Our New Happy home in Chitwan
After
four years of successesfully running a Children's Resource Center in
Chitwan, Gangganagar villagers advised us to start a children home also.
The villages has already formed a committee to run the children's home. Our
plan is to keep 15 underprivileged children from surrounding areas. There is
a Boarding school near by the village where these children can go to study.
The center has some land where we are going to design a garden, have a
playground and keep a table tennis board. We already have enough money for
the construction of the building! To sponsor the children, we are
going to find additional funds and there are already a couple of people who
have promised to sponsor these children. We would like to thank to our
Volunteer from Germany, Silvia, who has donated money for our new happy home
in Chitwan and also our current volunteer from Ireland, Nicky, has
fundraised for this project and will manage the project in Chitwan. We again
would like to say thanks to our past volunteer from Ireland, Antja, who has
also donated fund for this new Happy Home. Thanks to Jim from England
(another recent volunteer) who has donated money for this new Happy home
project.
Our volunteer Nicky will be handling this project in Ganganagar. Nicky will
be there until the construction is finished, the children from nearby the
village are selected and management has been set up to run the home very
well. We will put on our newsletter all of the children's information and we
love to hear from you to sponsor these children.
The Sauraha Children's resource center has been renovated and now there are
enough lights. We would like to give a big thanks to our past volunteer
Emily Licence who came 2nd time in Nepal and helped us with this Sauraha
Resource Center project.
Well, I will be heading to USA to attend a conference in California on the
10th Of April. After my visit for four weeks in the USA I will be visiting
our past volunteers and on 10th May I will be heading back to London. In
London I will be visiting our partner Organizations and staying with couple
of our past volunteers. I will be back to Nepal on 6th June after attending
Susana's marriage and Tim's marriage. I would like to request from our past
volunteers from UK and USA , during my visit if possible I would like to
meet you people and spend some time with you so please let me know if you
have time to have a meeting. You can email me on my personal email at
asim.naresh@gmail.com .
We have just finished our festivals Shivarattri and Holi. Hope you will
enjoy reading this newsletter.
Yours.
Asim
Let there be light
- Emily Licence - UK - March 2007 ( 2nd time in Nepal )
After 5 months I am once again in Magar Tole. I am nerves with anticipation
but of course the children are the same beautiful, beaming students they
ever where and the shouts of ‘Miss’ once again penetrate the soft morning
mist as I struggle to Namaste old friends with my shawl and bag.The faces
smiling out of the dark windows of the houses are all recognizable and a
wave of voices echoes down the village of my arrival. Maybe the place has
changed, maybe I’ve changed I don’t know but I am reassured of my place when
the faces eating dhal bhaat break into toothy grins. I haven’t returned to
be ‘Emily Miss’ again I have come to see renovations on the library. With
the rather unpredictable load sharing and the rather dubious electricity
lines there is always one class that gets interrupted but the lack of light
inside the library. After a donation was pledged to Magar Tole INFO decided
to take the matter into its own hands and build additional windows in the
Library to overcome bitter disappointment of the children who miss out on
their classes. And who can blame them – they are so dedicated and eager
they can’t believe we teachers need one-day holiday a week! They would be
there if we opened the Library on Saturday’s I have no doubt.At present the
windows have been fixed in place and the roof is waiting to be re-attached.
There has been a two-week break for the building work and even this has
caused a stir, as they students are eager to receive their next ‘Miss’ or
‘Sir’.
Apart from the building work there are other changes to the Library I once
knew – the boggy, squelchy path has become a beautiful cobble pathway that
was before a huge pile of stones and a neat little wicker fence circles the
garden to stop the hungry goats eating the newly planted lemon trees and
other colourful flowers and shrubs.
There are plans to acquire a piece of land near to the library for a sports
area for the children, as there are some budding football players amongst
the students. Not far from Magar Tole towards Sauraha is one of INFO’s many
Children’s Orphanage homes and they have just received a Carram Board to
play each other at, a traditional Nepali came which is requires skill – and
which I have yet to master! And a Table Tennis Table is being ordered for
them to have tournaments and practice coordination but only after their
study of course! Exams are approaching fast but the fourteen kids in the
Orphanage are fantastic and very dedicated to their education. We had
rather a rough Holi Festival but it was extremely colourful and messy and
the girls lost out under buckets of coloured water! I celebrated Holi
Festival for two days and am still finding red colour in my ears, I washed
my hair three times in one day and my hands are stained pink! Brilliant –
Holi should be celebrated by all people across the world – even the older
generation in Magar Tole enjoyed having many many hands shoved in their
faces and coming out rhangi-changi afterwards, only to give as good as they
got back!
So my brief return to Chitwan has been as wonderful as I thought and more
but it doesn’t stop there – Ganganagaur, our very own Asim Daai’s village,
has the original INFO Library and that too is undergoing a big
transformation. It is being turned into the first Chitwan Happy Home. Land
has been acquired behind the Library and work is well underway to build more
rooms and bathrooms to house at least fifteen children there, to begin
with. And yes we hope it to be the first of many more successful INFO
projects. There is room for a vegetable garden and a big walled patch of
ground to turn into a sports ground for football, basketball and
volleyball. The children placed there will be from the surrounding
District’s poorest families and they will go to the local boarding school.
This is a big project for INFO to be undertaking but it will make an
incredible difference we hope for the children involved.
Volunteer in Nepal - My Rewarding Experience in
Nepal
By Jim Hinchley -
Lancashire,
England
When I came to Nepal I was lucky, I had no preconceptions and no
requirements of what to do or where to go.
I simply felt the need to help in whatever capacity I could and be of some
use to the people of Nepal. The first few days in Kathmandu were a whole new
experience and I wondered what I'd let myself in for. The training I
received in both language and culture was good and when I moved to Dulhikel
for village training I started to experience the real Nepal. The family were
friendly, warm and I felt as though I belonged. Although the amenities, food
and way of life were completely different to the UK it was not difficult to
fit in and adapt. All too soon I had to leave for my placement in Chitwan
and the day of departure saw my first tikka and Nepali topi acquired (many
more were to follow ).
(One horn Rhinoceros with Baby )
In Chitwan I taught in the local school, anywhere between 4 and 7 lessons a
day. It lifted my spirits no end to hear the kids every morning saying
"morning sir ", and almost everyday there was a clamor of classes asking me
to teach them. The family I lived with made me feel completely integral in
all aspects of family life, from helping to bring in the buffalo to mending
the water pump. I even had a go at milking the buffalo but only with limited
success, I got about enough for one cup of tea ! (
Host House)
Everybody in the village wanted to invite me for tea and were always happy
to share whatever food they had with me. This aspect of Nepali life is
something I shall never forget, for people who have so very little and in
many cases are simply subsistence farming to share whatever they have is a
real example of humanity.
I fitted in a few trips to Pokhara and Chitwan national park including the
mandatory elephant safari and rhino watching but I felt too much like a
tourist in those environments, so much preferred to return to village life.
It was so very difficult to leave Chitwan, the farewell party at school
including all the flowers, poems and cards I received left many with tears
in their eyes, me included. Harder still was saying farewell to a family I
had grown to consider as my own, fortunately I had an extra hour and a half
due to the Nepali time keeping to play and sit with the kids before the
microbus arrived and a few more tears were shed.
In summary I have learnt as much if not more from the people of Nepal than I
have taught them, there have been many more highs and lows and my faith in
the human spirit has been refilled and enhanced further.
(School's Children)
If you're thinking of coming and volunteering come with an open mind and
heart, experience Nepal and I guarantee you will leave a richer person in
heart and soul.
Jim
HAPPY HOLI IN NEPAL
By - Manisha
and Anisha Patel - UK
The
festival of Holi is perhaps the most lively celebration that I have
participated in. Having heard rumours of mad water ballooning and
powder throwing I was slightly unsure of what to expect! Having already
been an unwilling participant in the celebrations in the days running up
to holi when pelted randomly with water balloons while walking down the
road, I knew I was in for a treat. From the moment I woke up it was a
fabulously, crazy day. Even breakfast became a lively affair when en
route to the kitchen I was smothered in a colourful array of powder by
the giggling children (gives a whole new meaning to makeup eh?!). Then
up onto the roof for a huge water fight- and not just with balloons, but
entire buckets of water being thrown around, it was hilarious watching
everyone dodging around looking like lost members of some colourful
rainforest tribe. The entire day was completely random, plently of
laughs, good food, water, powder- tons of fun! The day was absolutely
brilliant, you cant do it justice in writing. The nepalese definately
know how to have a good celebration, and I definately will be a more
than keen participant once more in coming years- loved it :)!
Donna and Jeremy’s Nepal
Volunteer experience - Canada
September 2006-January 2007
We arrived in Nepal at the end of September after spending almost a month in
China, including traveling through Tibet to Kathmandu. We visited the INFO
office when we arrived in Kathmandu and were treated to a nice dinner with Asim’s family and the volunteers at Happy Home. 
There weren’t as many children
staying there as normal because most of them had returned to their homes to
celebrate Tihar and Dasain. Our volunteer placement started a month later,
giving us time to go trekking in the Annapurna area and do some sightseeing in
Nepal.
Our time with INFO Nepal started with a few days of language classes and
sightseeing in the Kathmandu area while we stayed at Happy Home. (There were
more children there at this time.) We then moved to Sanga, a ‘training
village’ on the outskirts of the Kathmandu valley, where the language classes
and sightseeing continued for a few more days. Jeremy also experienced a
Nepali-style shower, much to the amusement of the local villagers and some
passers-by. The host family there was very nice, hospitable, and served us
tasty cooking. They even treated us to some homemade chang! As a bonus
on clear mornings, we had a good view of the sun rising over the Himalaya from
our bedroom window. The house was comfortable, even though there are chickens
in the attic and goats in the room below us. While we stayed in Sanga, we made
two trips to nearby Dhulikel to observe a Nepali school and do a bit of
teaching. Donna’s singing must have been very entertaining for the students and
teacher, Rajesh, who laughed so hard that he had tears in his eyes.
Our first placement was in Syabrubesi, in the Langtang area. It started with a
long uncomfortable bus ride on an increasing bumpy road, but we eventually made
it there with only one broken window. We arrived just before sunset, and just
before the Lama arrived for a few weeks’ stay at the local gompa. The locals
chanted and drummed as he arrived and offered kata (scarves), which he
then placed around their necks.
We went to the public school the next day and met the headmaster there. He was
thrilled to have some volunteers to help out at the school. The school is
pretty big with over 350 students in 10 classes. Donna helped teach English to
the older classes and Jeremy helped out in the computer lab. The school has a
new computer lab with 13 computers, which seemed a bit out of place in a village
where the electricity works sporadically.
The computer lab was a quite chaotic, as there are about 40 students in each
class and not enough computers to go around. The students seemed more
interested in playing on the computers than learning about Microsoft Office.
Between this and the language barrier, teaching them was a challenge. Jeremy
tried to teach them some typing skills and about the components of the
computer. He also spent some time reinstalling programs that were damaged by
viruses. It was nice to have internet access during our placement!
In addition to helping teach English to the older students in the mornings,
Donna spent her afternoons with the younger physical education classes in the
school’s courtyard. It was a lot of fun for her! The children loved to dance
the hokey-pokey and play duck-duck-goose. She also spent about a week
organizing the school library. It wasn’t always fun for her though, as some of
the teachers tended to leave her in the class by herself and go outside to relax
in the sun.
During our stay, we were invited to attend two picnics held by the school. It’s
a lot of work providing these picnics. They have to bring everything to the
site including plates and live goats. The first picnic was held by the students
of grade 9 and 10. There were three meals. The first was beaten rice with
potato curry, the second meal consisted of Indian fried rice and various meat
(chicken and goat guts); the third was mutton, vegetable curry and rice. It was
nicely done, especially considering that it seemed to have been planned the day
before! The second picnic, held by the teachers, was similar to the previous
one, except the teachers brought an ample supply of alcohol and got quite
intoxicated.
Other than the time we spent volunteering for the school we also opened the INFO
Nepal Children’s Library. It is basically a building with one chair and table
and a handful of books. 
(Although some new furniture did appear during our
stay.) Here the children can come before and after school to learn English with
us. We open the library twice a day for them to come, before and after school.
The older children came in the morning (if it wasn’t too cold), and there
usually weren’t more than 5 or 6 of them. The younger children came after
school, and sometimes there were more than 40 of them! We read to both groups,
and they enjoyed writing and drawing. The older group liked to play card games
and we also tried to organize some short lessons for them. The younger group
liked to play games and to run back to their homes with us after we closed the
library. So between the school and the library, we were very busy each day from
7:30 to about 5:30.
Our host family’s house was fairly modern by Nepali standards, and is located in
the newer part of town, right at the bus stop. We were awoken early every
morning by the excessive horn honking and engine revving that precedes every bus
departure in Nepal. Our room was relatively clean and the toilet is inside the
building on the same floor. We took some showers at the hotel next door, and
also visited the local tatopani (hot spring) a few times, where we
attracted some attention from the locals. Our host family’s children were
attending school in Kathmandu and seemed to miss them a lot. They tended to
retire to their room early to watch television, leaving us plenty of time to do
some reading. Fortunately we had bought a number of books before leaving
Kathmandu!
We stayed in Syabrubesi for about 6 weeks before returning to Kathmandu for
Christmas and to renew our visas. During our stay we went for a few short treks
in the area and enjoyed some of the spectacular Himalayan scenery.
Unfortunately, there isn’t much of a view from Syabrubesi itself. We visited
the sacred lake of Gosainkund, the orange hot spring at Tatopani, the good view
from Nagthali, and the pretty Tamang village of Thuman.
Our second placement was in the village of Goljung, about 2.5 hours’ walk from
Syabrubesi, on the other side of a large hill. Fortunately (?!), there is now a
bus that runs nearby. There, we had better views of the mountains and enjoyed a
real rural experience in Nepal. There was no running water in the house, few
toilets (the host family's home was one exception), no buses outside our window,
no post office, and, as far as we know, there is only one occasionally-working
phone in the village. We woke up to the crow of the roosters and the voices of
the host family each morning.
We opened the INFO Nepal Library every day except Saturdays, once in the morning
and once in the afternoon. After dinner, we had the evenings to ourselves. The
library is big but only has one chair and one table, and a bookshelf.
Fortunately for these children, the supply seems to be better here (ok, maybe
not better but definitely more). We tried reading to them. It's hard when
there are 40 of them and they range in age from 0 years to 16 years old! In the
ended we ended up doing centre-like activities with them. The table is where
the writing, drawing and book looking occurred. In one corner is the card game,
another corner would be memory game and outside is the ball, skipping, and
badminton. When they feel like it we play some of the singing games Donna does
at home with her pre-school children such as ring-around-the-rosy, wheels on the
bus, etc. They especially loved London Bridge and Hokey Pokey.
The children there love the library and if we were late in getting out off our
warm sleeping bag into the cold unheated house, they would be waiting at the
library or sometimes right outside our bedroom! Often during our break between
morning and afternoon session, the children would come to Dawa's (our host
father) house and stand around us and stare.
They wanted to know what we were
doing and want to see the things that were occupying us. We would hear 'Nameste'
from all the way across the field and 'library?" "no?".
We enjoyed staying with our host family very much! There are 5 members and one
of them is in Kathmandu living in Happy Home (INFO Nepal sponsors them to go to
school there). That leaves the mother and father and two younger sisters. The
family is Tamang and has their own language and only the father knows Nepali and
a few words in English. Somehow we managed to communicate! Donna fell in love
with the little ones right away! They are so cute! The older sister couldn't
be more than 4 years old. On our last day there, she had been out in the field
all day picking some leafy vegetable for that night's curry. She would copy
what Donna said if she was looking at her. The younger one is maybe 1, almost
2. She loves to follow her big sister around. She'll put her palms together
and say 'nameste' to us and look all cute, especially if there is food in the
picture. The mother works all day, from the moment she gets up she is doing
something and sometimes several things, like cooking and spinning wool. Dawa
always has a smile on his face and is very kind.
We finished our stay in the Langtang area by doing the trek to Langtang village
and beyond. There was some great scenery there, and the trail was very quiet at
that time of the year. It was hard to return to the noise and pollution in
Kathmandu!
Namaste from
Donna and Jeremy
E-mail: jeremy_w_dawson@hotmail.com
E-mail: dc_cd@hotmail.com
439-22 Richard Pl SW
Calgary, AB
T3E 7N6
Canada
Telephone No.: +1.403.681.7533
Thanks for your time
reading this.
