7 Years.

Paisley and I went to a play date last Friday, where the other child's Nanny, I and another Nanny and the children she cares for watched after the kids in the buildings, basement/ laundry room/ bike room. These playrooms are especially lovely in the winter, as they are our children's space to get energy out after being cooped up inside a tiny apartment all day. I wish our building had a playroom/laundry room/bike room...but our time will come soon enough, hopefully.

Anyways, I was talking to the hostess Nanny and although I had heard of these situations before from books and movies, I had never met a woman, who moved to the United States for better opportunities for her family, from Nepal, leaving her 3 children behind with her Mother-In-Law and Sister...7 years ago. She left her youngest 2 year old and has not seen him or his two brothers in 7 years. That 2 year old is 9 now. I am so heart broken for her and the many other parents who sacrifice so much in hopes to someday live a free life that all people deserve.

Of course it makes me so grateful for ALL that we have been given and the rights that we have, but sitting there as she wept, talking about her children just affected me so much, I hardly felt like I had the right to be there or to look at her b/c I felt like there was no way that I could have any idea of what she has been through. I have the slightest idea of the issues in Nepal, but it sounds like after a peace treaty was signed in 2008, things are lookin' up.
This is what wiki said:

Nepal experienced a failed struggle for democracy in the 20th century. During the 1990s and until 2008, the country was in civil strife. A peace treaty was signed in 2008 and elections were held in the same year.

Many of the ills of Nepal have been blamed on the royal family of Nepal. In a historical vote for the election of the constituent assembly, Nepalis voted to oust the monarchy in Nepal. In June 2008, Nepalis ousted the royal household. Nepal was formally renamed the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal when it became a federal republic.

And the good news is, is that her children will soon be traveling to the US to be reunited with their parents! Hooray! Talk about 7 years of sacrificing and hard work, paying off. Can you even fathom? I know me, and I would never survive something like that. Women like her are such an example to me of strength and endurance.