Sunday, March 16, 2014

Shivaratri, Chicken Pox and the new Eco Village.



It's been another great week here in Nepal. Unfortunately we had to say goodbye to Marion who has been volunteering with us for the past 8 weeks but the same day we welcomed Julie so we're never sad for too long!

Before Marion left, we celebrated Shivaratri, which is the celebration of Lord Shiva's birthday. To celebrate, (and I'm not sure why, but) they heat up sugar canes in a big bonfire in the center of town and then smash them on the concrete, making the biggest sound making you thing explosions are going off all around. We joined in and brought a few sugar canes of our own before heading off to our favourite haunt, Silk Road.




Today I visited the SOS Bahini Village which is looking absolutely incredible and so close to completion. Raymond (the founder) thinks the girls should be in by the next 2 weeks which is fantastic news for everyone. As you know, the Bahini Cafe shut down a few months ago, but when they move into the Eco Village, they have a large kitchen where they will continue their bakery training, sell them at the village and also to local restaurants which means volunteers no longer need to survive without those incredible Brownies!! I was so impressed with the set up of the center, the houses are beautiful, they have a health center, a community room, tonnes of outdoor space, a basketball court, veggie patch, and everything made out of natural materials. Unfortunately I didn't take my camera up with me today, but I'll make sure to get some snaps for you all next time I'm up there.
Bahini Eco Village

The Street Kids are all still down with chicken pox - it is spreading quite quickly amongst them all. Because I am unsure whether or not I have had them before I haven't been up there for the past two weeks. I'm missing them a lot, but have been phoning regularly to check the kids are fine and to see if there's anything they need, hopefully I can start visiting again this week.

Schools are gearing up for their exams. The older kids have their SLC's (School Leavers Exams) soon and then it is a months holiday in April, I know the kids are really excited!

We are currently looking for volunteers to come in April to run extra curricular activates at SOS Bahini and the Street Kids Center. This could be any thing from English classes, sports, arts, dance, music etc. During the holidays, there isn't actually that much for the children to do, and a month of no structure or anything fun can be quite a hard time for them. Over the past few years, we have run a type of 'summer camp' at Bahini. Last year we had volunteers running conversational English classes and dance classes with the girls which they absolutely loved so we are hoping to do the same again this year! If you would like to join us in Nepal then please email Gemma on gemma@podvolunteer.org.