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FARAHANA JOBANPUTRA – Canada
Since coming here, I have spent many marvelous days and nights, although I can't document them all, these are some highlights: · Sitting by a campfire talking while cuddling a Happy Home child · Listening to some amazing music and meeting new volunteers · Spitting orange pips at passers by (don’t worry, we have terrible aim) · Dancing with children...this is one of my fondest memories · Making 1,000 pancakes with Spella and the volunteer cooking crew · Birthday celebrations · Meeting so many new and special volunteers, this has been really amazing and I've made some friendships that will last me forever. I’ve discovered that I don’t have the strongest immune system, but from the beginning, both Asim and Namrata have been absolutely wonderful. From the very beginning, they have made every effort to ensure that I am comfortable and taken care of at Happy Home. When I was sick, Asim, Namrata and the Happy Home children all came to check in on me, and helped me get better! I have found a wonderful new family here, time flies by and I don't feel so homesick – something special happens every day and I am constantly sharing laughs, dancing, and eating!!! I am so happy that I took the opportunity to come here, despite of the political warnings. I am constantly finding new friends and am having new adventures. Thank you INFO, for giving me a wonderful month, I'm sure that the next few months will be even more amazing and wonderful!
NANCY- Canada During my 6 weeks volunteering with Info Nepal I was placed up north in Shybrubensi, which is in Lantang National Park, about 20 km from the Tibetan border. SB is the starting point for the very popular Lantang trek, positioned at the bottom of a valley with a beautiful Himalayan river running through it. The host family in SB is very lovely, and they are great cooks. Both the mother and father cook a wide variety of dishes, including dhalbhat, chowmein, and noodle soups. SB also has a hot spring right in the village, down by the river, which is a great place to bathe, wash clothes,etc. During my placement the village celebrated the Tibetan New Year and it was great to see the changing of the village flags, replacing all the year old, fading flags with the new and colorful ones. Since the school was closed for a week, Sandra (the other volunteer placed there with me) and I decided to paint the outside of the library as it was just a plain concrete building. We thought that a great way to inject a little color into the village for the festival was by painting a mural on the side of the library..... the kids just loved it. And the kids are great!!! You will fall in love with them almost immediately, they definitely know how to pull at the old heart strings, especially the little ones in class 1 & 2. They are all extremely enthusiastic, at times we would have up to 30 kids in class, and they are all genuinely interested in being there and very eager to learn. The days were spent between the library, the school and planning lessons. With 2 classes in the library before school, then a few classes at the school in the morning. In the early afternoon we would spend an hour with the village women who wanted to learn English to improve their communication skills, to be able to deal more effectively with the customers visiting their hotels, shops, etc. Then the afternoon would end with 2 more classes in the library. A pretty busy day, but a really great way to just throw yourself into the community. If you are placed there and you have some free time, I highly recommend doing a few things. A walk to visit the other volunteers in Goljung and Gatlang is a great way to spend a couple days, and a great chance to see some very traditional Tamang villages. If you have a little more time to spare, and you don’t mind a ‘little’ climb, the hot springs, or Taato Paani (literal translation meaning hot water), just past Goljung and on top of the next ridge is a lovely place to visit. With the great reward of some really hot springs to sooth your aching muscles at the top, its definitely worthwhile. Also, a one day trek into Lantang NP, to stay at the Ganesh View Hotel and Lodge in Rimche for a night is well worth it - at 50rp a night for 2 people (that’s about 50c each!!), great food, hot showers, new mattresses and amazing views it’s pretty hard to top. So overall it was a totally fantastic experience and I wouldn’t change a thing... Nepal Rocks!!!
SARAH - Canada After finishing my undergraduate degree in Canada I decided to take a year off to travel while applying to medical school. I knew that I wanted to do something that would enable me to experience a very different place in depth, and volunteering seemed like an excellent way to do so while hopefully making a positive impact, however small, on the area I visited. Nepal appealed to me as a fascinating destination so, after doing some research, I decided to volunteer for a month with INFO Nepal. I arrived in Kathmandu after several days of flight delays and was warmly received at the office and Happy Home. My training, which took about a week, consisted of morning language classes and sightseeing at various famous places around Kathmandu such as Pashputinath and Boudhanath. I found Nepali difficult to grasp but learned enough to get around and better my experience in the country. I was assigned to a health care placement in the Chitwan district, and was somewhat apprehensive after hearing reports of the incredible heat! It was indeed very hot when I arrived in the village of Parbatipur. My host family consisted of Rishi, the father, Rama, the mother, and their three teenage children Rina, Dina, and Sagar. The father is a community health assistant and runs a private pharmacy as well as the district sub-health post. From the beginning they did everything possible to make me feel welcome and even gave me a Nepali name, Coruna, or called me "Sister". I had my own room with a fan, and lived in relative comfort thanks to a cold shower and electricity, which tended to cut out at odd times of the day. The village also had a phone so I could call home when I liked. I was certainly well fed with massive amounts of daal bhaat, and soon learned not to say I was hungry unless I really wanted something to eat right away - and also made much use of the word "pugyo" – which means "I have had enough". My first week there was dominated by the biggest festival of the Nepali year, Dasain, which involved a lot of goat sacrifice and some interesting ceremonies. I went with the family to visit relatives, who all live very close together, and was given tika, a paste of red powder, yogurt, and rice, which is applied to the forehead with blessings and gifts of money. I drank lots of delicious lassi and was offered the boiled blood of a sacrificial goat to eat, which I could not bring myself to finish despite my best efforts. During this time I went to visit the National Park, rode an elephant, and saw many interesting creatures like rhinos, crocodiles, and deer. In the second week I got sick for a few days with minor stomach problems and was tended to by all members of the family. It rained for a while, which to my relief lessened the heat of the day. When I finally had the chance to visit the health post, I was surprised to find that it was a small concrete shack in the middle of fields. Supplies were donated from various health agencies, including WHO, and there were several staff members to take care of patients. Unfortunately, because it was their 'cold season', there were very few patients to observe, most with minor complaints such as headache or muscle sprains. I was told that in the 'hot season' there could be as many as 30-40 patients a day, which would surely have overwhelmed the facilities there. Care was subsidized by various organizations but the people still had to pay a small fee for medicines. I was joined in my last week by a British volunteer who ran morning and evening programs in the village library. I was glad for the company and we got along very well. When it came time for me to leave I was sad to say goodbye to the family, who had been so kind and had truly made me feel at home. It was great to see that Rina, the oldest daughter, would soon be going to attend nursing college, which is excellent in a country where so many girls have few opportunities for education. I visited Pokhara, a beautiful and relaxing place, before returning to Kathmandu. My experience in Nepal was challenging but worthwhile, and I did not encounter any Maoists or feel in danger at any time. I hope to visit the country again in the future, maybe as a doctor, and learn more about this fascinating place.
FAY CHANG - Toronto, Canada As a teacher in Canada, I am always looking for opportunities to expose children to new experiences. When I decided to come to Nepal to be a volunteer English teacher, I saw the perfect opportunity for a cultural exchange between children in Canada and children in Nepal. Before I left Canada, I went to the school where I teach and spoke to three grade five classes (10 to 11 year olds). I told them what I would be doing for six weeks in Nepal and explained that it was a third world country. Many of the children did not know what "third world" meant. They did not realize that many of the thing we take for granted, such as electricity, indoor plumbing and television are not available everywhere. It was my wish to develop a relationship between children in Canada and children in Nepal. The Canadian students were asked to write letters to a potential pen pal in Nepal. They were to tell them a little about themselves and their lives in Canada. They were encouraged to ask questions about their potential pen pals. They were also told about the limited number of school supplies students in Nepal have. Many of the students donated new and slightly used school supplies to be distributed to children in Nepal. Participation was voluntary for the students. I received over seventy letters and packages of school supplies. The Canadian children were very excited about writing the letters and possibly becoming friends with a Nepali child. The act of selecting and giving school supplies to a child in Nepal was also exciting for them. The letters and supplies were distributed to children in three different villages in the Tarai region of Nepal - Amarapuri, Patahani, and Ganganagar. I brought a set of letters to Amarapuri, where I was placed. I handed out the letters to children approximately the same age as the Canadian students and taught them how to respond to the letters. The Nepali children were really excited about the letters. They could hardly wait to respond. However, they did need to be encouraged to write about the things that they take for granted, such as, having tropical fruit trees, fields where they grow corn, raising goats, buffalo or cows. They were not aware that the children in Toronto, Canada did not have these things. The Nepali children truly enjoyed responding to their new pen pals. Many of them sent presents back in return. This experience was a valuable learning experience to the children in both countries on many levels. On the most basic level, the children were able to practice their letter writing skills and their English. However, they were also able to learn about life in a different country and to see their own lives in a different light. Now, I can only hope that some of the children will continue to correspond and become friends. We would like to extend a special "thank you" to Chris, Fay, Amy, and Max for their wonderful work teaching at the library and research center and to Cornali for her work at Chitwan. Specifically Chris, we would like to thank you for your organization of the youth picnic where the youth had the opportunity to share ideas, knowledge, and special talents. Chris, your frankness in your conversations with the females you encountered, and your encouragement to improve their situation is much appreciated. Fay, your novel idea of the pen pal system is one that will undoubtedly be incredibly useful and beneficial to children of both cultures and will surely prevail in the future. The letters will prove to be of great encouragement to the children of the library in their English studies and will also ignite a passion to learn about other cultures and people in the children. The letters will provide much insight to children in both countries about the lifestyles of the native country of their pen pal. Amy, your assistance in the pen pal program is also much appreciated. Your candor, compassion, and humor in your encounters with both the children in your classes as well as the youth group has made a lasting impression. Max, the presence of a positive and open-minded male role model was enormously valuable and much appreciated. Your completion of the hard work done by James and Neil in the building of the library in Chormara, Nawalparasi, will undeniably be incredibly beneficial to copious lucky children to come. Cornali, your work with the children of the Tharu and Bote tribes devastated by the Rapati flood of August 2002 proved to be a tremendous success story evidencing the ideals of INFO Nepal and volunteers. Your work, continued by Virginie and Antje, in organizing, initiating improved hygiene, and educating the children of the region attested to the power of human compassion and the supreme ability of positive change. Of 23 children, 10 have embarked on a consistent journey of education and learning; hopefully the other 13 children will follow in their footsteps.
Volunteer in Nepal
We woke
up in the town of Syabrubensi (the main ‘hub’ of the
Langtang region and pretty much as close to the middle of
nowhere as you can get) the morning after a 9 hour journey
into the mountains and handed our massive packs over to two
very slight looking porters – who then began arguing over
who would carry the only marginally lighter of the two
massive bags. Three hours later – out of breath and amazed
that we had somehow scaled a 90 degree cliff face and lived
to tell the tale (after months of next to no exercise) – we
arrived at our host family’s home in Goljung and settled
ourselves in our spacious attic room. We had yet to meet
our less-than-friendly roommates – 3 very healthy looking
rats and a large army of rather hungry bedbugs…We soon met
all the members of our host family living in Goljung (three
of their four children go to boarding school in Lumbini):
Host Mum, Host Father (Singi) and the angriest toddler ever
to crawl across the face of the earth (his screams of
“aaaaaaaaaaaaamaaaaaaaaaaaaaa” would become a regular
feature of our daily routine in no time…), Pemba. The next
day we wandered through the village gathering children like
the Pied Piper with the help of our trusty bubble wands. We
led the children to the front of the library to explain that
we would be there to open it the next day, but the children
seemed only to care about the sudsy bubbles before them as
they practically body-checked each other to pop them. This
was the first of many crazy encounters with the children of
Goljung!For three weeks we ran the library each morning
before the children had school and each afternoon after they
had finished for the day. Though we struggled to maintain
any semblance of order or continuity in the library, we did
feel glad that we were able to offer a welcome opportunity
for play to these children; most of them spend all day in
the fields or watching over smaller siblings. Each day our
library was a crazy zoo that rang with the screams of “MISS
MISS KALAM KALAM” and mucky feet tearing round the room at
high speeds. The kids were OBSESSED with Ludo, one of only
a handful of games in the library, and Kate managed to
construct a chess board and pieces, which also intrigued
many of the older boys for long stretches of time. We tried
to divide our days into two parts - lessons in the morning
and games, books, and general madness in the afternoon – but
this gradually degenerated into full-fledged, constant
madness by the end of the second week.It took a bit of time,
but we eventually got used to rising and going to bed with
the sun; this was made easier by the significant lack of any
nightlife of any kind in our sleepy little village (though
we could have made it exciting enough with the amount of
“raksi” we were continuously being offered). Besides, the
early morning views were well worth getting up for! We also
became quite comfortable and happy with our host family
(though three weeks of rice, potatoes, and chili were a bit
of a challenge to the digestive system, as were three weeks
of “tea” i.e. hot water filled with giant spoonfuls of
sugar) |
