New Children Learning Center -

I never thought that my children will study with foreigners and learn English “Said Gan Bahadur Ghale with his smile. The Children Learning center in Chitwan, Sitamai is going well. We have now 130 Children registered to study at our center. The Children are very excited to learn from our Volunteers. We still need more volunteers to decorate this center with paint, colors, pictures, garden and creating educational environment. The big Sister and Brother are really happy to go to the Center and read and write. The Center is now busy all the day with 130 Children.
Thanks of the Month :  Thank you very much to Basanti (Happy Home Mum) who has been looking after 22 children at Happy home and a lot of Thanks to Sanjita who is helping our Children for their study. The first exam has finished of our Happy Home Children and they have scored very good marks at this time. All of our Children have been improving day by day in their study. In the first exam of the year, most of our Children scored more then 80% in each subject. “I am sure that this year most of our Children will come in the first position of the class “said Sanjita who is teaching our Children. Mingmar, Sarita, Tenjing, Chippu, Sabita, Kabita and Ashmita came top in their class in this first Exam. We would like to Congratulate to all of our Children who are being a family and working hard towards their bright future.

 Painting and plantation in School and Children’s Center  – Pokhara / Chitwan

We had a group of 18 students and 7 teacher staffs from a Guildford School throughout our partner Organization Frontier in June. The group did our Adventure and community work program for two weeks. The group painted our Children’s Resource Center in Sauraha and in Pokhara, a school. The school was a newly building and left for the painting lack of the funding. Our group planted tree around the school after finishing the painting. It was a very nice experience for the students to do the community work after their adventures- Jungle Safari and Trekking to the Annapurna region.

Health Camp in Sauraha – In June we had four medical Students from Medical School of UTHSCSA  from USA and we organized three health camps during their time while doing all the adventure activities like Jungle Safari and Everest Base camp trekking. The first Health Camp in Sauraha we checked up 290 patients and most of them have tooth problems. After the Sauraha we headed to Pokhara for a 2^nd health camp in a Street Children center. We checked up 19 children’s health there and 3^rd Camp was in a Orphanage home in Pokhara where were 20 children. Before starting the Everest Base Camp Trekking our Volunteers did another health camp in a Orphanage home in Kathmnadu where were 31 Children. Overall the four weeks Adventure and Medical program went very well.

“To the health volunteers I would recommend bringing as much of their medical equipment as possible such as stethoscope, ophthalmoscope, photo scope, tongue depressors, thermometers, and blood pressure cuffs”. Said Shweta Parmekar who was a part of this team. I loved the variety that volunteering in different parts of Nepal offered.  It exposed us to various health conditions and circumstances which gave us a wider perspective on healthcare here.  It also allowed us to practice the clinical skills we've gained thus far and allowed us to see conditions that we may not normally see in the States.

 Our Trip to London : Well, first we would like to thanks to all of our past volunteers who have invited us to visit their country. It was a great opportunity for my wife Namrata to understand the culture and life style of English people. Now I hope Namrata has a better understanding about our Volunteers and what they want to achieve during their time here in Nepal. I am sure that Namarta has now a good idea how you feel when you are out of your home and how to make them feel at home while hosting Volunteers at Volunteer Home.  Bath was really nice city and many thanks to Sussana Mouncastle and Matt for taking us to Torquay Beach. It was great party with barbeques and meets some of the teachers from Bath University. It was a big surprise for Namrata to see the sea tide when we were at Westcliffe at Anne’s home. Thanks a lot for Anne who shows us very interesting Fair areas and took us the world's longest Pier.

A lot of thanks for Emily and Guilie for arranging a Nepali Dinner party at Emily’s place and showing us around Cambridge. A lot of thanks go to Margaret and David for hosting us at their family and showing us typical English culture and cooking food for us. It was very exciting trip for us to visit Windsor Castle and take a picture with Queen Elizabeth's statue. Thanks a lot for Jacquie Ji who was a big help for our trip and sponsoring our children at Happy Home. We felt at home with Jacquie's hospitality and all the family were very friendly. We will miss this place a lot and in the future we will definitely come back. Once again we would like to thank all the past volunteers who hosted us at their homes and would like to invite to all to come to Nepal and stay at our Home. Please feel free to come with your family and friends.

Namrata and Asim

Volunteer's Experience

Michael Tuohy - Ballyroe Upper, Kilfinane, Kilmallick, Co.Limerick - 12th July 2008
I had about six language classes and had the opportunity to go sight seeing, which was a lovely experience and one I truly enjoyed. I then left for my placement in Chitwan and after a five hour bus journey I arrived at the house of my host family.

There were two other volunteers already in the house when I arrived, they had already finished there placement and were leaving the following day. They took me to the library and straight away I was very impressed at the facilities in the library in relation to the toys that the kids had and the books available to them.

 It took me a few days to adjust to my new surroundings but slowly but surely I began to feel comfortable and enjoy each moment. The children were very interested in learning about Ireland and its culture and I also asked many questions to gain a better understanding about Nepal. While I enjoyed teaching the children English you couldn’t beat the expressions on the children’s faces as you played games with them, as I had worked with children before I knew a few games and introduced them to the games, and the children also thought me a few of there games and as sometimes there was a language barrier, it made it all the more enjoyable.

 I formed an excellent relationship with the members of my host family, especially the two girls as they were studying for their English exams and I would help them out whenever they needed me. As I am not the best to eat, even at home, I struggled sometimes with the food, normally just sticking with just eating the rice!.

 Overall, I loved every second of my time in Sauraha, Chitwan, I feel the children enjoyed the time they had with me, and I will take back with me many happy memories and the 800 photos and more I took while in Nepal, and one day I hope I go back and do it all again!!.

My Nepal Volunteer Experience as a Medical Student - Eleanor Morad - UK - 13th July 2008

I am a third year medical student and my initial reason for going traveling this summer was to experience healthcare in a developing country and see how different it is to how we practice medicine in England. I chose Nepal, as I had never previously been to this part of the world and decided to go through INFO Nepal, as the organization seemed very well organized and arranged your placement as well as sightseeing, jungle trips and accommodation.
 I traveled with a friend and we arrived in Kathmandu airport after 30 hours of traveling! Instantly, we appreciated the change from London – it was very hot, busy and we quickly became surrounded by taxi drivers and hotel owners trying to help us. We were taken in a car to the Happy Home in Kathmandu where we would stay for the next three days. As we drove through Kathmandu, the pollution was as we expected but we had not been prepared for the numerous cows patrolling the streets and poking their heads through the taxi windows! The driving also took a little getting used to – horns are used more to warn other drivers of your presence, which was a little nerve-racking at first!
 The Happy Home in Kathmandu was a lovely place to stay in while we acclimatized to the city – it was very luxurious and the family were most welcoming and hospitable.  During our first few days, we had language lessons and sightseeing.  The language lessons were invaluable as I went from knowing absolutely no Nepali language whatsoever, to being able to have a very basic conversation and learnt some useful phrases, especially medical ones for the placement.  We were taken to temples which were beautiful and really worth going to, especially the "monkey temple!"
 The next stage of our experience was a three day stay in a jungle resort in Chitwan National Park.  After a lengthy eight hour bus journey we arrived and the differences from Kathmandu were instantly apparent – the climate was much hotter, the land was flat and there were mosquitoes everywhere – even with repellant spray and mosquito nets, I still managed to acquire an impressive number of bites! My favourite day here was when we were taken on a canoe to the jungle – passing crocodiles in the water as we went! We then had a three hour jungle walk, where we saw rhinos, deer, monkeys and many other smaller creatures. It was amazing to be so close to animals that I had previously only seen in books! Later in the day, we went on an elephant trek through the jungle, which was definitely an experience! With branches lashing at our dangling legs, we were able to see the jungle from a height and again saw many wild animals. In the evening, we were taken to a Tharu cultural show, consisting of singing and dancing, which was very entertaining.
 The majority of our time was spent staying at the Happy Home in Chitwan, home to 22 lovely children. We stayed here with two other volunteers and quickly felt right at home. The only problem was the frequent power cuts – they were usually fine but when one coincided with a little girl being taken quite seriously ill, it caused a bit of general panic. Fortunately, we were able to give her medication and she was fine. Our days were mostly spent at the local Health Post – the rough equivalent to an English GP surgery. Patients presented with a variety of medical problems, most frequently skin infections and gastrointestinal problems. After the doctor there gave us a summary of what the patient had complained of, we were left to examine the patient and formulate a possible diagnosis and management plan. This was challenging, as the language barrier caused some degree of uncertainty but by using basic phrases and sign-language, we usually came to a decision. As I expected, healthcare was very different in Nepal and basic hygiene measures were not implicated, so we left hand wash gel and rubber gloves there for future use. However, it was really useful to see how medical practice worked here and I really felt that our contributions were listened to and valued and we were able to be much more involved in patients' care than in England.
 Altogether, I had a thoroughly enjoyable experience in Nepal and am glad I went through the INFO Nepal organization.  Nepal is a beautiful country to visit, despite the widespread poverty, and the Nepali people were very welcoming and friendly to us.  We met many other volunteers throughout our time here, both through this organisation and others, so it was nice to meet so many new people and share our experiences. The INFO Nepal staff were all very helpful and I would recommend the healthcare program to any medical students, who want to combine seeing healthcare in a totally different setting, with an unforgettable experience in a beautiful country.

INFO Nepal - Monthly Newsletter
April - May 2008

New Children at Happy Home

INFO Nepal - Monthly Newsletter
February - March 2008

February was a very busy month with a lot of work done in Chitwan. The main work has been done in Chitwan, Happy Home. Now our Happy home is a completed home for the children. Our children have hot water, washing machine and security fence around the home. The new Library is fantastic and thanks to Sheena who has worked hard on the design. Our community children are very happy to have Library back in their village. We would like to thank Donald Munro who donated money for the Happy Home in Chitwan. With the help of his friend Nadia Happy Home now has a new fence, windows and hot water which is very much appreciated. The Happy home did not have roof on the top floor and now we have a roof so that the kitchen and dinning room will be safe from the rain. Our children are very happy to have windows in the dining hall. 
We celebrated at the Happy Home Bastu Puja too (Blessing of the house) to protect the children.
Thanks also to Nadia's work colleagues and her sister Karen who have donated money for the new mattresses, clothes and bicycles for the children. Nadia’s involvement with our organization is a great contribution and has shown us how to work with donors. 
After bringing our children to the Happy Home we stopped the village children coming to our Library because we wanted to give our children a feeling that this Happy Home is their home. Now we have reopened a separate library and need to work on integrating our children and the village children in the same ground and library so that the relationship will be good and our children and Volunteers can get good respect from the villagers.
Our village children are very happy to have Library back which has been renovated and stocked with new books. “After our Library became Happy Home we were thinking that we never get chance to access the library and learn from Volunteers, but what Uncle (Asim) has promised, now it is being done “ Said Kanchan Ghimire- 12 years old from the next door of Happy home. Chitiz 12 years old in front of happy home is very happy to have a big ground where he can play cricket and table tennis and meet all of his friends at the new Library, said “Thanks a lot for Donald for his great contribution for our bright future”.
We would like to give thanks to our volunteers Anne and Dan who raised money for our new project “ Child Day Care center in Sitamai." The work is going on rapidly and we are hoping to open it from April. This is the Village where we built 22 toilets in 2005.
The villagers are very happy with this day care center. In a our research we found that among 32 children who are aged from 5 to 8 , only 15 children are going to school. So our target will be those children who are the right age to go to School but because of their younger brother and sister they could not attend school because they were child minding. Also some of the parents who are landless in these areas can’t go to work both because of the small child at home. If we can take care of their child at the daycare center then both can go to work and earn some money. “Now my wife also can go to work “said Gan Bahdur Gurung."
 This center is just starting to bring more awareness about Education, Health and Sanitation in these areas. We need to do a lot after the center has stabilized for the Environment and Education. There will be around 40 children every day at the center for the Education. So in April months our three projects are going to serve around 150 children every day in Chitwan.
Current News from the Placement:

Sheena Cadoo (Curent Volunteer) - Ireland - Chitwan placement - 11th March 2008

Ganganagar library re -opened its doors on 17th Feb after a couple of busy weeks painting, cleaning, laying carpets and putting up plastic ceilings (all new skills to be added to the c.v.!) Eleven 11-13 yr attend the morning session and fourteen 4-9 yr olds attend the evening session. The library provides them with the opportunity to develop their English through grammars activates, word games, picture competitions and craft. Friday is sports day when the kids play table tennis, basketball, football and skipping. They are fantastic children and are really eager to participate. The older children have excellent English and have been known to stump me with their complex questions on verbs!!
The library had been closed for approx a year so they are all really pleased to be back interacting with volunteers, developing their English and having fun.
I have been staying in the Happy Home beside the library so when Im not working on lesson plans or making posters, I have been helping the other volunteer with the children. Ganganagar is really beautiful, the people are friendly, there are bikes to explore the area, good books in the library and the  local shop sells Cadburys chocolate - all in all its been a fantastic experience!

Daba Raj Ghimire - Local Coordinator -  Chitwan - Childcare Center - Update on 10th March 2008

Hi Asim and INFO crew,
The building of Childcare center is going well. Every day there are 7 youth from the village are working on the contraction site. There was a bit delay last week because of lack of Cements. All the villagers are very excited to see the center complited. The youth are very happy to get a job every day on the center and thinking that if there will be more projects in the village, they should stop thinking to go to Saudi Arab or Malesiya to work.
All the mothers of the village are very excited to see their children being lookafter at the center so that they can go to work. The more happy are the big brother and Sister of the each family, thinking that now they can go to school after the center running. There are 9 older brother and sister who have never been to the school when they are age 9 to 11 years old. Rita Bika (Thuli Kanchi) who is 11 years old and has naver been to school is very happy to go to  School  after learning at this center for few months so that she can cope in her class with younger one. So this center is going to serve up to 60 children of this village.

Gadgai, Children's Resource Center

This resource center is also going very fast. All the youth are very excited and donating their free time to build this center. Yes, the work last week was a bit slow because lack of the Cements, but now it is going fast. The roof of the building has made with trust with Iron pipe and all the walls plastering and door and windows are already fixed. Now we are waiting for you (Asim ) to come and buy the Tin for the roof. The youth already started to work on the flower garden in front of the center. We need to place two volunteers in this placement because there are so many children in this village and as the center is middle of the village there will be many children coming to the Library to learn . The Host family is just 1 minute walkable distance from the center with Toilet and bathroom. We are hopping to start it from April first week. We would like to give a lot of thanks to Anne and Dan from Ireland who have helped for this center to complete. Daba Raj Ghimire - Local Co-ordinator -  Chitwan

Donation to the Health post and School

In February 2008 INFO Nepal has donated a DVD to Patihani Health post." Now we can show in a village any health related documentary to the people" said Ram Hari the in charge of the health post. With out DVD there was a big problem for the health awareness program in the village. Now a lot of mother from the village goes to the health center to know more about how to take care of a child and how to keep hygienic their house. We would like to thanks to Room to Read who has contributed a Library in Rastria Prathamik school in Dhanauji. We INFO Nepal has decorated it with painting on the building, door and windows. We are very happy to help the Disabled center in Dhanauji providing Lunch, Educational materials and any row materials that can be use of incoming source for the disabled children of the village.

Paola Lillo - Chilli - My experience in Nepal - March 2008

Try to explain how I feel about my experience in Nepal in so few words is practically impossible. But, if you asked me for one expression to describe it, I would just say LIFECHANGING.
All the friends, my host family, the work, they all contributed to make my stay there a short new life. You meet so many people of all over the world, and everyone is so open to meet you as well that it results really easy to make friends immediately. Though I must admit that most of my friends ended up being Nepali. As for the work, it was really fulfilling, to do something useful with my time. From all my summer vacations this is going to be, by far, the best.
Whenever I start thinking about Nepal, and how far I am now from it tears come out. I cannot wait to get back, but this time for a longer period."
I would wake up early, usually at 7, went down to say good morning and spend some time with my family, had tea and after some time, at 9 AM, had dhal-bat. Then I went to the “Baratpur’s government hospital” walking and worked there, in the dental section from 10 AM to 1 PM. My work there consisted in helping in anything they needed, and sometimes do the extractions myself. Then I went to “Step by Step boarding school” to teach. It was mainly English but it depended on what teacher was missing, and the principal usually sent me where the children where requesting for me. After classes, at 4:30 PM I would go shopping, or to de cyber or anything I needed to do, then got back home, had some tea with bread, spent time with my host family, went to my room to check homework or to read something and at 8 PM approximately went down for dinner. In the hospital I would help in anything they needed, which wasn’t much. And some times I was allowed to do the extraction of the tooth.
At school I was requested to go to the classes that had no teacher at the moment. We usually had English classes, I was given a book to guide me, and we could also go to play outside. But with every class I was requested that when Ï met them, I should talk about my country and culture and let them talk to me about their county and culture.

A feedback from our past volunteer - Patrick O' donnel - Ireland - March 2008

1)      What did your average day look like?
Woke up about 7am with the noise of the keta keti. Helped prepare dahl bhat with Basanti in the kitchen. Sometimes did some games or English with the kids if we had time. We ate with the kids then helped them to dress & get ready for school. Karen & I traveled to the Health Post on the kids school bus at 8:30. We finished up at about 3pm or when all the patients were seen. Then we walked home to Happy Home, sometimes stopping to buy fresh vegetables on the way. We had chaai before the kids arrived home. They did their homework & we helped with some English or maths after that. If the weather was ok we went out to play for a while. We ate dinner and then read stories, depending on the power. We were normally in bed by 10pm.
2)      What did you do, in as much detail as possible, at your placement?
At the clinic we started seeing patients at about 10 am & we saw anywhere from 20 to 50 patients per day. There were a big mixture of ailments. Much of the conditions were related to lack of sanitation and washing facilities. Many women attended with aches & pains from many years of hard physical work. Chest complaints were also common as many people lived in smoky conditions. Twice we went out to the landless peoples villages and did a day long clinic. One day we attended the district referral hospital to see how it functioned.
3)      What are some of the issues or challenges you faced?
The language barrier, especially when communicating with patients. At times the medical volunteer work was quite frustrating. The system for treating & referring patients in Nepal is quite different to practice in Ireland. The medics tend to treat symptoms instead of finding the cause of the problems. We often had big discussions on how to manage patients with the medic & had to convince him that some people needed refferal.
4)      Advice to the next volunteer going to your placement?
Bring lots of warm clothes. Try to do structured teaching at a certain time every day for the kids. Bring small money with you to the clinic for patients. Often people could not afford medications or the price of the bus to the refferal hospital so we paid for them.
5)      Would you volunteer at this placement again?  Why or why not?
Yes I would volunteer at the Happy Home, but I would not go to the clinic. I think it is a suitable placement for people who are not fully medically trained. (ie students)
6)      Would you volunteer with INFO again?  Why or why not?
Yes I would volunteer with INFO. I found it a well organised, well supported and doing good work on the ground.
7)      Suggestions or problems?
There needs to be some sort of background check done on prospective volunteers. It would be very easy for someone who wanted to abuse or interfere with children to get placed in an isolated childrens home. You cannot be too careful in this day and age.
8)      Additional comments?
I really enjoyed my placement. The children and Basanti at Happy Home were amazing. They were so polite and kind. The cooking at the home was super and there is a great atmosphere in the place. Also, the other volunteers were enthusiastic and nice.
9) Please write, journal-style, about your whole experience with INFO Nepal.  This experience will go on the website and newsletter and it will help future volunteers see what types of things they will do at their placement.  Most volunteers write roughly one page.
Overall, my placement in Nepal was a thoroughly enjoyable one. From the first day when we were collected at the airport to the last day, we were well looked after extremely well. The time in Khatmandu Happy Home allowed us to meet the Info team & the other volunteers. Our time in Ganganagar was brilliant. We were made feel welcome by all in the local community and at the health post. The ketaketi are so polite and happy. They are all enthusiastic learners and we had great fun there. Basanti looked after us so well and even though we could not always communicate perfectly, she made us feel so welcome.