Here's part 2 for Elinor's Diary. I've tried not to cut out too much as I think it's great to see the highs and lows the volunteers go through and Elinor gives a real insight as to what volunteering in Nepal is really like!
3
October
Hi all,
It's
been a very frustrating couple of days in lots of different ways, some real
highs and lows. It's a 50/50 situation, 50% of the time, you really feel
like you're getting into the swing of things and then the next moment,
everything is thrown into chaos!!
On
Monday, we took a class from the Shree Krishna school to the Gurkha museum,
which was very interesting and again, they all seemed to be really interested
in the information and enjoyed the experience. Then the children decided
that they wanted to go and see the local hospital, which turned out to be an
hours walk away, through the town, over the extremely large and slightly
terrifying suspension bridge (I thought Sinead was going to have a nervous
breakdown halfway over), through a few local villages, up a ravine, down a
ravine, over a river, up a hill, down a hill, through rice fields, to the
hospital, which looked like an inner city slum block. There was mould
growing down the side of the building, it looked filthy and like it should be
knocked down due to being a health hazard - how ironic! The children
wanted to go inside and have a look around, and some of them wanted to go in
the lift as they had never been in one before, so inside we went. No-one
looked twice at us as we wandered around the different wards.
In the
afternoon, we went to the street kids, and it is here that I do feel like I'm
contributing and making an impact. The lads did their homework and then
we went to the park and threw frisbees and balls around and did some
skipping. Before we knew it, all the local kids had joined us so we ended
up playing with about 30 kids!
Yesterday
was the most frustrating day yet. We were going to Shree Krishna and we
had planned an outdoor activity for 3 groups of 25 each for an hour each.
When we woke up in the morning it was throwing it down with rain, so we had to
quickly re-plan and come up with an indoor activity. My kiddie repping
experience has never come in so handy. We arrived and we were told we would
have 3 classes of 8-10 year olds. What we ended up with was a class of
5-6 year olds first with about 20 in the class so they were really too young
for what we had planned, the second class were 8-10 but there were 30 of them,
maybe more, so too many, and the third class didn't show up and we were kicked
out of the library we were supposed to be using! They tried to get us to
take over the older class and teach them English but we refused and then we
eventually agreed to take a class that didn't have a teacher outside for some
games. Again, it was fine for about 20 minutes and then all the other
children in the school seemed to join us so it descended into chaos. The
teachers here don't care and will do anything to get out of doing any
work. INFURIATING!!!
Last
night we had dinner with the family who own the guesthouse where we stay - veg
and cheese momo's - which were lovely, but looked cr*p cos we'd made them!
Overall,
I am still enjoying my time here, however, I have to have a word with myself
daily to tell myself to accept things for the way they are and not to let
things get to me. I do miss my home comforts and I will massively
appreciate everything when I get home, even more than I do already!
Thanks
for all your responses, take care, and catch up soon.
Elinor xxx
5
October.
Hi everyone,
So,
officially the Volunteer Experience is over. My two weeks of visiting all
the different placements has come to an end and I have been lucky enough to go
to all but one of the different schools, orphanages and the street kids home.
I didn't go to Bahini, which is the abused women's school, as only long
term volunteers are allowed to go there. It's been hard work, testing
physically and mentally at times as you know, but overall, I'm very glad with
how it has all gone.
The
next two weeks will be very different because it is the Dashian Festival for
the next week, followed by another festival for two weeks, so many of the
families, and therefore the children, have gone to visit family in other areas.
The town of Pokhara is much quieter and many of the schools are now closed for
a month!!! God love the Nepali education system :-) One interesting
fact for you - during Dashian, 100,000 goats and buffaloes will be slaughtered
(apologies to my vegetarian friends for this) as it is considered to be a great
gift to give your family. PoD are paying for a goat to be given to the
mum at the street kids home, so she can cook a big meal for them all.
This is a very big deal and will be very exciting for them.
Luke
has finished his placement so he is off trekking on Monday though the Annapurna
mountain range, so it's just me, Sinead and Kay. Over the next two weeks, we
will spend the majority of our time with the street kids and up at Asha, which
is the orphanage in the mountains about 40 minutes away.
Yesterday,
I went on a bit of a shopping spree and I brought the lads a new t-shirt each.
They only really seem to have their school uniform and one set of
'casual' clothes which they change into when they get home from school, so I
thought a new t-shirt each would be good. The only two things I'm worried
about - them fighting over the different colours I got (and boy, when they
fight, do they fight?!) and them keeping the clothes for 'best' which they have
a tendency to do, unless you specifically tell them the clothes are for
everyday wear. I think I will have to get them to line up in height order
and hand out the t-shirts one by one, otherwise it will turn into a brawl!
We're
going to take them to the park and perhaps set them a project to do for the
week, and of course, help them with their homework, of which they have quite a
lot.
Happy
weekend everyone, and catch up with you all next week.
Elinor xxxx
8th
October.
Hi everyone,
After a
very relaxing weekend of getting my clothes washed properly at a laundrette
(luxury - smelt of lemons) a trip into the city to buy loads of new toys, games
(Twister, Scrabble, 3 new frisbees...) and a steam bath followed by an all over
body massage, I decided it would be good to put a plan together of what we were
going to do for the next two weeks. You know how I love to be in charge
and boss people about right?!!! So we sat down and looked at all the
equipment and games that we have and now we have an indoor / outdoor list of
things we can do up until next Thursday which is my last day. Can you
believe I've only got 10 days left? The time has flown by that's for
sure.
So,
with our plan in hand, we arrived at the street kids centre yesterday, the lads
were just having lunch and then we sat them all down and explained the activity
planner. They seemed very excited, however, my favourite bit was when we
told them that we had some new clothes for them to wear when they were doing
their activities and that it was a present to celebrate the Dashain festival.
They couldn't line up in height order quick enough!! We handed out the
t-shirts and despite my fears, there was only limited swapping of colours :-)
The smallest boy, Nissan, did look so very cute with his oversized
t-shirt which looked more like a dress. Then, they were even more excited
when we handed out the shorts that Kay had brought. Having a whole new
outfit was just brilliant. Now here's the funniest thing, despite us
saying that they were not for best and that they were to wear them every day,
about half the group went and got changed, came out of their bedrooms, showed
us their outfit and then went back inside and got changed into their old
clothes again!! It took several tries before we got all of them to agree
to put on their new outfits as they didn't want to spoil them. So funny
seeing them going in and out of their bedrooms, asking each other if it was ok
to keep the clothes on and taking their lead from the older boys as to what was
acceptable.
Then we
took them to the park and played frisbee and ball throwing and we had also brought
a big washing line to use as a skipping rope, however, boys being boys, this
quickly became a high jump, a limbo line, tug of war and a thing to wrap around
your brother's neck and playfully try to garote them! Then the play
descended into play fighting and so Sinead and I got stuck in and soon enough,
I was the person to go to if you wanted to be hung upside down or spun around
until you were dizzy and fell over. Anyway, it's fair to say by the end
of it that their clothes were well and truly worn in and they weren't worried
about getting them dirty anymore.
Later
in the afternoon, I took 5 of the older kids to the internet cafe so they could
play games on the computer and when we got back to the house, a new boy had arrived!
Seemingly, he had been picked up by some tourists who, along with some
locals, had brought him to street kids, hoping that there was space for him.
Ama signed some forms and took him in. We still have space for one
more boy if needed. This one looks like he will bolt at any minute
though, and it is often the case that when they first come, it takes a few
tries before they decide to stay and they realise they're on to a good thing.
It's whether they can accept the routine, the fact that they go to school
and do homework and whether they fit in with the other boys. It'll be
interesting to see if he's there today. Some run away and never come
back, particularly during tourist season like it is as the moment, as they can
make lots of money on the street and get given ice cream and chocolate.
Bloody tourists!!!
Today
is painting and drawing, followed by Badminton, Skittles and Blind Man's Bluff!
Happy Days :-)
Thanks
for all your lovely messages of support and news of home, I really do look
forward to logging on and reading about what you're all up to.
Take
care, y'all and chat soon.
Love,
Elinor
If you would like to join the PoD team in Nepal, then please email Gemma on gemma@podvolunteer.org
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