On the 3rd August, 29 people from HEG arrived in Kathmandu, Nepal to start their 3 week expedition with PoD.
HEG is a charity that takes young people all over the world with the aim of
providing 'an enjoyable, challenging and rewarding experience' and I think they
can be proud of what they achieved in Nepal 2014.
On arrival, I got them all settled into the hotel and then
took them for a welcome meal in
Kathmandu. I think it's
safe to say
Kathmandu was a little overwhelming for some
of the group and they were all very eager to get to Pokhara, which is much
calmer and a lot more chilled out. The following morning we flew to Pokhara. We
got settled into Bindu's which is where our volunteers stay and then Prem, our
Nepali teacher arrived to give them a two hour basic language and cultural
lesson. I was very impressed that many of them managed to pick up some useful
simple phrases very quickly which would help them on placement and in the
village where the level of English is much lower than in Pokhara.
We then spent the next ten days in Pokhara
volunteering at
different placements around the city. All in all, we painted 3 schools, which
now look fantastic and have provided wonderful learning environments for the
children that attend there and has made the teachers very proud. We also took
many of the schools and classes on educational trips to places of interest in
Pokhara. For example Annapurna Primary School went to the World Peace Pagoda,
Shree Prabhat went to the Gurkha Museum and then the bat caves, the Street Kids
got to have a picnic in the park, both the Street Kids and Shree
Krishna went to Begnas Tal (the 'other lake') and the Street Kids were also
lucky enough to have another outing to Sarankot. The group also got involved in
farming at Asha Foundation, a local orphanage where PoD supports them by paying
their rent of the farmland, and ran a fun informal teaching day at
Annapurna
Primary School.
During the placement aspect of the trip I was so impressed
how hard the group worked, they got stuck in straight away, got the job done
and then had a lot of fun with the children. It was lovely to see them all
engaging with each other. And the
feedback from the placements has all been very positive.
At the same time that groups were working in Pokhara, we
took 10 at a time up to a local village, called Kalabam, for a cultural village
stay so they could experience rural
Nepal.
They stayed with local families in groups of 2-3 for 2 nights 3 days. During
this time they learnt a lot about Nepali culture, specifically Gurung and
Brahmin cultures, which are the two castes that predominantly live in this
village. They got involved in the local school and helped out for a day there,
they helped in the farms of their local families, including help to get the
sheep in and out for grazing, milking the cows and collecting and harvesting
the corn. I think for most, this was the highlight of the trip. Every night
they would meet at the 'Chiefs' house (the chairman of the community) where
everyone would gather for singing and dancing which the whole group got
involved in. On the final day of placement, we took all 29 of the group back up
to the village for a closing ceremony and so that every one could say goodbye
one last time. I think this was in some was the hardest part of the expedition
as it was different from what any one had ever done before, but at the same
time the most rewarding.
All too soon, the placement aspect of the trip came to an
end, and we were off trekking. We agreed on a fairly short trek, 4 days, and
the best trek on offer was Poon Hill in the Annapurna Region which took the
group to the height of 3200m (which is higher than both
Snowdon
and
Ben Nevis!). This was tough! I don't think any one
in the group found it easy and it was made all that much harder by the constant
rain. We had been very lucky during the placements that we had sun most days,
especially since it was monsoon, but as soon as we started trekking the heavens
opened and didn't stop until we returned to Pokhara. Credit to the group
though, this didn't dampen their spirits and the vast majority of them
successfully made it to Poon Hill, landslides and leaches weren't going to get
in their way! I think every one was grateful of a hot shower as soon as they
got back to Pokhara.
The following day, I had planned a rest day for them so that
they could recover from the trek, but everyone still had so much energy I
organised a sightseeing tour for half the group (we visited the Peace Pagoda,
Devi's Fall and the Caves opposite) and Maila (my partner) took the other half
for a beginners kayaking lesson on the lake. Everyone really enjoyed themselves
and some of the kayakers even managed to learn to roll.
We then went rafting on the
Trisuli river, which is usually quite a tame river,
but at this time of year it's like being in a washing machine for 4 hours. I
think I can say, without a doubt, this was the groups best day. I didn't
actually join them in the raft but rather followed them in the bus taking photos
when I could. All I could hear as I travelled down were giggles, screams of joy
and some random chants! ('Oggie oggie oggie!!) When they finished they were full of stories
about the raft flipping, swimming and how much fun they had. We then had a
quick bus ride to our camp, but first we had to walk across a 100m suspension
bridge over the river. We stayed in a fixed camp, so we had tents that had real
beds in the them! The food prepared by the guides was fantastic and that
evening we all had a bit of a party. A mixture of Nepali and English Pop songs
blared from the speakers and every one was up dancing and having a great time.
All too soon, it was bedtime and we camped next to the river.
The following day we were off to
Chitwan
National Park. One of PoD's
policies is not supporting elephant tourism because of the abuse many of the
elephants experience during captivity. Many of the group found it quite upsetting to
see these magnificent creatures chained up. However we did enjoy the walking
safari and the log canoe ride. During our safari we saw a Rhino, deer, a
monitor lizard, two different types of crocodile (one very rare Gharial Croc)
and my personal favourite, the wild chickens!
And then we were done with the activities. The next stop was
Kathmandu, after a (thankfully) non eventual 8 hour
buses journey we made it back to where we began our expedition. I had organised
a leaving meal at one of our favourite pizza restaurants in town for everyone
to have a celebration.
Today is their last day, and we have organised for them to
visit Bhaktapur, which is the ancient city in Kathmandu
so they can see Newari culture and visit some temples. Then tomorrow they are
off having successfully completed their three week expedition.
I think everyone is exhausted, the group have worked very
hard but it has been great fun, and many of us have made great friends along
the way. Thanks HEG! I hope to see you again.
You can see more pictures of this trip
here.
If you are part of a school, college, university, group or
club and are interested in joining
PoD on an expedition, please contact Mike on
mike@podexpeditions.org
Working with a number of different classes and a number of
different teachers allowed me to see a lot of the school and I was amazed how
they got by with so little. I’m so used to powerpoint and worksheets, videos
and calculators, that it was a massive change to stand in a room with only a
whiteboard. Teaching English was harder than maths, because the textbooks they
used had quite a few mistakes, and they often repeated everything without
really understanding what they were saying. The students and teachers were
happy to try other things but the language barrier to explain things did prove
tricky, especially with the young students. All the teachers were very friendly
and keen to improve their own English by chatting and really made me feel part
of the staff.
Outside of the placement I had lots of time to chill and
explore in Pokhara in the evenings, weekends and random national holiday days!
I went swimming, boating, kayaking and paddle boarding on the lake by hiring
them from local shops. One Friday afternoon I went paragliding, which was
awesome, and I got to see how big the city was and glimpse the surrounding mountains.
I also went on a sightseeing tour in a taxi with another volunteer and visited
Devi Falls, bat caves, a local museum and the peace pagoda overlooking the
lake.
As there was a 4 day public holiday while I was there 6 of
us decided to go for a 4 day trek around the Annapurna mountains area. Despite
the weather (full on monsoons and clouds) the trek was excellent. We had a
great tour guide who kept our spirits up (we needed it with 3800 steps up in
one day!) and it felt like a real achievement to complete quite a challenging
trek. 
