So my last volunteers left about a week ago and I've now got
about 3 weeks on my own. Which means, for once, it's actually been quite a
quiet week. Everything (all the strikes) have settled down again since the
elections, but we are still waiting for the results. The schools are open and
running like normal, so I am spending my time helping out at Annapurna Primary School and the Street Kids Center
in Lakeside.
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| The Bahini Eco village now |
I'm sad to update you all that the Bahini Cafe closed for
good this week. Due to their location they were not getting enough trade and
losing too much money. Although the aim was never to earn a lot of money, it
was to serve as a training center for young women and provide employment, but
they were simply loosing too much. There are plans they may re-open in a
different location at some point, but for now their focus is on the
Eco-village, which is looking incredible, and nearly ready for the girls to
move in to.
Another sad bit of information is that the Street Children
may have lost one of their largest donors. The Center survives solely on
donations, and although PoD give a monthly donation towards food from the PoD
Charity, we are all worried that they will not have enough to continue in the
future. Me and Phil visited the Center last week to make our donation for the
next three months, but you'd be surprised how much rice these little fella's
get through! I am starting to fund raise for my trek in April to Everest Base
Camp and hope to get enough to help them out in some small way.
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| BJ tucking into his Dal Bhat at the Street Kids Center |
In better news, Bindu is on the mend. She's been having
regular check ups and is a little bit more mobile now and hopefully the caste
will be off soon.
It is technically 'Winter' in Nepal
now, but to me, it feels more like an English summer! But it's actually my
favourite time of year, it is still warm in the day time and cool in the
evening and the clear skies mean that we are seeing the mountains every day.
I'm looking forward to the next volunteers arriving in the
next few weeks, every one has been asking me when my new friends are arriving!
If you would like to join me and the team in Nepal
and volunteer your time here, then please email Gemma on gemma@podvolunteer.org
