Read 300 volunteers Experiences

Chris
Gatlang village – July/August 2007

I arrived in Kathmandu unsure of where I wanted to do my placement; it was easier to decide having spoken with the INFO staff, other volunteers and having read reports from past volunteers. I chose to do my placement in Gatlang, which is a remote village up in the mountains. We took a 10-hour bus ride to Syabrubesi, where we stayed overnight, then trekked to Gatlang, which took about 5 hours.

The village itself is very basic, but the views are amazing, as long as you go at certain times of the year. During monsoon season, the village is mostly surrounded in cloud so don't expect the views of the peaks that you hoped for. Although, when the cloud does clear, the views are amazing. It also rained every day, although not all day, and during the night, making the walk to school muddy, but eventful!

T he resource centre is part of the school, and the host, Durga, has the bags with writing equipment, picture cards, paper etc. There is quite a lot of stuff there to use with the kids.

We arrived during the school holidays so we chose what hours we taught and how often. It's best to stick to a routine if possible, as it's difficult to pass messages on when nearly everyone in the village speaks Tamang rather than Nepali…We taught from 7-10 in the morning and 4-6 in the afternoon. Generally, we taught from 7-8, then had a short break, then taught for another 30-45 mins, then played some games. The younger ones find it hard to concentrate for much longer.

The children vary in age from about 4-11 and we found it best to split them into 2 groups – not necessarily age, but ability. It's only possible to do this after you've worked out which ones are more able though…generally the ones who shout out first when you ask for an answer to something! They also tend to specialise in repetition, rather than just listening first; it seems to be the way they do things in the school. We spent time on the alphabet, which they can recite well from start to finish, but they're not so good at naming random letters if you point to them. We also did work on numbers, body parts, animals, family, and basic English phrases, eg 'What is your name?' 'How many people are there in your family?' Games like Hokey-cokey, H S K and Toes work well, and they love to throw a ball if you have one!

The host family is the best there is in Nepal! Durga is a trekking guide, so if you can, get him to take you on a long (or short) trek locally. His wife is great, and constantly keeps your plate full at mealtimes…They have two children, Rosila and Pemba, who are very young. Rosila is a little shy, but loves to draw if you have some paper/pens with you.

The children in the village are all keen and very friendly, and enthusiastic about lessons/playing. The locals are curious, but friendly nevertheless; there always seem to be people in the house coming to see who the latest volunteers are!

It is a great location, enjoy!

Corinne von Burg
Thulo Bharkhu - 4 Weeks August/ September 2007

When I arrived in Nepal, I was welcomed very warmly and they tried to prepare my as good as they were able for my placement. I liked the training a lot and find it very useful, especially the language class with the lovely Rama. After six days I moved to my placement in Thulo Bharku. The busride to go there was quite long and I had to change buses two times because of landslides but the surrounding was amazing.

The village was absolutely nice and people soon accepted me and tried to support me all the time. The same with the host family, they were incredible friendly and took me to a four day pilgrimage whit the whole community which was an unforgettable memory. In my placement was another volunteer and we had a lot of fun. I think its nice to have another person with you in the placement.

The only thing I’m not going to miss are the bedbugs, their bits covered my whole body. So be prepare…

The children were amazing and always wanted to play. If you are going to run a resource centre, don’t forget to bring a lot of stickers and especially balloons, they went crazy about that. The english in school was very basic and it was sometimes hard work to keep the attention of the kids. But I’ll never forget the happy faces of the children waiting in front of the resource centre for me every day. The gave me so much love and joy.

Obviously you receive much more than you are able to give as a volunteer.

It was the best experience I ever had and I won’t regret any minute I spent here in Nepal.

Jacqui Cawston
Dhapaklel, Lalitpur, Kathmandu - July 20 – July 28 2007

I was based with a wonderful family, who were very inviting and eager to learn all about my family and myself.  I wish I had brought more photos with me.  I dreaded the thought of dal/bhat every day, but my family produced some wonderful curries from the little produce they grew in their kitchen garden, including pumpkin, gourd, aubergine and potato, and this helped so much that by the end of my stay I was really enjoying it, and it was a treat to have a little chicken or mutton with it.

It was with much trepidation that I started this placement, as I had not read any reports or information about where I was based, or what had previously been achieved at the Children's Home.

The SOF Children's Home was next door, via walking around a paddy field so liable to be muddy.  The children were very welcoming and I found another volunteer from Australia there, (thought not through INFONepal) and he was able to fill me in with what was happening.  The children's home has been open for about six months and there are approximately 15 children staying there ages range from 3 / 4yrs to 11 /12yrs  with a roughly 60%/40% mix of boys/girls.  There is a very basic food preparation area on the ground floor, dormitories for the girls and boys (separate) a conference type room, and a roof terrace, with three toilet cum showers.  The accommodation is very sparse, but while I was there a number of beds appeared.  There is no feeling of home at the moment, and this is partly due to the fact that a mother type figure needs to be introduced.  At present English comprehension is very poor, the children are able to identify letters and very basic words, but are unable to comprehend much of what is said to them in English.  It would had helped if I knew a lot more Nepali then words could be taught, and simple phrases, but I think this is a little way off at the moment.

There are a couple of musicians who come and take a traditional music lesson with the children every week.  They are definitely benefiting from this as when there is no homework to be done they are often to be found singing together.

There is also no apparent religious basis within the home, eg Hindu shrine which was evident in my host family, and as I feel Nepali life does revolve around the Hindu/Buddhist religion I consider this an area needs to be sorted out.

The main problem that needs to be addressed is exactly what Rapu Thapa (Director) wants from the volunteers.  He was very friendly and appreciated that I visited most days to help the children with their homework where I could, and just be a friendly face around the place.  There also needs to be a big cash injection to help with the many resources that will be needed.  I think this is being worked on.

I also attended Mahendra Adarsha Vidyashram, Satdobato, Lalitpur, KTM which is the school the children attend.  This is a very good school, which I feel the children will benefit greatly from.  The teachers were very welcoming and encouraging and it was good to feel I was contributing to the education of the children I met even though I am not an English teacher.  The system of education seems to be through rote and continued repetition so that the child eventually remembers a little of what they have been taught.  The English teacher made use of English being my native tongue, and asked me to read many stories to them so that the stress on each word was correct, and of course pronunciation.  I was able to converse with some grade 9 & 10 pupils so they can obviously reach a pretty good standard by the end of ten grades.

I visited during the monsoon, and though I didn't find the rain a problem as such, the effects of walking through mud and deep water every day did affect my feet.  Leeches particularly found me very tasty!! as well as the mosquitoes.  My advice to anyone else coming at this time of year – make sure you have some good footwear as it is very slippery walking around paddy fields and along mud tracks. 

I thoroughly enjoyed my placement and would recommend the experience to anyone.  Just remember the culture is very different here, and although everyone aspires to become rich like the west, and possibly travel to the UK to work and earn a lot of money, Nepal needs educated people and the many attributes that exist here shouldn't be lost, but encouraged.

Deirdre Jones
Gatlang - July 2007

Another volunteer accompanied me from London. After the 10-hour bus journey to Syabru Besi, we stayed there overnight and the following day we trekked to Gatlang. It took about 4.5 hours. We met our host Durga and his family who were extremely welcoming and accommodating.

The children were on school holidays at the time. In Gatlang, there isn't a resource centre as such.  Instead, we used one of the classrooms of the school as our base whilst we were there. Durga kept all the supplies in his home and we brought these up to the school.

The typical day was to teach from 7-9 approx in the morning and then again in the afternoon for another 2 hours or so. Word got out fast that we had arrived and by the 2^nd day, we had about 30 children appear. More tended to show in the morning session than in the afternoon.

The Tamang language was a bit of a problem but one of the older kids helped interpret for us. There were children of all ages ranging from as young as three up to approx 10 years old. It was helpful to have another volunteer because we ended up dividing the class into 2 with one of us taking charge of the older children and the rest took care of the younger.

The older children of which there were only about four were well advanced in comparison to the other children. They were able to read English, do maths timetables and so we tended to practise grammar with them and future and past tense.

The other group was much more basic. If we went through the alphabet with them, they tended to repeat it in a 'singsong' fashion, but we found that if we pointed to a letter at random many did not know what this was. So we tended to spend a lot of the time going over the basics, pointing to objects, and teaching words. They also loved incorporating game-playing into their learning. A favourite was head, shoulders, knees, toes, also the hokey-cokey, and getting them to work out which is their right and left side!

Unfortunately, I think the biggest drawback to teaching at Gatlang in July was the weather. It rained almost every day and we were constantly covered in cloud. In addition, we were unable to trek anywhere on our day off (Saturday) because of the poor conditions and mud everywhere. However, in saying that, the kids were really fantastic. They do not have much but they greeted us every morning with big smiles and waves and their enthusiasm never waned. It was truly an experience!

So – in summary, in my view, go to Gatlang if you are thinking about it at all. When we did catch a glimpse of the peaks, they were truly breathtaking. However, if you are here during the monsoon you might want to consider that you will not see much of the beautiful surroundings. The family is amazing and very welcoming and you do experience something amazing.

Rob (UK) and Elena (Spain)
Goljung Children's Resource Center - 14th March – 14th April 2007 

We got a very warm welcome the first day we arrived with a meal at a local restaurant. It was very nice to meet Asim’s wife and son and also to catch a few other volunteers who were just finishing their placements and were leaving Nepal. They gave us some useful tips on what to expect, what not to expect (!) and how to deal with everything.The next couple of days were sightseeing, with a few different members of the Info Nepal team, to various different places around Kathmandu. Pratik and Bicky were great with their knowledge of every little detail and we got a very good starter in understanding a lot of Nepali culture.After that the language classes started with Rama. She would meet us every day, normally in the mornings, for about 2 hours. We started off very basically with “hello’s”, “how are you’s” and basic introductions, but very rapidly over the 5 days of lessons, progressed to “how to barter for the best price”, “likes and dislikes”, “food and drink” and much much more.
During this time we visited our training village family for two nights which was a really good insight into what to expect from the actual placement. At first we both felt a little uncomfortable as our Nepalese was still a little shaky and the family’s English wasn’t that good. Also as they were such good hosts they would not let us help with any jobs and as this wasn’t our placement there was nothing for us to be getting on with immediately. However, the more we chatted and spent time with them, the more we felt at ease and welcomed and in the end we were very sad to be leaving so soon!
Next came the project in Goljung and our first real shock. By this time our Nepalese was coming on a little better and we were feeling more confident to get stuck into communication……only to find that in the village very few people spoke Nepalese! Goljung is a Tamang village and they have their own dialect. Our host family spoke Nepalese so this was not a problem but when we got to the library on the first day, we found that very few of the children understood our Nepalese or our English. We did find that some children spoke better Nepalese and English than the others and so they became our invaluable translators for all lessons.
We have thought about how this problem could have been avoided and have realized that it would have been impossible for the staff in Kathmandu to have taught us any Tamang as this isn’t their language. The only thing we can suggest is that future volunteers could be given a little more warning of the language difference and perhaps a small booklet with some basic Tamang expressions and useful phrases could be prepared for volunteers going to that placement.
Our work in the placement differed from what we had been expecting to do. Elena had been planning to spend most days working with a health centre in the village but found that it only opened one day while we were there, and I had planned to assist with some construction but found no projects/work to help with. Having said this we both had a fantastic time opening the library twice a day and teaching the children. We tried to impart some of our joint professional medical knowledge onto these lessons rather than just straight English. We introduced basics of self-hygiene, basic treatment of minor wounds, ideas about infection and cleanliness. These we felt went down very well and were absorbed by some of the children.
After our project and for a two days in the middle we took ourselves away to do some trekking in the local area and were rewarded by spectacular views and great mountain experiences.
On the whole we both feel strongly that Info Nepal is a fantastic organization and is doing a great job in trying to improve the quality of life of poorer people in Nepal. One thing we did notice was that there are very many villages which now have Info Nepal Libraries but these only open when Volunteers are present. This we feel can lead to a lack of continuity of learning for the children in those places. Two ideas we had of how to solve this problem were:
1) - A system of handover from one volunteer leaving a project to the next one arriving at the same place.
Ideally this could be done if they overlap their time at the project or meet in Kathmandu but obviously this will rarely happen. The best other way would be to start a formal handover book to detail, for example, times of opening of the library, lessons taught, levels of attentions and speed of learning of specific children etc etc. We detailed much of this is our report in the logbook already in the library in Goljung but perhaps it would be better to have a centrally held one in the office in Kathmandu so that observation can be made about progress in the different projects and comparisons made.
2) – A system of involvement of a local resident to open the library.
There a several obstacles to overcome with this idea. The local person must be trusted with a key and given responsibility for maintaining the library in a good condition. The local person would need to be paid for this. However, the benefits of allowing the children regular access to resources held in the libraries, even it were only for a piece of paper and a pen to write and practice English, would be great.
If we have any other ideas that come to us we will definitely get in contact with you to pass them on. We will also get on thew internet at some point in the near future and write some reports on the chat rooms etc about the work that Info Nepal does – in both English and Spanish!!!
Thanks again Info Nepal for giving us such a special experience. One that will stay with us for the rest of our lives…..or until we are next back again with you!
Rob – jones_2k@hotmail.com      
Elena elenagilz@hotmail.com

Hans Swenson and Elise Chalmers
Devi's Falls Resource Center, July 5^th –July 20^th 2007

            We spent several weeks in Devi's Falls working at the resource center. We taught English lessons mixed with a little geography and social studies and we tried to make it fun as much as possible by incorporating games into the lessons. The kids were great and very enthusiastic about learning but some very firm discipline was necessary to maintain order. If given the opportunity, some of the kids would quarrel, steal and be dishonest so we had to keep a sharp eye on their behavior. The majority of the kids however, were a pleasure to work with and once the rules were understood there was productive learning for everyone there.

            The classes were broken up by age group and in the morning at 6:45 we began with kids aged 11-13 of which about ten kids usually showed up. At 7:30, the 8-10 year old group came in which was about the same amount. We taught almost identical lessons to these two groups because many of the younger kids were more capable in English than the kids in the older group. Over the course of our time there we taught lessons on the use of plurals, apostrophes, contractions and basic world geography. We had them practice writing sentences in their copy books using the things they had learned from the English lessons. The geography was limited to continents, oceans, a few key countries in Asia and where volunteers came from since the kids were always curious about our homes. If everyone cooperated and finished their assignments quickly we would often finish with a short game. They absolutely loved the games. Every game we played was enjoyed by the kids.

In the evening at 5:30, we had 5-7 year olds come in for half an hour. This group was usually less than half a dozen kids and they spoke almost no English. We tried to get them to speak as much as possible with lessons on basic greetings, how to ask for things, and some vocabulary like foods, animals and common objects. The lessons were brief and we always rewarded their efforts with games, songs or coloring.

At 6 pm we let all ages of kids come in for a fun activity. Sometimes as many as fifty kids would show up and it was always chaotic. We would organize trivia games, charades, and bingo. Sometimes we handed out crossword puzzles or word searches with concepts from the morning lessons. These were great because the kids would all be fairly quiet and focused for the whole time instead. Bingo was one of the most chaotic but also the game most requested by the kids.

The lessons seemed to be pretty successful for the most part but there were always a few kids who had not learned as much English as the others and they struggled to follow the activities. We felt that it would be better if we could have developed a routine way of evaluating each child's English level and then placing them in groups according these results instead of grouping them by age. However this would require more time than we had so we just did our best to give extra attention to the kids who needed it in order for them to understand what was going on.

As for ourselves, our accommodations were quite comfortable and the dahl baat was excellent. Since we only spent about 3 hours a day working with the kids, we had plenty of free time to explore the local area which was beautiful. It was about a ten minute walk down to the river where we could swim and go hiking in the country. In 20 minutes we could take the local bus into Lakeside and swim in the lake or go shopping for whatever we wanted. It was really a great place to be and the overall experience was wonderful. We would do it again and we recommend it to others.

Thank you INFO Nepal for a great time. 

Argentina Hung
Parbatipur, Chitwan - 4 weeks (July 2007)

I arrived in Nepal at the beginning of July 2007.  The first week in Nepal consisted of mainly training and sightseeing.  All volunteers had to undergo Nepal language lessons to assist in the language barrier and culture difference.  This also included spending two days in a village called Dhulikhel, which is located just outside Kathmandu (also known as the "training village").  I stayed with a local "host family" in Dhulikhel and was treated with the greatest kindness.  The time I spent in Dhulikhel (although it was only two days) was memorable by the kindness of all the people that lived in the village.  I was welcomed with open arms and made part of the village community as soon as I arrived.  The children in the village were adorable.

The second week in Nepal was spent on two different activities.  The first activity was a visit to Chitwan Jungle Safari for three days.  This meant a long 5-hour bus ride from Kathmandu to Chitwan.  The second activity was four days trekking in Pokhara, again, a long 5-hour bus journey from Chitwan to Pokhara.  Both activities were worthwhile.

In terms of placement, I did not have a preference in location.  As a result, I was placed at a Resource Centre (alternatively known as a Library/Community Centre) in Parbatipur, Chitwan.  This is where I spent the remainder of my time in Nepal.  I stayed with a host family located right next door to the Resource Centre!  The host family were very kind and welcoming.  I spent a considerable amount of time playing cards with the children at the host family and managed to teach them a few new games to remember! 

The Resource Centre is simply a place where the children can go before and after school as they wish.  It is not compulsory and extremely laid back!  I was able to teach them more or less anything I wanted!  This is because the Resource Centre is not a school, hence there was no need to follow a rigid curriculum.

The Resource Centre was open from 7-9am and 4-6pm everyday (except Saturday).  Since my placement was in July, the majority of the children were off on school holidays, hence the Resource Centre was open longer each day.  I also wanted to teach English at a local school, but due to the school holidays, this was not possible.  The children that attended the Resource Centre aged from as little as 3 years old to 13 years old.  Some children even came twice each day!  Activities in the Resource Centre included reading, drawing, colouring, playing number and word games, singing and playing outside.

Overall, the placement in Parbatipur was a great experience.  In addition, the two days spent in Dhulikhel was a memorable experience.  I am very grateful for the warm welcome I received from both host families and will always remember the people I met.

Dan and Fizz Metcalfe
Thulo Barkhu -  May-July 2007

It seems that in the last seven weeks we've had a life times worth of experiences happen to us ranging from the good, bad, and butt clenchingly terrifying to the breathtaking (literally) and rather grotty (that would be the illness side of things, that you kind of just get used to).

We kicked off our stay with the training and sightseeing in Kathmandu, all good fun, though still slightly haunted by the way Pratik told we were lucky when we heard a head explode at the cremation site! Language lessons with Rama were an experience, neither of us being too great at languages, but we got the essentials sorted in our heads, though up in Langtang they speak Tamang so I'll finish this report with a couple of must know words and phrases for anyone going up to the mountains to help you out! 

We then headed to Chitwan for a few days and went on the walking, jeep, canoe and elephant safaris, saw lot of animals, no tigers though.  We also enjoyed 'washing the elephants' i.e. sitting on their backs and being sprayed by them, a really good way too cool off, though a little snotty!!  Then off up to the mountains, to Thulo Bharku.

The bus ride was an experience it was more like mountainside demolition derby. They go haring over theses narrow mountain passes and round blind corners on the wrong side of the road within inches of the edge and 1000ft + drops looking backwards and chatting happily with the 15 year old boy that passes as the conductor. Every once in a while the 15yr old steps out of the door and shimmies up the side of the bus onto the roof to collect fares from the guys on the top, this is done whilst on the look out for naked overhead wires and the bus in full motion. Health and safety nightmare!! We ended up having to stop every few miles for the bus driver to hammer back in a bolt on the suspension that kept working loose. They finally fixed it at about the halfway point in the journey and just as the pulses were getting back to normal a bus overtook us ran out of space and ended up with its wing mirror coming through a window at the front of our bus covering a girl in glass and nearly taking her head off. All good fun and part of the experience, you kind of become immune after a couple of trips.

The time spent teaching was really rewarding, just to hear how the kids English came on in the 4wks up there was awesome. We're proud to say there are now a couple of kids in the Himalayas with hints of Yorkshire accents! We ran a resource center for the kids before school for 2hrs and after school for 1.5hrs every day bar sat and we then would either teach at school for 2 or 3hrs a day. Very tiring but good fun. On our first day there we got given a piece of chalk each, shown into separate rooms and told to "go teach English". Ok. The mind went blank and the sweat started pouring and I had 10-25 grubby faced kids expecting to learn something! It was time for a bit of trade mark Metcalfe quick thinking, then it came to me. Heads, shoulders knees and toes, fun and educational, what a genius!! The kids loved it especially as we introduced more interesting body parts. We also had some pretty low point whilst up there, the first being us both getting ill again. Add to this an army of fleas in my bed and one night waking up and feeling a spider crawling on my chest. I picked it off and threw it across the room. But the next day I woke up with a burning bite on my neck and 2 ten pence size blisters. Not nice. The spider had a rather nasty experience with a flip flop when I eventually found it. I'm still waiting to receive my 'Spidey Powers' but so far nothing.

During our 4th week there we went on a 4day trek up to a local holy lake in the mountains. I can only describe the trek as 4days of agony punctuated by awesome views and a meeting with a hippie that had just come back from 5days meditating in a cave. We reached the lake on the second day and Dan immediately started to get headaches due to the altitude (4350m). The next day we were up at 6 and hiking up a mountain to get a view of the dawn over the mountains. Just 50m from the top sickness set in and we made the decision to descend descend descend. We made up for it on our last day when we found a tea house where you could LIE IN BED and watch the sun rise over the Himalayas, non of this daft walking malarkey!! Again the walking was definitely worth the pain, and would recommend a trek to anyone, even just a short one as you meet so many different people again.

All in all, our experiences were varied but all totally worth it, looking back we wouldn't change any of it because it all added to and made our stories!  We had an amazing time and met some amazing people everywhere we went.

A big thank you to INFO and good luck for the future.

Fizz_n_dan_do_oz@hotmail.com
 
Julia Lindsay
Prabatipur - March to May - 2007

Only two weeks in Parbatipur but it doesn't take long to feel at home there. Host family were fantastic, wake up to fresh chiya and daal bhaat is on tap from about 9am to 9pm. With Rama, your 'ama' you can learn to cook and generally have a girlie gossip about the other villagers. She is extremely generous, especially with her rice portions so just keep saying 'Pugyo!'Anything you need is just a 45minute bus ride away in Narangat.
 Riding top-deck with the luggage is pretty normal, top up your tan and avoid the goats and sweaty men coming back from the market.  "Munchtime Café' is a friendly place to go get some lunch with some Other volunteers; bring along your own CDS to help them build up their  music collection.
With the kids, do not worry about having no experience.they've been at school all day and they are not expecting a structured lesson on English grammar. The most important thing is that you divide the kids up, vaguely by ability. What worked well for us was 7am and 8am classes of about 10 children in each who are intermediate level. Then my 4 o' clock class were the ones with really limited English so that class tended to be more art based and 5pm are the practically fluent boys, a small group so we can race ahead.including my host brother, Sagar, 13 - very good English (very useful as an interpreter..he also brings you tea in bed in the morning so lots of reasons to get along with him.)
 Amelia and I also threw a huge party for the kids on a Saturday. Making the food and the 'pinatas' took up a couple of classes and of course the kids love getting messy.papier mache, balloons, glue.all allowed as long as they clean up. We organized a sort of British style sports day with 'egg and spoon', 'sack', 'three-legged' races and had a fantastic day, divided into teams and taking over the local field. You also have the challenge of shopping for all the stuff in Narangat.try explaining brush cleaner, food colouring, blue tack, sack, even string.to a shopkeeper in broken Nepali. Bringing a sample and then asking 'Tyo chha??" generally was the best
 method.  
 This was the scramble for the sweets that came out the 'pinata'.we weren't sure whether this game was fun or a little dangerous, but the amas and baas were quite happy to watch their kids wrestling eachother- in the style of their greatest heroes "Triple X", "John Cena" and "The Rock". Stock up on WWF stickers for prizes in class and you'll win a few hearts.
 Lisa and Amelia must take credit for this fantastic sign that we painted with the older kids. Some of the adults gate crashed the painting sessions  and we found a secret artistic talent in a deaf villager, Manoj, who became a great friend. Oh I do miss them all. It is a great place to be.a few words of warning: get used to going to bed early because the music shop starts pumping Nepali hits at 5 50am.also, beware of the switch in the shower (a little shock to wake you up in the morning). Lastly get your dancing shoes on as there's not one person in the village who won't ask you to dance for them.it seems to be the universal language.a personal favourite - "chiya barimaa"!
 Enjoy and enjoy and any questions, queries please give me an email - giulialindsay@hotmail.com
 Great success - mix up some salt dough
 2 cups of flour (atta)
1 cup of salt (nune)
 1 cup of water (pani)
 Drop of food colouring (which I left in the cupboard in the room)   Everyone loves it! And whatever happens on your placement, it's always a fun to get back to the
 Happy Home kids, for more daal bhaat and a good dance with Bicky and the
 boys.
 Miss them all already!

Amelia Carter
Prabatipur - April 15th 2007

Coming to Nepal has been a mind-blowing experience and absolutely incredible in every way shape and form. The people are the warmest I have ever met, the culture is the richest I have ever had the opportunity to observe, and the environment is more beautiful then I could have ever dreamed. 

When I first arrived to Nepal I had a really rough start. The culture shock, among other unfortunate mishaps, hit me in ways that I could have never imagined. But I soon realized that this is to be expected when traveling to a developing country for the first time. I promise though, once you fully understand and embrace the Nepali saying, "Ke garne", everything will some how work itself out and you will be able to enjoy Nepal for the remarkable place it is.

To speak on the volunteer work, it was wonderful. I worked at the library in beautiful Parbatipur, Chitwan. The children were brilliant; they were so anxious to learn and frankly just excited to be in the library. My first four weeks I taught with another volunteer, Lisa. We mostly introduced new vocabulary words and played games. They LOVE board bingo and memory so, between the two, the 4 hour-long classes seemed to fly by.

The lack of teaching guidelines and my lack of teaching experience left me to improvise most of the classes and while the kids seemed content I was left a little unsatisfied with my teaching job. So Lisa's last week and Guilia's first (the new volunteer), we basically turned the library into an arts and crafts center and incorporated vocabulary with each new arts and crafts activity. Then I started two huge projects, which I would have never had the guts or ability to pull off without Guilia --she was an absolute savior (thank you Guilia, you are amazing!). The first was a mural/sign (which our host mother donated to us!) for the library that we had the kids co-design and Lisa drew a beautiful outline for. Guilia and I helped paint the poster with the older kids while the younger kids painted a watercolor version on a giant piece of paper. We completed this project while simultaneously planning for a huge party/field day for the kids. For the party we had the kids make decorations and four Pinata's (which was hilarious since Guilia and I barley knew what we were doing ourselves). Then Guilia and I made a huge feast for the kids to enjoy after they played racing games in a near by field. To make a long story short: one Pinata at a time for 40 kids is NOT a good idea, but no one seemed to mind so, in the end the whole thing was a huge success and the sign turned out beautifully! After the hectic (but fun) last week was finally finished it was harder then ever to say goodbye. As a result I left in true Nepali fashion: hysterically crying with many small children sobbing, "Best of luck sister!" as my bus pulled out of Parbatipur all too soon. 

All of my host families (and all of their neighbors, friends and relatives I had the opportunity to meet along the way) were spectacular. They all took such good care of me and were so generous with anything that they were able to give. My host family in Dhulikhel was great-- I got very close to the Katri children. The family's kindness was immense. They gave me so much love and care and constantly went beyond their call of duty. A special thank you to Pashupati -- an exceptional tour guide and wonderful friend. My family in Parbatipur was also incredible. Rama was so funny and warm and her daughters, son, and niece were fabulous host relatives. They completely welcomed me into their home and were so gracious while Guilia and I destroyed their kitchen as we frantically cooked for 40 hungry kids-and their parents. By the end of my stay I truly felt that I had made two extended families in Nepal - whom I certainly will try to keep up a relationship with. 

Nepal was an unbelievable learning and life experience. I made extremely close connections with people I would have never had the opportunity to even meet. And I most certainly experienced the real Nepal thanks to INFO. Volunteering and/or staying with local host families are, I feel, the only ways to truly soak up all that Nepal has to offer and I highly recommend it. In the end I can say that my time spent in Nepal was fabulous! And it's damn hard to leave it behind; that's why I must say "Pheri Bhetaula!" -- and to prospective volunteers remember the experience is what you make it.

PS. I'd be more then happy to elaborate on my experiences or answer any questions. ameliamcarter@yahoo.com

Jenny Taylor
Nirmal Pokhari and Chitwan Ganganagar   - 20^th Jan – 19^th March 2007

I can honestly say this has been the most inspiring and amazing 2 months of my life, Thank You to everyone at INFO Nepal you are all doing a fantastic job. From the minute I arrived in Nepal I knew I was going to have an unforgettable experience. Arriving at night during a power cut and one of the many strikes was possibly not the best time to arrive, but a good idea of what to expect. On arrival I was welcomed into the INFO Nepal family and paired with another volunteer Nicky, we stayed together for the 2 months of my placement. Language training and sightseeing began immediately, with so much to see and do I realized I had a challenging 2 months ahead of me.
Nicky and I were taken to our training village, Sanga to continue our language and cultural training. This was very enjoyable, even though I was rather hopeless at the language. Sanga was an excellent way to get used to village life, half way between Kathmandu and my placement. It gave me time to adjust to eating Dhal Bhat twice a day with my right hand, using an outside charpi and being a 45 minute uphill walk from the nearest small shop. I’ll never forget having language classes with Krishna (my Nepali guru) eating pop-corn while kid goats munched our clothes and head-butted us. Thank you to Pashupati who came round everyday to take us sightseeing to a different temple and was always singing to us.
After our training and staying at Happy Home we were taken to our placement in Nirmal-Pokari, we were immediately welcomed into the village and became part of the family. The children met us with loud cheering and my initial thought was oh my god how are we going to control over 20 small children? After around a week of the children and us getting to know each other we formed close bonds, especially with the two boys living next door to us. Teaching became fun, in the morning we taught the younger children at the library from 7am-8.45am. It was then home for Dhal Bhat and off to the local government primary school to teach from 10am-1pm. This was very useful as we gained useful knowledge on how to teach e.g. you can never go to slow when getting children to repeat out loud. Nirmal-Pokari is a very bumpy hour and a half bus ride uphill from Pokhara, the views are fantastic, though it was incredibly cold at times. Everyday water is taken from a spring at the bottom of the mountain, it is such hard work. There are children of 7years carrying pails of water that must weigh more than them up mountain stairs, making you realize just how easy we have it back in the U.K. I loved being there, when it came to saying bye I didn’t realize just how attached I had become to the children and the village it was a very emotional day.
A few days in Kathmandu and we were ready to leave, Nicky and I stayed together and moved placement to Ganganagar, Chitwan. Here Nicky will continue to help the construction of the new orphanage while teaching the local children in the library. I got the privilege of spending a week with the children of Gaganagar and continuing the good work of all the previous volunteers. Chitwan is a beautiful place with such kind and generous people, I was welcomed into a lovely family. The landscape is so totally different from Pokhara, it is almost like being in Africa at times and everyone has manual well pumps in the garden for water and showering. I had said goodbye to freezing in my lunge at the bottom of a mountain, trying to shower in the water tap with half the village watching.
I have made friends for life in Nepal and I will never forget this experience, Thank You to Asim and everyone working for INFO Nepal. If anyone is looking for a unique, challenging and rewarding experience then look no further. I am making plans to return to Nepal as soon as possible. Jenny

 E-mail: jennytaylor_keele@hotmail.com

Danielle Soya (Danny)
Gatlang, Langtang - Feb- March 2007 ( 6 weeks )

Despite warnings that going alone could be difficult, I chose to be placed in Gatlang just outside of Langtang National Park. It was a very remote village with few Nepali speakers (they are mostly Tamang) and fewer broken English speakers. However, my goal for the trip was to live in the most remote mountain area I could find. Having just recently returned, I have no regrets. 

The 10 hour bus ride was fine, with only one minor landslide delay, and I was welcomed in Syabru Bensi by the volunteer who had run the library there for 5 weeks, and her host family. She ended up changing her plans to return to Kathmandu and walked up Goljung Pass with me to help set up in Gatlang. The Pass was an experience in itself: 2 hours straight up the mountain, then 2 more hours along the road at the top to reach my home for the next 5 weeks. The view is awesome, and can’t be properly captured with words or photographs. From the host family’s house there is a perfect view of Langtang I and II, as well as the surrounding snow capped mountain ranges. It is impossible to be upset by anything when you wake up to that view every morning. It makes the cold bearable. And it was cold when I arrived. Snow was a frequent occurrence and quite some time was spent huddling with people around a fire. By the time I left, the warmer weather was coming, which I was grateful for, if only for the sake of the locals who wore sandals through it all.  

I managed to set up a decent teaching schedule by the end of the first week. It had taken a while to organize because of the extra language barrier, and the school being out of session, but the effort was more entertaining for the village (and there is something to be said for that). After a brief break to celebrate the Tibetan New Year in Syabru Bensi, I began a daily schedule of class. From 7-8:15, I instructed the younger men of the village who were no longer in school. They could read it quite well, but with the highly accented and non-fluent teachers in the school, everyone had difficulty understanding spoken words without visual aids. At 8:15 until 9 I worked on vocabulary with the small children. They were exceedingly eager and very good mimics, though it took a lot of effort to get them to really comprehend the meaning of words. I ended up going back to assist the English teacher with regular classes because 3 of the 7 teachers never came out to Gatlang to teach. I would teach Class 5 on my own when they had no teacher, and I would work with the official English teacher in Classes 6, 7, and 8 until 1:30. The kids have very little contact with English speakers and would come up and request me in their classrooms before they realized I would be willingly sticking around to teach for a while. 

In the afternoons I occasionally did hikes up to Pavari Kunda (a lake 45 min more up the mountain) or to Goljung the other volunteer village 2 hours away. Usually, I taught a few students privately on request until dinner time. There is never a shortage of students if you are eager to teach. The host family’s home is actually a guesthouse and the head master of the school stays there. The teacher’s would come to me with all sorts of question’s about the English language and other countries, all the while trying to improve their pronunciation.  I wish more volunteers would visit the area as the long spaces between volunteers mean each one starts from scratch. Still, you never doubt that you are making a difference or that the change is welcome. Next time I go out there, I will try to get some Tamang training to improve communication with the parents in the village. But don’t worry, everyone is very nice, and I was so well cared for, I didn’t ever feel the need to get in contact with the outside world. Though, it is nice to know INFO would help out if there was a problem. I will definitely be returning to visit in the near future.

Email: dcsoya@gmail.com

Rob and Elena
Goljung 14^th March – 14^th April 2007

We got a very warm welcome the first day we arrived with a meal at a local restaurant. It was very nice to meet Asim’s wife and son and also to catch a few other volunteers who were just finishing their placements and were leaving Nepal. They gave us some useful tips on what to expect, what not to expect(!) and how to deal with everything.

The next couple of days were sightseeing, with a few different members of the Info Nepal team, to various different places around Kathmandu. Pratik and Bicky were great with their knowledge of every little detail and we got a very good starter in understanding a lot of Nepali culture.

After that the language classes started with Rama. She would meet us every day, normally in the mornings, for about 2 hours. We started off very basically with “hello’s”, “how are you’s” and basic introductions, but very rapidly over the 5 days of lessons, progressed to “how to barter for the best price”, “likes and dislikes”, “food and drink” and much more.

During this time we visited our training village family for two nights which was a really good insight into what to expect from the actual placement. At first we both felt a little uncomfortable as our Nepalese was still a little shaky and the family’s English wasn’t that good. Also as they were such good hosts they would not let us help with any jobs and as this wasn’t our placement there was nothing for us to be getting on with immediately. However, the more we chatted and spent time with them, the more we felt at ease and welcomed and in the end we were very sad to be leaving so soon!

Next came the project in Goljung and our first real shock. By this time our Nepalese was coming on a little better and we were feeling more confident to get stuck into communication……only to find that in the village very few people spoke Nepalese! Goljung is a Tamang village and they have their own dialect. Our host family spoke Nepalese so this was not a problem but when we got to the library on the first day, we found that very few of the children understood our Nepalese or our English. We did find that some children spoke better Nepalese and English than the others and so they became our invaluable translators for all lessons.

We have thought about how this problem could have been avoided and have realized that it would have been impossible for the staff in Kathmandu to have taught us any Tamang as this isn’t their language. The only thing we can suggest is that future volunteers could be given a little more warning of the language difference and perhaps a small booklet with some basic Tamang expressions and useful phrases could be prepared for volunteers going to that placement.

Our work in the placement differed from what we had been expecting to do. Elena had been planning to spend most days working with a health centre in the village but found that it only opened one day while we were there, and I had planned to assist with some construction but found no projects/work to help with. Having said this we both had a fantastic time opening the library twice a day and teaching the children. We tried to impart some of our joint professional medical knowledge onto these lessons rather than just straight English. We introduced basics of self-hygiene, basic treatment of minor wounds, ideas about infection and cleanliness. These we felt went down very well and were absorbed by some of the children.

After our project and for a two days in the middle we took ourselves away to do some trekking in the local area and were rewarded by spectacular views and great mountain experiences.

On the whole we both feel strongly that Info Nepal is a fantastic organization and is doing a great job in trying to improve the quality of life of poorer people in Nepal. One thing we did notice was that there are very many villages which now have Info Nepal Libraries but these only open when Volunteers are present. This we feel can lead to a lack of continuity of learning for the children in those places. Two ideas we had of how to solve this problem were:

1) - A system of handover from one volunteer leaving a project to the next one arriving at the same place.

Ideally this could be done if they overlap their time at the project or meet in Kathmandu but obviously this will rarely happen. The best other way would be to start a formal handover book to detail, for example, times of opening of the library, lessons taught, levels of attentions and speed of learning of specific children etc etc. We detailed much of this is our report in the logbook already in the library in Goljung but perhaps it would be better to have a centrally held one in the office in Kathmandu so that observation can be made about progress in the different projects and comparisons made.

2) – A system of involvement of a local resident to open the library.

There a several obstacles to overcome with this idea. The local person must be trusted with a key and given responsibility for maintaining the library in a good condition. The local person would need to be paid for this. However, the benefits of allowing the children regular access to resources held in the libraries, even it were only for a piece of paper and a pen to write and practice English, would be great.

If we have any other ideas that come to us we will definitely get in contact with you to pass them on. We will also get on thew internet at some point in the near future and write some reports on the chat rooms etc about the work that Info Nepal does – in both English and Spanish!!!

Thanks again Info Nepal for giving us such a special experience. One that will stay with us for the rest of our lives…..or until we are next back again with you!

Rob – jones_2k@hotmail.com
Elena elenagilz@hotmail.com

Ben & Tanzi Hume
Sauraha - Jan 2007

Where do we begin???? Our experience in Nepal has been so amazing, filled with such a huge variety of new experiences. We spent our first few days trying to find our feet in the chaos that is Kathmandu. Probably the most difficult thing was keeping warm at night time. No heat and very limited hot water meant this was quite the challenge for those who are so used to luxuries such as central heating! We really enjoyed our time at Happy Home, playing with the children, meeting other volunteers and learning the basics in Nepali language.  Our teachers Rama and Bimala both deserve awards for patience and perseverance! We also got used the eating dal bhat Nepali style – with our hands! At first it felt as if we were going against everything our parents tought us as children but by the end of our time in Nepal we were pros. Quite a liberating feeling actually.
Just as we were beginning to feel comfortable in Kathmandu, we moved to Dhulikel to begin our village training. We were placed with an incredible host family consisting of 16 members, three buffaloes and some goats. We spent most of our time playing with the children and trying our best to interact with the adults. Thankfully Bimala and Rama paid us a visit so we could brush up on our Nepali language skills a bit further. We also did some sightseeing, visited one of the local schools and watched the sunrise up above the Himalayas.
Next on the itinerary was our placement experience in an orphanage in Sauraha, Chitwan. From the moment we walked onto the property we were surrounded by 16 children aged between 7 and 18. On our first night the children all danced and sang and welcomed us into their home. Our week in the orphanage went far too quickly as we busied ourselves playing, dancing and singing with the children, helping with homework, helping with the sweeping and chopping vegetables for the evening meal. We also got a glimpse of the library nearby and helped Sylvia (another volunteer) with some of her morning classes.  
We spent Christmas in Sauraha which was a real treat. Being in a Christian orphanage, the day was celebrated from5.30 am right through to midnight. Just as we do at home, we watched the children open their presents in the morning. They were so excited as this seemed to be the only time of year that they receive gifts. They each got some new clothes and a toy to play with. The orphanage was filled with bubbles, and games and noise for about 3 hours until all of the batteries finally ran out. Then we joined them for their church service for more singing and dancing and laughter. By the end of the day we were completely exhausted, never having been surrounded by that many excited children for that many hours!! Some of the children were still celebrating as we called it a night. 
The next day we met up with the rest of the Info Nepal crew who had traveled to Sauraha for the International Elephant Race. Ryan (another volunteer) rode the Info Nepal elephant to third place in his heat qualifying for the semi-finals the next day. Unfortunately our elephant was injured before the semis and refusing to ride an injured elephant, Info Nepal withdrew from the competition. We created quite a stir when the race began and our elephant simply sat down on the starting line.  
Before we knew it, it was time to pack our bags and return to Kathmandu. We had originally planned to travel to Pokhara but the series of strikes that had recently occurred in the area made us a little uneasy with regards to getting back in time to catch our flight home. So we traveled straight to Kathmandu and spent our last few days in Nepal doing some sightseeing, relaxing and making the most of the hot showers on offer at our hotel (the one thing we found most difficult to live without). We also managed to organize a mountain flight to get up close and personal with Mt Everest. We had to wait hours for the fog to clear but it was truly worth it. What a sight!  
As we prepare to return home, we are filled with mixed feelings. We can’t wait to return to some of the luxuries we so often take for granted such as our bathroom complete with hot shower, lighting at the flick of a button and a flush toilet, power that works round the clock, and central heating!! On the other hand, it is going to be so difficult to say goodbye to all of the wonderful people we have met in Nepal. Even though we have only been here a short time, the relationships we have formed have changed us forever and will always have a special place in our hearts. We shall never ever forget our humbling Nepali experience or the faces of those lovely children we had the opportunity to work with. 

 Donna and Jeremy
Goljung - 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