vomit on me." Crazy...to see someone you love so much
and is as capable as an action hero...suddenly take the turn for
the worst." And it was so strange to hold this old woman in my
arms, and with all my strength and focus try not to drop her. She
was so small in my arms...
" That was India, now Im in Nepal. When will these new
experiences end? Well, as long as Im here, never." It feels good to
be on the side of good, Ill add. Im an anti-human trafficker, yeah!
But that means I know a whole lot about the business. I think it
was Sun Szu who said you must know your enemy before you can defeat
him." Ive acted in the movies how they think, Ive written how they
think...but to see real traffickers, and wonder what theyre
thinking is completely different." Sometimes...its like my body
wants to freeze up. Ever since Pune, where I entered those hellish
red light districts and had my heart broken by the interviews I
took, and
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G I V E B A C K H O P E
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the girl I paid for but was never released...it feels a lot like
a post traumatic stress thing." That means Im human. Who cant look
into hell and feel overwhelming feelings? A demon, perhaps. satan.
And those are the kind of characters who lurk around here. Theyre
in it for the money." If I was ignorant, it would be easier to
ignore it. Yet I know. And wouldnt trade in my seeing the Matrix
for what it truly is for anything. I gotta be here for these women
and children, and for the Nepali people who I cherish so
deeply.
" Theyre poor, theyre simple, and, well, I just love em!
The Sex Workers
March 30
So...Nepal. In it, now. And for the first time, saw Nepali girls
on streets, open for sex work. I cannot just call them prostitutes,
not when the statistics say that they are likely trafficked." Think
about it. Kathmandu, where I saw these sex workers...Kathmandus a
fancy place, for the most part. Wealthier than Darjeeling, and most
places in India
(and all places in Nepal). So, why would a girl willingly submit
herself to working as a prostitute? Do you know any girl who would
do that? Chances are, shed prefer to sell vegetables! Right? What
kind of life is servicing fat tourists and getting beat (and broke)
by your pimp? Just doesnt add up..."" Meaning the girls are
trafficked, otherwise, doesnt it? Yeah, oh, Im sure, yeah..." What
else? Ah, my father is with me! And we are with one of my friends I
met 3
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continued
years ago, and one of his friends, who is from that village in
that award winning documentary Honey Hunters of Nepal. He is from
the Sherpa tribe, and told me that his mother loaded him up with
honey before making the long, long journey to the countrys capital,
Kathmandu, and he doesnt care for honey, so he ended up giving it
away to all of his [new] friends." Both of these young men my
father and I are staying with share a same story: once they
received Jesus as their Lord and Savior, both are exiled from their
Hindu and Buddhist families. So, they are surviving together, and
we are here to help them along the way.
They are currently working on an orphanage. Give Back Hope has
supported them immensely, praise the Lord." One young man is
Sherpa, yes, and the other is from the Thapa tribe. The Thapa boy
told me something incredibly inspiring: God didnt tell us to first
make a lot of money before doing things like having an orphanage:
He said Go and then He will meet us in our faith. Wow, so I dont
have to be rich to do a good deed? Thats a game changer...
Child Marriages and Cappuccinos
March 31
Leaving on a 40 day trek tomorrow, did I already say that?
Well,
we will: my father, and our longtime friend Bill. " Of course, I
want to continue writing this Newsletter at 18,000 ft! But,
unfortunately, we just dont have the internet up there, nor the
safety procedures I would like to secure my laptop. Not to mention
we need electricity for that! So, you can see...that I will be out
of touch for a while. Thats why I plan to make this a combined
March-April Newsletter...Or, just load up this Newsletter solely
with photos we took, add captions?" Our trekking company
representative (very touristy?) told us, You may not believe this,
but my grandfather was married at 8 years old. My grandmother was 6
years old." My father and I
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Kathmandu, and Bill takes a cup of tea (before the
earthquake).
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G I V E B A C K H O P E
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looked at each other askance,what? My father asked, a little
embarrassed. Um...did they...how did...ah, they slept with each
other at that age?" The representative laughed, saying, Well,
they just fought and played with each other!" Thats crazy,
right? I mean, I get an age difference, but when theyre both that
young! Only 20 years ago did the Nepali government ban child
marriages.
" I find it funny, also, that the grandfather and grandmother
are still, rather peacefully, married. Makes one wonder about
different cultures, and how the people get along!" As it is, Nepal,
I believe (Google it to double-check if you
HonestAnd simple? Sure, thats what makes the Nepalis so
interesting!
continued
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continued
want) has the lowest marriage age in the world." Uh...so anyway,
were getting our trekking gear together, Jesus love, may the Lord
Jesus protect you! (And, pray for us, too! ( :
Later...
I am...at Cafe Java, the most touristy place on the planet,
perhaps. Tourists flood the restaurant like ants on a carcass. I
got nothing wrong with them! Its just strange." Compared to
Kathmandu, going to Darjeeling is like joining Christopher Columbus
first crew to America. If youre a pioneer like me, you like that!"
Dad and I are talking right now,
eating apple pie and drinking cappuccinos. What?! Apple pie and
cappuccinos?! Yeah, that touristy... " But for the record, this
restaurant/cafe in Kathmandu is actually better than any place Ive
eaten in America. If you want that, man, you can really get it!
Better quality than Starbucks and Tullys by a long shot! Why? Fresh
roasted coffee beans in the morning...straight from the Himalayas.
Wow, if this place was in Darjeeling, would I go to it? (You
bet)
Trekking End and Earthquakes
May 3
We had another minor earthquake a few minutes ago, and everyone
hurried
outside. Bill (our American friend who trekked with us), my
father and I are in Kathmandu right now, at the highly reported
ground zero from the earthquake that killed over 7,000 Nepalis.
1,000 Europeans are still missing. " Gee, earthquakes make one a
little wobbly, dont they?" When the earthquake hit us, we were
trekking, and huge boulders flew down the mountain. Im talking The
Lord of the Rings catapult boulders that are the size of small
cars! " Bill barely kept alive. His main goal has been to zip
forward and leave my father and I to philosophize and pick berries,
or take footage with our cameras." The day of the
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earthquake, though, Bill decided to stay with us. It was the
first and last day he was with us. Dad and I paused, Bill itched to
go ahead, but some supernatural heavenly force restrained him. Good
thing, because minutes later was the famous earthquake, and those
giant boulders would have pulverized him." After the first volley
of boulders of biblical proportions, Bill decided to go on up
ahead, after all." My father and I stayed behind to help stitch up
some locals who got hurt. Then a second volley
happened, right before our eyes! We were buried in medical gear,
so couldnt move out of the way if the rocks were going to hit us."
Bill, my father and I encountered so many adventures, we literally
rival those of our friends in The Lord of the Rings. Falling
boulders? Check. Landslides? Check. Blizzards, freezing rains,
monsoon rains, slush, deep snow, slippery ice, perilous drop offs,
ankle deep mud so we feel like sloshing pigs...Oh yeah, weve done
just about all you could ask for. Did I mention we went up over
17,000
feet? Kanchenjunga base camp and Lumba Sumba pass were
especially interesting." So much we went through, it will be easier
right now for me to post up pictures and try to let them explain
away a few things I cannot. It would take a book to explain away
our adventures." Tomorrow, Bill leaves to his wife in Singapore,
and my father and I go to Pokhara to help victims of the
earthquake. Many are still trapped in the rubble of their own
homes. " Yesterday, Bill bawled his eyes out
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after he visited the hospital. My dad decided not to film
it.
God bless,
Ethan Barrett
Give Back HopeIndia & Nepal
Tent CityThousands of Nepalis are displaced after their homes
were destroyed in the earthquake that made world news. Over 7,000
dead.
Quisque Massa
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Earthquake boulders
that came our way.
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Lumba Sumba Pass
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One-upping Walter Mitty.
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From the Shire
to the Wild West.
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Bill...
after 30 days in the Himalayan mountains.
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Ethan...
after 30 days in the Himalayan mountains.
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Stan...
after 30 days in the Himalayan mountains.
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Trying to recover from the earthquake in Kathmandu.
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Give Back Hope is now supporting 7 orphan boys in Kathmandu.
Each boy has a horrifying past, but now restoration and healing is
in progress.
GBH will soon be helping orphan girls who were left alone after
their parents were killed in the recent earthquake. Any help from
you will be aiding these children. 100% of your support goes to the
cause through Give Back Hope.
GiveBackHope.org