First off, let me apologies for the long gap between posts.
I have been sick for about two weeks now, but finally on the mend and back on
the computer!
It seems like ages ago that we celebrated Holi, the festival
of colours, which basically turns the whole country into one giant colourful
water fight! I spent the day celebrating with my friends, throwing colour and
water on everyone I passed and the volunteers ventured into town to play for
themselves. It's a great festival and you really feel like the whole country is
having one big party all together!
We're still in the middle of School holidays, following
their exams and we will celebrate Nepali new year on the 14th, marking the
start of 2071 in the Nepali calendar and the start of the new school year. Most
of the schools will re-open on the or around the 20th. In the meantime,
volunteers have been working at the Street Kids Center,
trying to keep them entertained during the holidays (lots of crafts, football
and trips to the park) and Asha Foundation, an orphanage in the hills.
Juan, our Spanish volunteer, recently brought the Street
kids Center a new DVD player so that they
could watch DVD's in English to help improve
their language skills. Needless to say, this has been a great hit, and when the
power has been on they have had a few 'cinema' afternoons. In their collection
now they have Cars, Toy Story, Avatar and Monsters Ink!
Bahini celebrated their 10th birthday last weekend. I was so
upset to have missed it, but because I was sick, I didn't want to pass it on to
any of the girls, but it sounds like they had a fantastic day. They have all
now moved into the eco village and are settling in well. Because there are over 80 girls there, and many of them may not even know their birthdays, once a year they have a celebration for everyone's birthday, which I think is a fantastic idea. It also celebrates the opening of Bahini and the great work they are continuing to do.
I am still getting ready for my Everest Base Camp trek,
which is now only 3 weeks away (esk!). I've been doing Taebo three times a
week, swimming and lots of lots of dog walks, hoping to improve my fitness
before the trek. I have already raised a fair amount of money for the PoD
Charity but am hoping to get a little bit more in the next few weeks. If your interested
in following my progress you can see my donation page here.
If you would like to join us and volunteer in Nepal,
then please email Gemma on gemma@podvolunteer.org
