Tika Neopaney now lives in B2 at Thomas. She has a cleaning job now. Her parents and brothers live there with her, having arrived August 11. Her brothers should both attend Central High School.

Pratap Rai got a job at Goodwill.

Champa Rai discovered the incredible bureaucracy of the MVD, when a clerk lost her I-94, security card AND state ID. Champa was so upset, as was her family. And she was scared, not having any documentation to prove her status. They refused to give her a photocopy of the photocopy that they had of the documents and told her she should be patient and they would call her if they found them. They found them, never called her, but when I took her this afternoon they returned all her documents. They had no plausible explanation of how they disappeared or where they were for 3 days. Inexcusable. Then they had the audacity to tell her to take a number in order to retake the driver's test! No way. I politely insisted that since she had already spent hours in their lobby over the last couple of days, the very least they could do would be to put her in the front of the line. People grumbled, but they did it. Unfortunately, she failed by one question! I think she was so relieved to have her documents back that it rattled her concentration.

Champa then went with me to Thomas to finish up some school shoes deliveries, but of course every time I do that there are more kids who need shoes and socks. But we visited with Bishnu Bhattarai and her family. Her father and sister work at Ranch Market. Her brother worked at the airport but quit due to health reasons. They are in a real bind as they have no health insurance and their mother really needs some medical attention for some chronic problems. Any ideas?

We visited Khanal's briefly to give Bhola some shoes, but didn't have his size. I indiscriminately handed out kid's shoes to the World Vision kids who hang out in the parking lot. They provided a good lesson for some of "our" kids who have shoes but want more shoes, since these kids were running around in tatters. It seemed to finally sink in for Homa Khanal, who constantly begs me for shoes, when she has perfectly great shoes. I thought I saw a little light go on over her head, but we'll have to wait and see.

I'm assuming Tika and her family will want a ride from Thomas to church. Just a thought.....all the Central High students could ride the bus since they all have free bus cards. That would alleviate quite a bit of the crunch.

Carla