“Here we are,” says Guna Raj Gurung, as he steps out of the taxi. The blue and green gate with floral patterns stands out conspicuously against the white house within. The wall that stretches to the right of this gate is covered with handmade intricate mosaics that leave one dumbfounded for a moment.
“This is where the mosaic workshop and the girls’ hostel are,” shares the retired British Army officer. Gurung is the director of Nepal Children Welfare Foundation (NCWF) established in March 2000. NCWF has three houses in the area, which supports the deaf, circus-rescued children, street children and children of prisoners. The Foundation’s sponsor donor is The Esther Benjamins Trust (EBT) founded by Philip Holmes.
“Philip wants to turn it into a place for art,” relates Gurung, as we pass the small garden with a near to life-size sculpture of a white buffalo. Holmes’ vision is only fitting because the two-storied building is already on its way of transforming itself into a house of mosaics.
The mosaic workshop began initially in EBT’s home at Godavari in 2005 and slowly expanded to Bhairahawa and Hetauda. While circus rescued girls work in Kathmandu, it is mostly the deaf who work in Bhairahawa, which is also home to one of the only six deaf schools in Nepal.
From the balcony at the back to the walls in front, mosaics made in colorful ceramic tiles containing images of animals, patterns, cultural icons, custom-made logos and portraits of people are everywhere. And they are works of art, in every right.
But it is the long mural on the wall which compounds the house that has made the biggest difference.
“The wall mosaics have made a huge impact,” puts in Suman Pant, the trust’s development officer. “We have locals visiting us occasionally,” she says, commenting on the discrimination that deaf people face in the society, and elaborates with a smile, “They can now see that even the deaf are capable of working and don’t look down on them anymore.”
The mural glistens as the sun begins to set and the heat is much bearable.
“We wanted to reflect the life of Bhairahawa in mosaics,” apprises Sunita Tamang, 22, about the images on the wall. “Mark brother taught me how to use a camera and I began taking pictures,” relates Tamang, referring to a previous volunteer artist.
Tamang, who was rescued from an Indian circus, has been living in Bhairahawa and teaching mosaic art to the deaf for the past three years now. She is the only one who can communicate in Nepali, English and sign language.
“I drew the pictures on tracing paper and laid out the designs,” narrates Tamang. “The students worked collectively on it and it took us around a month and half to complete the entire wall.”
Because the mural is based on local photographs, some of the people depicted in it – such as the ‘yogi man’, the ‘momo man’ and the ‘rickshaw man’ – have become pretty popular in the community. Individual mosaics of these characters are also being made on demand by clients.
The mural, which was put up in February of this year, has not only created an identity for the deaf in Bhairahawa but has also raised their self-confidence to achieve more in the future.
Bal Kumari Gurung, principal of the deaf school in Bhairahawa, indeed rightly states, “The deaf can do everything accept hear.”
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