And it's goodbye from me...

Hello everyone.  This is a very sad blog update for me to write because it is my last.  After today, I will no longer be working for PoD Nepal.  I’ve had an amazing 2 years in Nepal, but sometimes it’s just time to go home.  So, next week, I shall be packing up my bags and getting back on a plane to sunny old Manchester.  But, before I go, I want to do an Oscar style speech, gushing about the wonderful people and experiences I have had in Nepal.  I hope you don’t mind...

Leaving party at APS

Firstly, I’d like to talk about the people I’ve met here in Nepal.  I’m constantly blown away by local staff, children and volunteers alike.  Staff make the most of the limited resources and infrastructure in Nepal to support some of the community’s neediest people.  I’m not sure if their hearts of sense of determination is bigger, but they have a lot of each!  Often, their work is pioneering in that it challenges the cultural stereotypes and status quo.  It takes a special type of person to be able to identify social problems and then to act upon them.

The children and clients that I have come across are equally awe inspiring.  Many of them have faced – and are still facing – the toughest of conditions; poverty, abandonment, domestic violence, discrimination, loss of mobility. But, despite all of this, they carry on.  They smile and laugh and play and welcome our volunteers into their lives.  Their resilience and determination demand that we get to know them as individuals in their own right, not just as the faces of the social problems they face.  It has truly been a pleasure to get to know each and every one of them.

Saying goodbye to the Street Kids' Centre

Finally, our volunteers.  Wow.  What a bunch!  It would be easy for me to become complacent about this group.  I have been fortunate enough to meet a large number of these people.  People willing to give up their time, money and efforts to help people that they have never even met.  So, I need to keep reminding myself that this isn’t the norm.  Most people head for a swimming pool or beach in their holidays.  I feel incredibly lucky to have met a lot of the few who choose to dedicate their hard earned breaks to serving others.

Each of these individuals has played a vital part in the work of PoD Nepal.  It’s thanks to their combined efforts that I’ve witnessed some real changes in the projects we work with.  I’ve seen teachers taking on new teaching methods and the shy kids at the back of the class blossoming under the praise and support of volunteers.   I’ve heard the huge improvements in the English levels of the children we work with.  I’ve seen scared and angry newcomers at the Street Kids’ Centre be coaxed into joining sessions and having fun.  None of this would have been possible without the time and attention given by local staff and international volunteers.  What a team!

Farewell to the Asha Foundation 

I’ve seen PoD Charity grow from an idea into a really effective channel for distributing support where needed.  Thanks to PoD Charity and its generous donors, many of our placements have undergone real transformations.  All of the classrooms we work in now have whiteboards.  Shree Krishna school has access to clean drinking water.  The Street Kids’ Centre has a sheltered outdoor area to keep little heads dry in the rain and cool in the sun.  The kids at the Asha Foundation can now close their windows and doors to keep out the dust and bugs.  Annurpurna Primary school now has the funds to ensure that each child gets a decent meal at lunchtime.  Ward 6 day care centre has a huge toy box filled with educational toys and resources.  Dipya Jyoti has a well resourced and expanding school library.  And these are just some of the examples of where your donations and fund raising efforts have helped.  A huge thank you to everyone who has contributed, and please, keep up the good work!

Apart from all the great work our volunteers have done in the community, they have provided me with a lot of good times and a lot of new friends.  They have provided me with hours of momo making (and eating!), relaxing by the lake, short lived keep fit regimes, nights at the Silk Road, days out and mini adventures.  Of course, as with any friendships, we are not only there for each other during the fun times, and we have faced our fair share of challenges together.  We’ve dealt with cockroaches, unwanted admirers and middle aged Nepali women hell bent on stuffing us with dal bhat until us explode.  We’ve stood together and watched helplessly as our shoes have been washed right off our feet by the monsoon rains.  We’ve spent hours on a buses with chickens on our laps.  We’ve stumbled through the streets in the dark of power cuts, blindly dodging sleeping cows and buffalo that only came into view once we were almost on top of them.  We’ve shivered together them in winter and sweated together in summer.  We’ve shared intimate information about our bowel movements, inspected each other’s insect bites and combed out our nits.  And you know what?  I have enjoyed every minute.  Thanks to all of the people who have made my time with PoD Nepal a fantastic experience.  I leave here feeling inspired and humbled by you all.

For more information on our work in Nepal and how to join our team, look at our website or contact Becky in the UK on 01242 250 901.  If you would like to help, but don't have the time to come in person right now, you can always make a donation to the PoD Charity and help fund our work here. 

Goat meat parties all round!

It seems like only yesterday I was writing about our last batch of donations, but yet here I am again with yet MORE donations news.

This week, Phil and I have spent two full days shopping and visiting placements to handover donations on behalf of PoD Charity.  It’s been great.  We’ve met some very real needs and provided some much appreciated treats for the projects we support.  A HUGE thank you to everyone who has contributed so far.

For those of you wondering how you can support PoD Charity’s fundraising, it’s easy!  Join our fundraising event in the Peak District at the end of next month.  It's going to be a great weekend of running or walking - whatever tickles your fancy - camping, laughing and raising money for a great cause (for details, click here).  If you can’t make it on the day, you can still contribute by sponsoring those of us who are heading up into the hills by clicking here!  My husband and I will be walking 10kms over hill and dale in the UK to raise pennies for all of our fantastic projects here in Pokhara.  I’m a little nervous about how I will cope with both the exercise and the UK weather after several months of moving as little as possible in the heat of the Nepali summer, but I’m going to give it a try.

Anyways, in case more incentive is needed to get you donating, see below for where our last batch of donations went.

Class five posing with their new books at Dipya Jyoti

We gave our first donation to Dipya Jyoti Primary.  This really is an amazing school.  The teachers are as keen to learn from our volunteers as the children are, and they are always open to new ideas.  One big change made in the school by our volunteers was the introduction of a mini library.  PoD volunteers Abby and Liz commissioned the building of a bookshelf, transported it to school on their heads and stocked it with books.  They taught the children and staff how to record the loans and take care of the books.  PoD Charity has just donated a load more fresh books to keep them interested.  The kids were delighted.  They proudly showed off their loans book as evidence of just how much reading they had been doing, and I can vouch that it is a lot!  We are also working to get more books for the school by linking up with and INGO that distributes library resources to worthwhile projects.  Looks like our next donation here may have to be a bigger bookshelf!

The Asha Foundation is doing well.  All of the windows and doors that we donated last time are in and looking great.  More importantly, they are keeping the wind, dust and rain out of the house.  So, with the house pretty much finished, we decided to use this batch of PoD Charity money to give the kids a treat.  We rocked up to their house in the evening time, armed with 5kg of goat meat and 11 litres of curd for dinner.  We all sat down together to enjoy a good meal and good company.  Marvellous!

Kids, staff and committee members receiving donations at
the Street Kids' Centre

The Street Kids’ Centre also benefited from a PoD Charity sponsored party, complete with goat meat and soft drinks.  They enjoyed the food greatly, but seemed much more interested in the new bike that PoD had bought for them!  At the moment, this organisation is really short on funds, so short that they are struggling to pay their food bills.  So, PoD Charity donated 50kgs of rice and 13kgs of lentils (the staple diet in Nepal) to ensure that the children continued to be well fed even when we weren’t there.

We also visited Annurpurna Primary School to donate funds to cover the cost of daytime snacks for the children there.  This is a really important donation as many of the children here come to school on an empty stomach and don’t eat until late at night.  This time around, we need to give a big thanks to Kerra Stephens, a past PoD volunteer at APS, who went home and raised funds with her own class to fill the tummies of children on the other side of the world.  Fantastic stuff!   

Santosh gets to be the first to see human blood
cells through the microscope

PoD Charity facilitated donations from Marilyn Watts, a past PoD volunteer, to Shree Krishna school.  Marilyn volunteered in the science department here last year and caused quite stir.  Until her appearance here, lessons were largely theory based and the children had very little experience or understanding of the practical applications of science.  She left the school pledging that she would help to rectify this, and she has certainly done that!  Since leaving Nepal, Marilyn has tapped her local colleges and colleagues for old science equipment, a laptop and a projector AND managed to get them to Nepal.  Despite a few glitches on the way - equipment finding it's way to pretty much every location in Nepal except the place it was meant for - we tracked everything down, got it all together and set off to school.  The staff there were delighted with their new resources and headed straight to Class 9 to show them off!  The kids were most intrigued and battled with each other to get the first glimpse into the microscope.  A huge thanks to Marilyn and we wish the students the best of luck with their new equipment.

  

And that’s about it.  Once more, if you have a few extra pennies to spare, please do sponsorKeshav and I on our walk up and down the peaks of the Peak District.  As you can see, your money really does go where it is needed.  We need regular contributions to ensure that we can continue to sponsor basic needs and treats across all of our placements.   

For more information on our work in Nepal and how to join our team, look at our website or contact Becky in the UK on 01242 250 901.  If you would like to help, but don't have the time to come in person right now, you can always make a donation to the PoD Charity and help fund our work here.

PoD Charity distributes MORE donations!

Thanks to the wonderful generosity and efforts of PoD Nepal volunteers past and present, PoD Charity has been able to distribute more donations to our projects in Pokhara.  Phil and I have been running around the place finding out what’s needed and making sure it gets to the right place. 

Before I get going on where your donations were spent, I want to invite you all to help our fundraising efforts some more.  On the weekend of June 30^th, PoD staff and volunteers are heading up to Thornbridge Hall in the Peak District to do some serious fundraising and have a lot of fun in the process!  We have the option of a 4km or 10km walk or run, followed by an evening BBQ and party, optional overnight camping and breakfast in the morning.  How amazing does that sound?  All you need to do is raise £25 for PoD Charity – you can even choose which project you want to support!  For more details, or to register, contact Gemma (gemma@podvolunteer.org) in the UK office.

Anyways, without further ado, I shall get on to the important business of telling you about our latest round of donations...

Bedhari Sir with his new whiteboard

Shree Krishna School benefited from a shiny new whiteboard for each classroom.  Any of you who have been inside Shree Krishna will understand just how big an impact this donation will have.  Previously, lessons were taught on old blackboards.  The dust they created left the teachers and front rows coughing and the whole classroom dirty.  The boards were worn out, meaning it was difficult to write on them and even harder to read what was on there.  The new whiteboards mean that classes are now clean and clear for all, hurrah!

We also donated sports equipment to Shree Krishna.  We handed over badminton rackets and shuttlecocks, a football, a volleyball and net.  PE classes are now much more fun and practical, and the school has been able to start and develop sports teams to compete in local schools’ competitions.  We’ll let you know when the trophies start rolling in...!

At Annurpurna Primary School we handed over money to cover the costs of midday snacks for children and staff.  Those of you familiar with our programme will know that this is a longstanding arrangement between PoD Charity and the school.  It started with a PoD Nepal volunteer who realised that many of the children came to school on an empty stomach and wouldn’t eat until they got home at night.  Horrified by this, she started to bring in healthy snacks for the children every day.  After she left, the staff tried to continue this practice.  Unfortunately, their funds were limited and so delivery was sporadic to say the least.  And that’s when we came in.  For the past year,  PoD Charity has made, and intends to continue to make, regular donations to the school to make sure that every child gets food, every day.   

Day out at Devi's Falls

As you may know, the Street Kids’ Centre recently relocated.  Their old building was getting more dilapidated and expensive by the day.  Definitely time to move.  Their new building is great.  It’s located close to the old centre, but feels a million miles away.  They look out across fields and hills.  The fields provide a great view and sense of space, but more importantly provide the kids with their own football field and stomping ground!  The one thing the new building lacked, however, was usable outdoor space.  Their yard was spacious, but total open to the elements.  This meant it was too hot in the sun and too wet in the rain.  The indoor rooms were taken up with kitchens and bedrooms which meant there was little space to sit, eat or study.  PoD Charity contributed towards the building of a shelter which means the children now have a covered area which serves as a very useful outdoor room!

The Street Kids’ also benefited from a PoD Charity sponsored day out to Devi’s Falls and the Guptashwor Caves.  Details of this are on a previous blog, but for those who haven’t read about it, we had a brilliant time.  The waterfall was not at its greatest as it’s the dry season here, but what we lacked in water we more than made up for in enthusiasm!  The kids – and volunteers – had a great time exploring, taking photos and eating ice cream.  The day was so successful that we hope to do something similar with all of placements soon!

The Asha Foundation Chairman receiving money for windows

Another centre that is in a new(ish) building, is the Asha Foundation.  Despite relocating a year ago, construction is still not finished in their new home because of a lack of funds.  PoD Charity’s last round of donations funded windows and doors in all of the bedrooms to make nighttimes warmer in the winter months.  The communal areas remained unsealed, with just empty frames where windows and doors should be.  Whilst the cold winter months are behind us, the change in seasons has brought different challenges.  Spring in Nepal is dry and windy.  Strong winds were coming in through the holes in the walls, scattering children’s homework and whipping up dust into their dinners.  So, PoD Nepal stepped in to donate the funds necessary to build and install the remaining windows and doors.  The whole building is now sealed, providing a secure, clean and comfortable environment for all.  Marvellous!

And that’s it for this time.  For more photos you can look at our facebook page.  We are now turning our attention to fundraise for future donations.  Our wish list includes expanding the library at Dipya Jyoti and starting a library at Annupurna Primary.  We want to treat more kids to days out.  We need to make sure that day time snacks continue at Annurpurna Primary.  The kids at the Street Kids’ Centre have requested a bike and the Asha Foundation building is still far from finished.  If you want to contribute towards these needs, you can donate here.  And remember, if you don’t have the money to spare yourself, whip up some sponsors and come join us in June!

For more information on our work in Nepal and how to join our team, look at our website or contact Becky in the UK on 01242 250 901.  If you would like to help, but don't have the time to come in person right now, you can always make a donation to the PoD Charity and help fund our work here.

Summer of '69!

Hello everyone and a very Happy Nepali New Year to you all!  The turn of the year 2069 means that we are now officially in the Summer of ’69.  Anyone who has been here will know that this is Nepal’s unofficial national anthem and can only imagine how delighted the population are now that they have a real excuse to blast it out at every opportunity. Now, wherever we go we hear Bryan Adams’ famous hit blaring out of radios, cover bands or mobile phones.  Fun...?

Enjoying some hard earned candy floss at the fair

Anyways...back to us!  We celebrated New Year’s by heading off to the festival in the park.  We took all of the kids from theStreet Kids’ Centre along and enjoyed all the fun of the fair.  The bravest amongst us risked the swinging pirate ship, we all took our chances on a ride that was much faster and scarier than it looked from the ground, and the little ones practiced their motorcycle riding and plane piloting skills on a merry-go-round.  After that, it was lunch time.  Dal bhat all round.  And all over the floor and the table and the children...they got a bit excited and kept jumping up to point out things to each other sending their banana leaf plates flying all over the place!  We stopped at the main stage to watch some traditional dancing and then very nearly ended up in a tent of scantily clad ladies doing some not-so-traditional dancing.  Luckily, we realised that this wasn’t the magic show that we had been looking for and got out before the children saw anything too inappropriate.  Quite why the staff at the ticket booth didn’t think to tell us that the dance show may not be exactly what a group of volunteers and staff with 8 children were looking for, I don’t know!  Anyway, we finally found the magic show which was great fun.  People disappeared, flew and were cut in half.  We thought about a helicopter ride, but decided that may stretch the budget a little and so walked home instead.  Good times all around!

It’s also the start of the school year for us here.  The great news is that all of the kids we work with at the Asha Foundation, SOS Bahini and the Street Kids’ Centre passed their exams.  Our SOS Bahini girls all had improvements on their English results.  Asmita at the Street Kids’ did fantastically well and won a scholarship to a private school.  Shreeram, also at the Street Kids’, did well in his exams but really excelled in his conduct and behaviour in class and has been made class monitor.  They both begin their new roles with the opening of school this week.

Distracting kids with balloons, always a winner!

Ward 6 Children’s Centre has had a fresh batch of children starting.  It’s been quite chaotic.  Lots of crying and squabbling, not so much of the cooperation these days.  No one seems to want to sit and sing songs, read books or learn their alphabet just yet.  So, we have been distracting them with fun games and balloons, anything to make them associate the centre with fun rather than punishment!  The aim is that in a week or so the children will be happy and comfortable enough for us to get back to some sense of order and re-start more productive, structured sessions!

We have just finished distributing this quarter’s PoD Charity donations across our projects, too.  We have paid for the construction and fitting of windows in the living room and a front door for the Asha Foundation, the building of a shelter for the Street Kids’ Centre and sports equipment for Shree Krishna Lower Secondary School.  More details and photos will follow next time once all construction work has been finalised.  These donations, as with most of our past donations, have focussed on upgrading the physical environment for the centres.  For our next round of donations we really want to focus on giving the children a bit more fun and excitement in their lives.  To do this, we are looking at running day trips and experiences for the children.  If you can donate some pennies towards this, please visit our donations page.  If you can contribute some ideas for fun, child friendly days out in and around Pokhara, let me know! 

And finally...I want to invite you to a party.  Yes, that’s right. A party.  It's not in Nepal (although if you do come here I will put on another party for you!).  PoD turns 10 this year – hurrah! – and to celebrate the lovely ladies in the UK have planned a very special, fun, fundraising event.  We are all going to meet in the Peak District on June 30^th for a sponsored walk (or run for those of you so inclined).  There is a 4km and a 10km route, after which will be an evening BBQ and party, after which will be camping, breakfast and then home.  It’s free to attend, you just need to raise £25 for PoD Charity.  You will be able to choose which project you raise money for and will have a lot of fun in the process.  If you are interested, email Gemma in the UK to let her know.  Keshav and I will be there and want to see as many PoD Nepal faces there as possible.  Yes, that’s right, we are coming all the way from Nepal to be there, so you lot had better make an effort too!

For more information on our work in Nepal and how to join our team, look at our website or contact Becky in the UK on 01242 250 901.  If you would like to help, but don't have the time to come in person right now, you can always make a donation to the PoD Charity and help fund our work here.

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter everyone!  I hope you are all enjoying yourselves over the long weekend.  We have certainly been having fun times here.  This week we broght Easter to Pokhara and, whilst not everything went entirely to plan, we had a great time doing it!

Eggs decorated by the Asha Foundation kids

Our first attempt at Easter celebrations were on Thursday at the Street Kids’ Centre.  This was Lynsey and Jess’s last day at the centre and we thought that an Easter party would be a memorable send off.  We planned to decorate boiled eggs, have an egg hunt, egg and spoon races and all sorts of other egg related fun.  However, whilst the eggs made it to the centre, the bag of decorations didn’t.  Ooops.  Luckily, the kids brought out their own felt tips and got decorating.  Unfortunately, the monsoon rains decided to join our party which meant that all games were off.  Instead, we huddled together under the porch roof, ate boiled eggs and pretended to be penguins whilst Shreeram honed his photography skills, snapping all of us from every angle with Lynsey’s camera.  There were then some emotional goodbyes whilst our volunteers said goodbye to the children and staff.  So, whilst our farewell/Easter party didn’t go quite as planned, it was a fun session and a lovely note for our volunteers’ placement to end on.

‘PoD Nepal Easter: Take 2’ took place at the Asha Foundation.  We managed to bring along both the eggs and the decorating materials, but this time it was the children who were missing!  Lots of them were out for the afternoon, but we still had a good sized group of 8 to work with.  Eggs were painted, hidden and hunted out.  Races were run and sweets were eaten.  Very fun times indeed.

Earlier in the week we had a very silly session together at the Street Kids making balloon animals and facepainting each other (photos here).  I proved to be a one-trick-wonder and whipped out a lot of balloon swans.  Jess demonstrated some great facepainting skills before both she and Lynsey gamely gave their faces up for painting by the kids.  As all of this was going on, Bijay quietly slipped away and made his very own, amazingly complicated balloon dog.  My highlight of the day, however, was walking home with tiger-faced Jess.  Her attempts to scare small children with her tiger ‘roar’ amused everyone (imagine the noise a cat would make if it got its tail stuck in a door, that’s somewhere close to the noise she made).  It was beautiful.

Bijay showcasing his balloon dog

The staff and children at Ward6 were very sad to see Lynsey go.  Her contribution was greatly appreciated.  They enjoyed everything about her, from her general attitude to the resources and ideas she brought to sessions.  They particularly loved the introduction of ‘Wind the Bobbin Up’ and ‘The Wheels on the Bus’!  The Chairman came to visit her on her final day and presented her with a certificate and a tikka.  The staff have since contacted us to reiterate their appreciation for her efforts – well done Lynsey!

Our free time has also been quite eventful lately. went on a jungle safari in Chitwan and bathed some elephants.  Lynsey got a birds’ eye view of Pokhara whilst paragliding.  The monsoon started – 5 days of big, big rains.  We were almost washed out of the Silk Road by one particularly heavy downpour.  But, the benefit of big rains at night is the clear skies in morning.  Jess finally got to see mountains on her last day here, hurrah!  We learned how to make momos and chapatti and have generally had a marvellous week.

For more information on our work in Nepal and how to join our team, look at our website or contact Becky in the UK on 01242 250 901.  If you would like to help, but don't have the time to come in person right now, you can always make a donation to the PoD Charity and help fund our work here.

Summer school, day trips and BINGO!

Hello to everyone from a very hot Pokhara!  Spring seems to have sprung on past us this year and we have found ourselves slap bang in the middle of a hot and humid summer.  Of course, we don’t a little issue like let stifling heat get in our way and so it's business as usual for our fab PoD Team.

 Our latest team members, Jess and Lynsey, have been making a great impression both on placement and in Lakeside in general.   Staff at both of their placements have gone out of their way to tell me how well they are doing and they have also been turning heads in their free time. Their boat trip across the lake saw them filling up their boat with members of the Nepali Police Force, getting stranded at the temple, floating helplessly off across the lake and getting rescued by locals screaming, 'are you crazy?!'  Jess is off to Chitwan this weekend whilst Lynsey has been paragliding.  I dread to think what will come of those activities, but I've been checking the headlines and there's been no mention of either of them which must mean all went well!

Jess squishing into her cupboard to teach!

Anyways, back to PoD business...Jess has been working at the new Street Kids’ Centre and has fit in nicely.  It’s currently the school holidays here which means the children have a lot of time and energy to spare!  So, every day Jess puts on her kurta suruwal and heads up to the centre to run ‘summer school’ classes.  The focus of this is to get the children – particularly the newcomers – up to scratch before the start of the new school year in a few weeks.  The extreme heat means classes have to take place indoors.  However, because the centre is not yet finished, they are working in what is essentially a store cupboard.  Everyone squashes in between various pieces of furniture and gets to work.  Jess generally finds a seat, but for most of the kids it’s standing room only.  They do so desperately need an outdoor shelter building to provide them with a shady area to sit, study, eat and play under.  If you can help in any small way, please donate here.

Anyways, whilst study is most important, it is the school holidays and we can’t have the kids spending all of their time with their books.  So, in the afternoon time Jess is joined by Lynsey for some fun sessions.  Our volunteers brave the sun and head out to play football, play ‘pooh sticks’ in the river and all manner of other fun things.  Lynsey brought an amazing parachute with her that the kids go mad for.  They have developed a whole host of games that the manufacturers could never have even dreamed of!

Lynsey’s mornings are spent at Ward 6 children’s centre.  She helps staff run play and educational sessions in what is an unusually calm environment these days. I think this is largely due to the reduced number of children attending sessions.  Lots of regular attendees are at home being cared for and entertained by older siblings on their school holidays.  Lovely.  There is, however, a sense that this is the calm before the storm.  In a few weeks the new school year will start and there will be a batch of newcomers arriving.  We are braced for tears, tantrums and general chaos whilst they all settle in! Should be fun. Anyways, back to the present...

As an experience and qualified nursery school teacher back in the UK, Lynsey has done a great job at identifying ways by which she can enhance sessions without disrupting the centre's routines.  She has been using the outdoor playtime to take older children aside and work with them to develop in all manner of areas.  She is reading with them, communicating and working on educational puzzles and games.  Not only is this great for those specific kids, but it gives the younger children the space and time to enjoy the outdoor play area without bigger kids pushing them out of the way!

A final bit of good news from Ward 6, our efforts to introduce handwashing as a regular part of their daily routine seem to have worked!  When Lynsey arrived the soap dish was full and teachers were making sure children washed their hands after going to the toilet and before meals, without prompting.  Hurrah!

Posing for photos at Devi's Falls

Our aim at giving all of the kids we work with some kind of day trip is becoming a reality.  Last week we took all of the street kids and their mum to Devi’s Falls and the Gupta Caves.  The falls fell a bit flat as there was hardly any water in them, but the caves were a great success.  We all headed deep , deep, deep underground, through narrow, wet and slippy passages through the rocks.  We finally arrived at the underwater outlet for Devi’s Falls which was quite impressive.  I discovered I am claustrophobic, but everyone else had lots of fun.  I suspect a lot of their enjoyment was at my expense.  It seemed to tickle the kids that I was so scared when they weren’t.  Anyways, we survived the cave, had an ice cream and headed home.  Good times!

Aside from working at their individual projects, our volunteers have also been running weekly sessions at the Asha Foundation and SOS Bahini.  Our Asha Foundation sessions seem to have developed into a weekly Bingo club.  All of the children love it and can play for hours.  Literally.  Luckily, the introduction of Lynsey’s parachute offers us a bit of respite from calling out yet another round of numbers!

And that’s about it for this week.  We have some fun programmes planned for Easter and have been busy handing out donations, but they are stories for next week, so watch this space!

For more information on our work in Nepal and how to join our team, look at our website or contact Becky in the UK on 01242 250 901.  If you would like to help, but don't have the time to come in person right now, you can always make a donation to the PoD Charity and help fund our work here.

School trips and colourful festivals

Hello! Long time no speak...I’m sure you are desperate to read a bit about what we have been up to here at PoD Nepal, so I shall waste no time at all.

Pradip volunteering to carry all of our lifejackets back single-handedly!

We had a lovely day with the children from AnnurpurnaPrimary.  A returning PoD volunteer did a fantastic job of organising students, staff and fellow volunteers for a marvellous day out.  We met at school in the morning to walk together to Phewa Lake.  Our intention was that all of the children should walk in a long line whilst holding on to a piece of rope.  This barely lasted past the school gate.  Excitement and a general lack of co-ordination forced us to give up on this strategy.  Nevertheless, we made it to the lake safely! 

Luckily for us, the father of 3 of our students is a boatman so we had no trouble in getting him and 2 of his friends to load us all into 3 boats ready for our trip.  We first did a small circuit around the East side of the lake, saw the expensive and exclusive FishTail Lodge and then went tiger spotting.  Everyone was convinced that we would see at least one tiger drinking from the lake.  Unfortunately, the tigers didn’t seem to be at all thirsty so we missed them.  We did, however, see a pair of shoes abandoned on a beach which everyone agreed was evidence that the tigers had been there and snatched up an unsuspecting fisherman for dinner.

After a quick stop at Tal Bahari Temple we headed back to dry land for a picnic in the park, a play on the swings and a walk home.  The day was a great success and has inspired us to try to get all of the kids we work with out on a trip at some stage.

Kharke taking a hit of pink powder on the head!

Another highlight of the past month was our Holi celebration with the kids from the Street Kids’ Centre.  Holi is without a doubt the most silly, fun and colourful festival ever.  Everyone takes to the streets to welcome in Spring by throwing coloured powder and water at each other.  Participation is ostensibly voluntary, but in reality, the only way to avoid becoming a human rainbow is to stay indoors!  Lots of fun was had and we all went home tired and very, very messy!

Other Street Kids’ news is that they have moved into a new home.  Their new place is about a 2 minute walk from their school and in a lovely, rural-like setting.  Their front gate opens out onto huge fields, perfect for playing football, doing back flips and generally spending every last ounce of energy that you have.  Everyone is happy to be there, but there are still some final touches needed to the building. We are looking to fund the building of a shelter for the children to eat and study under outside and some reinforcements to the outer walls to make the centre more secure.  

Street Kids' new home

And that’s it for this time.  Two new amazing volunteers have turned up this week, but you will have to stay tuned for next time to hear about their PoD adventure!

In the meantime, if you would like to contribute to our efforts to give all of our children a day out or to improve the conditions at the Street Kids' centre  you can make a donation here to the PoD Charity

For more information on our work in Nepal and how to join our our team, look at our website or contact Becky in the UK on 01242 250 901.