Nepal Volunteer Program

Added: (Tue Oct 17 2006)

Pressbox (Press Release) - Two weeks adventure and volunteering in Nepal - Mun Singh - Malesiya - Sept 2006
It's a good thing the Info Nepal programme included Nepali language, culture and village training because that really helped with the culture shock that came my way for the next 2 weeks.Had it easy in Kathmandu the first couple of days, just doing touristy stuff and being shown around Kathmandu by the lovely team at Info Nepal.
The culture shock came during the village training. I was placed with a Nepali host family in Sanga for 3 days. Sanga was beautiful. It's about 1.5 hours away from Kathmandu and was located in a hilly area. We had to hike for about half an hour to get to my host family's home. Let me describe the house. It's a 2.5 storey mud house with the kitchen come dining/living room on the ground floor and the bedrooms on the first floor. They kept the chickens in the attic. The toilet was
located outside the house. It's a squat toilet which pretty much just goes down into a hole in the ground. No flush obviously. You'd have to use water and a torch which was very necessary for going to the toilet at night. The so called "shower" was really just a tap in the open air. That's where I had my most memorable shower ever, with family members walking up and down while I was showering. My "little sister" Dipap was literally just staring. Bottom line is, privacy just doesn't happen in this country. Found out later how important a "lunghi" (Nepalese sarong) was for showering. Having said all that, my host family was absolutely wonderful and treated me like part of the family. The scenery in Sanga was also breathtaking, with terraced hills of lush green contrasting with the deep blue of the skies.
My next placement was at the children's orphanage in Chitwan. Took a 6-hour bus journey to Chitwan, then on to the village of Sauraha where the orphanage was.
It was really hot out in Chitwan. Chitwan was located in the Terai region, the flatlands. This area was renowned for its safaris and national parks, especially the Royal Chitwan National Park. Quite a famous tourist destination.
Highlights of my stay in Sauraha…
They Call Me Miss – They have a really nice set up at the orphanage. There was a kitchen, a dining/classroom/bicycle shed, a boys' dorm, a girls' dorm, an office and a room for volunteers. There were 14 children altogether – 8 boys and 6 girls. All of them called me 'Miss'. "Miss, look here". "Miss, come here". "Miss, I like your hair"…..
Back to School – The children were sitting for their exams so I helped them with their revision. They were sitting for their Optional Math exam, so I really had to jog my memory, trying to remember formulas for matrices, sine, cosine and tangent. Hardcore!
The Best Butt Workout – The Nepalese were celebrating the Dashain festival so the children and I went to Narayanghat to buy new clothes for the children. Narayanghat was approximately 20km from Sauraha. Imagine cycling that distance. The journey there took 2.5 hours of cycling, including down time (stopping to fix tyre punctures). When we eventually got to Narayanghat, my butt felt numb! It was so tiring! The journey back was worse as it rained. We were all completely
drenched and shivering from the cold but still kept cycling on. The rain here goes on forever and we had to return before it got dark. By the time we got home, we were tired, hungry, thirsty and cold.
150 Momos – I gave the children a treat. Bought chicken, flour and vegetables to make chicken momo. We had a great time making momos together the whole afternoon. Even the boys helped. It is not every day that the children get meat. Most of the time, it is just rice with dhal. They waste nothing here. The bones from the chicken were saved to make soup and the leftover dough was made into 'roti'. We made so many momos, that I stuffed myself silly. There was even leftover momo for supper.
Hunting Rhinos and Chasing Sunsets – Took Prakash on the elephant ride. Our elephant's name was Madrakali and the elephant driver was Mahbub. Madrakali was a very obedient elephant and Mahbub was the best elephant driver around. Wow, it sure was a bumpy ride. I had bruises all over from the ride. The elephant took us deep into the jungle to look at animals. Everyone got excited because we saw some rhinos. Also saw some peacocks and other birds. No tigers, though. They're supposed to be rare. After the ride, we rushed to see the sunset by the river. Simply beautiful.
The Slideshow – Prepared a little surprise for Aamaa and the children. Showed them a slideshow of all the photos I'd taken on my Nepal trip thus far, from my arrival in Kathmandu to my stays in Sanga and Chitwan. They couldn't have looked happier. Aamaa kept thanking me. You see, other than their village and nearby towns, they haven't been to pretty much anywhere else, not even to Kathmandu. So they were seeing all the different places in their country through my eyes. I felt really touched that a simple act like that could bring them so much happiness.
The Unexpected Elephant Ride & The Elephant Bath – There was an elephant house right outside our home. Saw Mahbub and Madrakali the elephant one morning. Mahbub waved to me and asked me to go over. Then he got Madrakali to stop, kneel down and signalled for me to hop on. So I ran over, climbed onto Madrakali and it was on its way once again to breakfast – to get some hay. It was so fun riding on the elephant without the big saddle. After about 15 minutes, Mahbub dropped me off and I walked home. On my way home, I saw a vegetable stall and bought some cauliflower for Aamaa to cook for lunch. While riding on the elephant, Mahbub invited me and the kids to go for the elephant bath session. I told him we didn't have the money and he said we could go for free!
The Info Nepal programme has been a great way to experience a whole new culture while volunteering. The past 2 weeks have really been an eye-opener for me and helped put a lot of things into perspective. Other than the financial aspect, if you can spare your time, that's an even more precious gift to these less fortunate children.