KATHMANDU (UCAN) -- Six Nepalese World Youth Day delegates flew out of the army-ringed airport in Kathmandu bound for Cologne on Aug. 14 but only after some last-minute suspense over whether they would get visas.

The German Embassy finally granted visas to the group's five men and one woman for an 11-day stay in Germany. After reaching Kathmandu by bus from their parishes, they endured the wait by getting to know one another better in sharing sessions. They also reviewed a performance they will present at the Aug. 16- 21 festivities. Pope Benedict XVI is expected to attend the event.

Just before the group flew out of Kathmandu, Krishna Khanal told UCA News, "We come from different parishes, so the preparation for our participation at World Youth Day gave us a chance to know each other."

For World Youth Day's "Asian Youth Gathering," set to be held on Aug. 17 in Cologne, the group prepared a local dance based on a song about Nepal's Jamuna River. The group also practiced a popular Nepalese song that exemplifies positive thinking. A Nepalese Buddhist nun originally recorded the song.

During one sharing session held in the Youth Room of the Assumption Church complex, they also shared their personal Church experiences.

Khanal, a 23-year-old student from Kathmandu, related that he was a Hindu before converting to Catholicism, after he was prompted by a Hindu classmate who "discovered" Assumption Church in 1999. "He and I are the only converts in our families," he said. Though he has two years of Jesuit novitiate training and has already taken his first vows, he cannot easily convey what he values. "I cannot really explain my devotion to Church service and life in words."

Khanal related that his family fled to Kathmandu from a remote hill area last year after Maoist guerrillas destroyed their ancestral house. Given his family's difficulties, he said it was very hard to raise money for the airport tax, about US$15, and for small gifts he was expected to take to Cologne.

Santlal Murmu from Sirsiya mission station in eastern Nepal spoke of how he began to go to Mass with friends in his village but only slowly told his Hindu family about it. He converted three years ago. He said he was aware of "a court case against Catholics by some Hindus on conversion issues 15 years ago, but that has been forgotten."

He said, "We are happy Salesian Fathers are guiding our Catholic youth group in Sirsiya," but money for his trip to Cologne was a problem. "I had thought everything was paid for our trip," he added. "The personal contribution we are expected to make for airport tax and other small things has been hard for me."

"From a financial point of view," he admiited, "it may have been better if a better-off youth was chosen." Even so, he said he was glad to go all the same.

Chandru Acharya, 25, the group's only young woman, is from Dharan in eastern Nepal. She told the group, "In our family and among our parents' families, only my mother and I are converts." She explained that they became Catholics after they had witnessed healings.

Paras Francis Bhujel, the only one taking a video camera to Germany, said his home area Pokhara, has only 150 Catholics, though Protestant churches are well established there. He said he laments that no sustained effort at Catholic youth guidance exists back home. "I hope I can do some media work in terms of visuals for our parish and this trip will help me do that," he said.

Salesian Father Martin Lakra and Congregation of Jesus Sister Karuna Mol Joseph, both of them Indians based in Kathmandu, are leading the group. Father Lakra told UCA News, "We thank God we all got visas, but I had to do an unbelievable amount of running around." And to make sure the youth group could take its painted banners for World Youth Day, he said they had to make special arrangements with army personnel at the airport.

Due to the ongoing conflict between Maoists and the government, the priest noted, the army bars unauthorized people from approaching the airport, and the airport strictly checks the passage of goods into and out of the country.

According to a Church source, thousands of young Nepalese are leaving their homeland to escape their conflict-torn villages. It is common even for youths whose passports have stamped visas to be rejected at the departure desk just before boarding, if authorities feel a formality has not been completed or if they suspect the person is a member of an anti-monarchy group.

To illustrate Church life in Nepal, the delegation will bring copies of a magazine that commemorates the 10th anniversary of Assumption Church in Kathmandu. The publication includes photos of parish life over the years, and an interview of a 90-year-old German nun who worked half a century in Nepal and is now a naturalized Nepali citizen.

END